<nettime> NSI's new namespace: Personal Internet Name

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<http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-mealling-pin-urn-00.txt>

Network Working Group                                      M.M. Mealling
Internet-Draft                                   Network Solutions, Inc.
Expires: September 30, 2000                                   April 2000


  The Network Solutions Personal Internet Name (PIN): A URN Namespace
                      for People and Organizations
                     draft-mealling-pin-urn-00.txt

Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet-Draft and is NOT offered in accordance
   with Section 10 of RFC2026, and the author does not provide the IETF
   with any rights other than to publish as an Internet-Draft.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   Internet-Drafts.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on September 30, 2000.

Abstract

   This document describes a URN namespace that is engineered by
   Network Solutions, Inc for naming people and organizations. 

1. Introduction

   In many cases, Network Solutions' directory applications require
   some unique and persistent way to talk about an individual or
   organization. For example, white pages services need to determine if
   one user is distinct from another even if some of the data happens
   to be the same. Also, e-commerce authentication mechanisms need to
   identify a user uniquely and possibly over large spans of time. In
   many cases a customer relationship can last several decades. Such
   long term customer relationships can outlast any specific email
   address, Internet service provider, surname, or possibly even the
   DNS itself. 

   URNs are a uniquely suited solution for this due to the requirement
   that they also be unique and permanent. In addition, the


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   availability of a standardized resolution mechanism makes it
   possible for vastly different systems to utilize the PIN URN without
   needing to utilize an application or protocol specific element. 

   This namespace specification is for a formal namespace. 

2. Specification Template

   Namespace ID: 

       "pin" requested.

   Registration Information: 

       Registration Version Number: 1
       Registration Date: 2000-04-30

   Declared registrant of the namespace: 

       Michael Mealling
       michaelm@netsol.com
       Network Solutions
       505 Huntmar Park Drive
       Herndon, VA 22070

   Declaration of structure: 

       The structure of the NSS is a flat space of alphanumeric
         characters which have no knowable structure outside of the
         context of Network Solutions internal resolver.

   Relevant ancillary documentation: 

       None

   Identifier uniqueness considerations: 

       Identifiers are assigned by Network Solutions proprietary
         registration system in a way that guarantees uniqueness.

   Identifier persistence considerations: 

       The assignment process guarantees that names are not reassigned
         and that the binding between the name and the entity named is
         permanent. 

   Process of identifier assignment: 

       Names are granted via Network Solutions proprietary registration
         procedures. 

   Process of identifier resolution: 

       PIN URNs are resolved via URN resolvers run by Network
         Solutions. The data and databases used by those resolvers is
         proprietary data and can only be accessed by the resolver.

   Rules for Lexical Equivalence: 

       The entire URN is case-insensitive.

   Conformance with URN Syntax: 

       There are no additional characters reserved.

   Validation mechanism: 

       None additional to resolution specified 

   Scope: 

       Global





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3. Examples

   The following examples are not guaranteed to be real. They are
   listed for pedagogical reasons only. 

      URN:pin:bs4321234
      URN:pin:324kj5hkj45
      URN:pin:mm2136

4. Security Considerations

   Since the URNs in this namespace are opaque there are no additional
   security considerations other than those normally associated with
   the use and resolution of URNs in general. 

   It is noted however that attempting to resolve a PIN URN through a
   resolver other than the one provided by Network Solution is prone to
   error and is not considered authoritative. 

References

   [1]  Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.

Author's Address

   Michael Mealling
   Network Solutions, Inc.
   505 Huntmar Park Drive
   Herndon, VA  22070
   US

   Phone: +1 770 935 5492
   EMail: michaelm@netsol.com
   URI:   http://www.netsol.com

















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