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No amount of metadata sharing will help realize (3), however. Attribute release is the number one problem in the InCommon Federation. It's why we invented R&S in the first place. At the interfederation level, attribute release is further complicated by international privacy laws. It is unlikely attributes will flow between countries without some agreements eventually being in place. This problem is being addressed on multiple fronts, including R&S. Although it’s barely more than an experiment at this point, the REFEDS Research & Scholarship Entity Category is the best chance we have of making interfederation a worthwhile exercise.