Trust Over IP Foundation Aims To Increase Online Trust In Data

With the launch of the new Trust over IP (ToIP) Foundation, the Linux Foundation wants to establish a common trust online for everyone to know that the information they’re dealing with is valid and sourced.

The ToIP Foundation will be working with a number of partners in order to “enable trustworthy exchange and verification of data between any two parties on the Internet,” according to a press release.

In doing that, the organization aims to navigate an increasing number of factors online that could muddy the waters of digital interactions and make people trust them less, including the Internet of Things, Edge Computing and the increase in artificial intelligence (AI) usage across many industries.

The ToIP Foundation will work by weighing digital wallets alongside new technology like W3C Verifiable Credentials in order to make sure customers online can establish trust and lower any potential risks, helping to protect identities online, the release says.

The ToIP Foundation’s open government model, which is essential for a collective based on pushing trust and accountability, will work in ways that encourage collaboration between multiple industries.

The ToIP Foundation will hold several workshops and events this year, with the first one being an official launch event May 7 at 9 a.m. Those interested in witnessing that can sign up on Zoom. At the virtual launch event, attendees will be treated to a panel discussion, a live Q&A and an interoperability discussion.

The workshops will focus on building the technical and governance specifics of the initiative, as well as providing practice opportunities for those who wish to join the initiative to develop the digital trust projects with ToIP.

The founding firms partnering in ToIP are Accenture, BrightHive, Cloudocracy, Continuum Loop, CULedger, Dhiway, esatus, Evernym, Finicity, Futurewei Technologies, IBM Security, IdRamp, Lumedic, Mastercard, MITRE, the Province of British Columbia and SICPA, alongside several others who are collaborating in fields as diverse as health care, finance and enterprise software.

Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin said the idea behind the project was to “provide the digital trust layer that was missing in the original design of the Internet and to trigger a new era of human possibility,” using open standards and teamwork between companies to make sure data exchanges are trustworthy and above-board.

Last year, the Linux Foundation launched a consortium to promote confidential computing, to boost standards for cloud computing, blockchain and more.