Meeting Minutes
DSNP Advisor Summit
April 18, 2024
Boston Marriott Cambridge
Cambridge, Mass.
Agenda
- Objective, agenda and Project Liberty Institute updates
- Project Liberty updates
- Governance Working Group (G-WG) update and discussion
- Comparative Analysis Working Group (CA-WG) update and discussion
- Ecosystem Architecture Working Group (EA-WG) update and discussion
- Technical specification roadmap/discussion
- Closing summary and meeting actions
Attendees
- Tomicah Tilleman (TT), President, Project Liberty
- Erik Suhonen (ES), Project Liberty Institute
- Sarah Nicole (SN), Project Liberty Institute
- Braxton Woodham (BW), Amplica Labs
- Harry Evans (HE), Amplica Labs
- Dave Clark (DC), DSNP Advisor
- Deb Roy (DR), DSNP Advisor
- Wendy Seltzer (WS), DSNP Advisor
- Sara Wedeman (SW), DSNP Advisor
- Sandy Pentland (SP), DSNP Advisor
- Thomas Hardjono (TH), DSNP Advisor Team
- Wes Chow (WC), DSNP Advisor Team
- Maggie Little (ML), Ethics Lab
- Jonathan Healy (JH), Ethics Lab
/ Objectives, agenda, and PLI updates /
ES discussed Project Liberty Institute (PLI) 3 core principles:
Choice: Give people greater agency over their data
Voice: Provide people with a voice in the responsible governance of digital platforms
Stake: Ensure people can participate in the economics of digital innovation and data
ES explained why Project Liberty Foundation was rebranded Project Liberty Institute.
Other key updates:
- “OUR BIGGEST FIGHT” book educates, including DSNP
- MeWe has migrated 760k+ users
- Growing DSNP adoption in the India ecosystem
- Integrating DSNP into Summit events
- Showcasing DSNP at conferences, including Consensus
The discussion also touched on the importance of data ownership for individual rights, the need to formalize connections between PLI principles, and topics about monetizing data. Suggestions were discussed to potentially reframe terminology and prioritize protection over choice.
/ Project Liberty updates with Tomicah Tilleman Q&A /
TT provided further updates and plans.
/ Governance Working Group /
SN gave an update on the progress of the working group with the adaptation of the Framework docs (Membership agreement, DSNP charter and WG charter) from the Linux Foundation template to DSNP context as well as the reference to DSNP Mission & Principles that were added.
SN announced the next steps of the governance working group concerning the publication of a DSNP governance explainer for future members blogpost in the next weeks and the governance framework V.1 publication planned in May 2024.
WS launched the discussion around tailoring DSNP governance to the mission of the Project Liberty ecosystem, emphasizing the role of individuals, civil society, and anti-consolidation patterns.
The advisors and participants discussed strategies to prevent dominance of the founding team and subsequent groups in governance. Suggestions included a dynamic jury akin to a citizen assembly and ensuring informed citizen participation. Metaphorical code and liquid democracy were proposed for governance agility and inclusivity, with a caution against relying solely on experts. Educational phases in democratic assemblies and partnerships for community engagement were highlighted.
Innovating DSNP governance was emphasized with calls for agility, accessibility, dynamism, and careful consideration of stability. Tokenization incentives for participation were suggested, along with the idea of democratic assemblies responding to public posts on the blockchain.
Lastly, the need for governance discussions when values are at stake notably in the ecosystem working group was underscored through a mock trial scenario.
/ Comparative Analysis Working Group /
WC emphasized PLI 3 principles as the foundation for comparative analysis, highlighting the need to include value and objectives. ES and BW suggested expanding the analysis to include ecosystem considerations and layered approaches.
DR raised concerns about safeguarding the social graph and DSNP’s unique features. SW noted the contextual nature of identity. TH proposed an Identity Trust Framework for taxonomy. SP stressed aligning software capabilities with legal constraints. BW queried if any protocol outperforms DSNP. WC introduced 8 selected protocols for analysis. DD and DC urged consideration of decentralization levels.
HE will share WB’s work on selected protocols.
DC recommended analyzing apps based on protocol layers. DR suggested adding text messaging protocols for a comprehensive analysis.
Advisors were tasked with reviewing 10 comparison aspects. Feedback on the lists remains the next step.
/ Ecosystem Architecture Working Group /
DC proposed enhancing the PLI principles by incorporating delegation and harm prevention. He discussed the merits and drawbacks of storage server versus blockchain for message content and announcements. For non-public posts, he suggested storing data off the blockchain and managing interactions via the storage server.
HE emphasized the trust implications of data storage choices and highlighted encryption options for privacy, while noting complexities about key management, and highlighting in-progress efforts to address this.
/ Technical specification roadmap/discussion /
HE questioned updating specifications based on agreed-upon decisions. He pondered whether WG outcomes should result in specification updates or requests. Transitioning to a multistakeholder model will accompany the publication of the DSNP governance framework.
DC sought clarification on the functioning of the public graph.
/ Closing /
ES summarized the meeting, bringing the various agenda topics together, tied into the overall vision and strategy.
The next DSNP advisory council meeting will take place on June 11, 2024.
Minuted by SN
