InCommon Steering Committee Minutes - August 3, 2015
Attending: Melissa Woo, Sean Reynolds, Von Welch, Dennis Cromwell, Pankaj Shah, Mark Crase, Michael Gettes, Klara Jelinkova, David Vernon, Chris Holmes, Steven Carmody, John O’Keefe, Michele Norin, Susan Kelley
With: Ann West, Dean Woodbeck, John Morabito, Steve Zoppi
Action Items:
(AI) Chris, Ann and Klara will meet on Tuesday, Aug. 4, to develop an approach to eduGAIN candidate document review process. The target is to have the review completed and the candidate documents ready for a vote on August 31.
(AI) Staff will provide Steering with an update on the communications plan for the Aug. 31 meeting.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes from the July 6, 2015, meeting were approved via Wisegate.
eduGAIN Discussion
There are two separate questions at hand:
- Steering approval of the eduGAIN Intent Statement, which documents the rationale for joining eduGAIN and InCommon’s approach to outreach and communications.
- Discussion and potential approval of the two revised policy documents - the InCommon Participation Agreement and FOPP.
Once Steering approves the PA and FOPP, the revised documents go into effect 90 days later.
The proposed changes are in two broad areas:
- those made specifically for eduGAIN and enabling international interfederation
- addition of an indemnity clause, given an increased risk to InCommon and Internet2 with the international sharing of metadata.
It was acknowledged that some state schools, by law, cannot agree to the indemnification language and that this can be accommodated by Internet2. John Morabito pointed out that the language in the agreement is tempered to allow for these cases. Internet2 already accommodates these state schools in the NET+ and Network Services agreements. One main reason for introducing this language is because of the large number of corporate service providers in InCommon.
Vetting of these changes with all 760 InCommon participants is not feasible or scalable. The proposed approach is to establish a review group of attorneys who are already knowledgeable about identity management issues and could provide Steering with feedback on the proposed changes from the participant point of view. Potential sources of attorneys for this review group are those that have been involved with NET+ contract issues and Chris Holmes’ contacts through NACUA.
The proposed timetable is to complete this work in time for Steering to vote on the revised documents at the August 31, 2015, meeting. This would allow the changed documents to take effect by December 1.
It was also discussed that interfederation does not introduce new risks for campuses, when looking at the big picture. Many faculty, staff, and students already establish accounts with international services.
As part of the outreach and communications program, InCommon will provide guidance in such areas as risk tolerance. Towards this end, InCommon will produce FAQs, lists of questions, and other information to assist with a participant’s decision-making process. InCommon staff will spend August developing this information, to be reviewed and available by September 1.
There was also discussion about potentially developing separate Participation Agreements for higher ed and corporate service providers, including the new indemnity language only in the corporate version. While this is a possibility, the goal is still to have one main agreement.
(AI) Chris, Ann and Klara will meet on Tuesday, Aug. 4, to develop an approach to this review process. The target is to have the review completed and the candidate documents ready for a vote on August 31.
It was moved and seconded that Steering approve the eduGAIN Intent Statement, allowing that the timetable may need to be adjusted. The resolution was approved unanimously.
(AI) Staff will provide Steering with an update on the communications plan for the Aug. 31 meeting.
Steering Membership
There was discussion and general agreement with a recommendation that Steering add two non-voting advisor positions: a legal advisor and a sponsored partner representative.
There was also general agreement to recruit Steering candidates from a system and from smaller schools to replace the outgoing members. Mark Crase and John O’Keefe were asked to identify two top choices for replacements.
Next Meeting
Monday, Aug. 31 - 4pm ET / 3 pm CT / 2 pm MT / 1 pm PT