Multi-Stakeholder Global Handle Registry - Enabling Digital Sovereignty

The DONA Foundation (DONA) was constituted in Geneva in early 2014 in part to administer and maintain the stable operation of the Global Handle Registry (GHR) along with multiple parties around the globe known as the Multi-Primary Administrators (MPAs). Responsibility for the GHR, previously held solely by CNRI in Reston Virginia USA, was transferred to the DONA Foundation in May, 2014. Since then, five MPAs have been authorized and credentialed by DONA to provide global handle services based on their credential. New organizations are currently in the process of being considered for authorization as future MPAs by the DONA Board of Directors.

The MPA-based approach to operating the GHR is key to enabling operations and management of the Handle System on a distributed multi-stakeholder basis. In this session, we will describe the operation and administration of the GHR on a multi-primary basis, under the overall administration of DONA, and will present some of the related standards, operating policies and procedures.