W3C - World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the primary international standards organization for the World Wide Web, founded in 1994 by Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a member-driven organization, W3C develops open standards and guidelines focused on key technical areas including accessibility, internationalization, privacy, and security. In 2023, W3C transitioned from its original hosted model to become a public-interest non-profit organization while maintaining its core mission of developing open web standards.

The organization has played a crucial role in establishing fundamental digital identity standards, including the W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) specification and the Verifiable Credentials Data Model. Key technical working groups include:

• The Web Authentication Working Group - developing the WebAuthn API for strong authentication
• The Decentralized Identifier Working Group - maintaining the DIDs v1.0 standard
• The Verifiable Credentials Working Group - focusing on the VC Data Model and related specifications

Throughout its history, W3C has maintained strong relationships with major technical institutions and industry partners while fostering global collaboration. The organization operates through a consensus-based process involving:

• Working groups that develop technical specifications
• Community groups that incubate new technologies
• Interest groups that focus on specific technology areas
• Regular face-to-face meetings and technical plenaries

Notable implementations of W3C standards include the widespread adoption of WebAuthn by major browsers and platforms, and the growing ecosystem around DIDs and Verifiable Credentials for digital identity solutions.