This morning, I announced my candidacy for election to the Board of Directors of the US-based OpenID Foundation. The official statement accompanying my candidacy is the one on the election website, but because it is in English, I am posting a Japanese overview here.
I have been involved in digital identity and privacy for the past 20 years. My main theme has always been “Power to the People”—giving people the power to control their own information through digital identity. I am currently a Senior Researcher at Nomura Research Institute. In 2008, I founded the OpenID Foundation Japan, and since 2011 I have also served as Chairman of the global OpenID Foundation. I was also involved in founding the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) and the Kantara Initiative. In addition, I have served on various government committees and as Japan’s representative to the ISO/IEC SC 27/WG 5 subcommittee on identity management and privacy technologies. I have also been involved in developing standards in the IETF OAuth and JOSE working groups. I am based in Tokyo.
Some highlights of my achievements at the OpenID Foundation are as follows.
- Established the AB/Connect WG. Developed OpenID Connect Core 1.0 and related specifications.
- Initiated the standardization of signatures and encryption for JSON. This later became JWS, JWE, JWT, and other standards.
- Launched the FAPI WG. The published implementer’s draft was adopted by Open Banking in the UK (all major banks) and FDX in the US (Bank of America, Citi, and others), and was also recommended in a report by the Japanese Bankers Association.
- Organized the Foundation’s intellectual property management, including registering and managing the “OpenID” trademark worldwide.
- Brought stakeholders together and helped establish WGs that incorporate the needs of various industries.
- Initiated the development of an OpenID Connect test suite with Umeå University in Sweden. This later became the OpenID Certification program.
- Promoted international awareness and adoption of OpenID Connect and related technologies through conference speeches, individual meetings, blogs, Youtube, and other channels.
- Established liaison relationships with international organizations including ISO, ITU-T, and OECD.
- Organized OpenID-related events in the US, Europe, Japan, and South America.
The year 2018 brought major changes for both digital identity and privacy.
On the privacy side, GDPR came fully into force in the EU in 5, major privacy breaches occurred one after another, and Japan launched its Information Bank certification program as one possible answer to the issue of consent concerning the use of personal information.
Identity management was no less eventful. Strong customer authentication and API protection became the biggest topics in conjunction with Open Banking and PSD2. This movement has expanded to other regions, and Australia has gone further by extending the data covered beyond finance. FIDO 2.0 and the Web Authentication standard were also published. As blockchain-based self-sovereign identity came into the spotlight, a lesser-known feature of OpenID Connect, the “Self-Issued OpenID Provider (SIOP),” also attracted renewed interest. The European Commission began studying eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer), where OpenID Connect is also being considered as the protocol. Meanwhile, IDoT (Identity of Things) remains a societal vulnerability in need of repair.
In other words, much remains for the OpenID Foundation to contribute to the world, and we should capitalize on this momentum.
To this end, in 2019 I would like to advance the following initiatives.
- Promote adoption of the FAPI Security Profile and CIBA 1.
- Support WG activities and encourage the development of high-quality standards.
- Launch the FAPI certification program.
- Strengthen the Aggregated Claims model and enable OpenID Connect SIOP to meet the requirements of privacy-enhancing attribute provision schemes, including attributes for eKYC.
- Continue promoting awareness of best practices for identity management and API protection.
My motto is “Listen, observe, coordinate, and act proactively.” I would be grateful for your vote so that, together with like-minded colleagues, I can continue advancing the adoption of “Open Identity.” By moving forward together, we can influence the world and make this vision a reality.
Nat Sakimura (Nat Sakimura)
Blog: https://nat.sakimura.org (English) https://www.sakimura.org/ (Japanese)
Twitter: @_nat_en (English) @_nat (Japanese)
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NatSakimura
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