This page is the charter of the TSWG Trust Registry Task Force (TRTF). See the Meeting Page for links to the meeting agenda and notes for each meeting.

Background

The ToIP Technology Stack WG originally created the TRTF in June 2021 in response to the market gap identified during the work on the Good Health Pass Interoperability Blueprint. The first-generation TRTF worked quickly to create a first-generation ToIP Trust Registry Protocol specification, which it published in September 2021 for community review. At that point, the attention of the TSWG moved to the Technology Architecture Task Force (TATF) to develop the ToIP Technology Architecture V1.0 Specification (TAS). With the publication of the first public review draft of the TAS in December 2022, and with market demand increasing for decentralized trust registries (aka trust lists), the TSWG started up the second generation of the TRTF in December 2022 to produce a complete, production-ready ToIP Trust Registry Query Protocol Specification that can then be submitted to a formal SDO such as ISO. Furthermore, as related work has is now underway at the Decentralized Identity Foundation, the second-generation TRTF will be working in collaboration with the DIF Claims and Credentials Working Group work on Trust Establishment.

Objectives

The primary objective of this Task Force is to develop the ToIP Trust Registry Protocol as a ToIP Specification. The purpose of this deliverable to enable interoperability between ToIP-compliant trust registries.

Context

The mission of the ToIP Foundation is to define a complete architecture for Internet-scale digital trust that combines cryptographic trust at the machine layer with human trust at the business, legal, and social layers. The ToIP stack has two parallel halves—a technical stack and a governance stack—operating at four layers 1) Utility (DLT Blockchain), 2) Agent/Wallet, 3) Credential Exchange (Issuer/Verifier/Holder) and 4) Ecosystem (Application). See further details in the ToIP white paper.

A core role within ToIP Layer 4 is a trust registry (previously known as a member directory). This is a network service that enables a governing authority for an ecosystem governance framework (EGF) to specify what governed parties are authorized to perform what actions under the EGF. For example:

What issuers are authorized to issue what types of verifiable credentials.
What verifiers are authorized to request what types of verifiable presentations.
What other trust registries (and their governing authorities) are trusted by a host trust registry.

As with all layers of the ToIP stack, the purpose of a ToIP specification is to enable the technical interoperability necessary to support transitive trust across different trust communities implementing the ToIP stack. In this case, the desired interoperability outcome is a common protocol that works between any number of decentralized trust registries operated by independent governing authorities representing multiple legal and business jurisdictions. One specific example of this need is the digital trust ecosystem defined by the Interoperability Working Group for Good Health Pass (GHP). The GHP Trust Registries Drafting Group produced an extensive set of recommended requirements for a GHP-compliant trust registry.

Leadership

The leads of the second-generation TRTF are:

Membership and Joining

Prior to participating in the meetings, please ensure that you are a member of the Trust Over IP Foundation (Contributor Membership is free to both organizations and individuals). More details can be found at this link.

To join this TF, add your name to this list:

Deliverables

ToIP Trust Registry Query Protocol Specification. This is a formal specification of a protocol for interactions with a ToIP-compliant trust registry service.
OpenAPI 3.0 API (managed in GitHub).
X.509 DID Interop guidance.

GitHub Repository

Intellectual Property Rights (Copyright, Patent, Source Code)

As a Task Force (TF) of the Technology Stack WG (TSWG), the TRTF inherits the IPR terms from the TSWG JDF Charter.

Copyright mode: OWFa 1.0 (available at https://www.openwebfoundation.org/the-agreements/the-owf-1-0-agreements-granted-claims/owfa-1-0)
Patent mode: OWFa 1.0 (available at https://www.openwebfoundation.org/the-agreements/the-owf-1-0-agreements-granted-claims/owfa-1-0)
Source code: Apache 2.0 (available at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html)

This Task Force is not currently expected to produce source code.

Milestones

Key milestones will include, but are not limited to:

Publication of the first Draft Deliverable via a GitHub repo.
Publication of the final Draft Deliverable.
Approval of the Draft Deliverable as a Working Group Approved Deliverable.

The work of this Task Force will be complete when the Working Group Approved Deliverable is approved by the TSWG.

Dependencies

This TF SHALL build on the trust registry requirements developed by the Trust Registries Drafting Group of the Interoperability Working Group for Good Health Pass.
The requirements for governance of a ToIP trust registry MUST be coordinated with the Governance Stack Working Group.

Meeting Schedule and Notes

The TRTF holds two meetings — one on NA/EU time zones and one for APAC time zones — every Thursday. Please see the ToIP Calendar for the exact meeting times and Zoom links.

See the Meeting Page for links to the meeting agenda and notes for each meeting (including the Zoom links for joining a meeting and for listening to a recording of the meeting).

Mailing List and Communications

This task force uses the following for communications

Slack: #tswg-trust-registry-tf <== This channel encouraged for regular comms.
Mailing List: There is currently no separate mailing list; this task force uses the main TSWG mailing list: technical-stack-wg@lists.trustoverip.org.

FAQ

Q: Why can't we simply use VCs instead of a TR? A: At some point you MUST step out of a VC to say “and who says you are the authority”