Will the Digital Trust Hui Taumata 2024 move the dial?

Deep thought has gone into building the agenda for next month’s Digital Trust Hui Taumata, ahead of Net Hui and The Point 2024, so that conversations live on and build out later in the year and into subsequent years. 

Significant attention will be devoted to Trust Frameworks given the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework (DISTF) regulation coming into play on 1 July. Immediately following Minister Collins’ opening remarks, Microsoft’s global identity standards lead and past DIACC TFEC member Juliana Cafik will deliver an intensely interesting first keynote – The international landscape for Digital Identity Trust Frameworks and how NZ compares. Trust frameworks already exist and we use them daily – for example using your bank card to withdraw cash from another bank’s ATM. The panel that follows, representing organisations that could be potential Relying Parties (RPs)/Verifiers under the DISTF, discuss how they see Trust Frameworks playing out. To be relieved of the burden and to minimise risk, these parties notionally look for accredited Digital Identity Service Provider/Issuers to deliver privacy-aware, cryptographically secured verified credentials.  

Two of these three panellists come from regulated industries while the other is a key government agency, where in all cases the failure to verify parties correctly could have devastating consequences. Other regulated industries and government agencies that need similar verification processes include estate agents, rental companies, law firms, financial services, insurance companies, the pharmacies, doctor’s surgeries, the Police Vetting Service, driver licencing, firearms licensing, the box store where you take out a loan for your new appliance, registering for a loyalty scheme – and the list goes on. Representatives from the Regulator, the DISTF Trust Framework Authority, will lead a Roundtable discussion after lunch where delegates can pose their questions.   

There are multiple paths to achieve this nirvana of privacy-aware, cryptographically secured verified credentials available to all people under the auspices of a Trust Framework which is why, straight after the Trust Frameworks panel, Worldline’s Conrad Morgan will keynote a complementary path – Turning transactions into interactions – building New Zealand’s first digital identity acceptance network’. 

Supporting Trust Frameworks are increasingly biometrics and AI – both of which need demystifying for the public to gain confidence in them – along with Digital Public Infrastructure, the Metaverse, passkeys, digital cash, digital driver’s licences, next generation payments, the critical need for digital inclusion, and the challenges of delegated administration across communities. The agenda comprises local and international speakers covering these topics as well, all reviewed by a panel of four experts reviewing the sessions from a Te Ao Māori perspective. 

The richness of the content to be presented at this year’s event is incomparable with previous years. So do not be surprised when the 2024 Digital Trust Hui Taumata is dropped into conversations in years to come.    

Colin Wallis, Executive Director, DINZ