The Network Solutions Personal Internet Name (PIN): A URN Namespace for People and Organizations

Network Working Group                                        M. Mealling
Request for Comments: 3043                       Network Solutions, Inc.
Category: Informational                                     January 2001


  The Network Solutions Personal Internet Name (PIN): A URN Namespace
                      for People and Organizations

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

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

1. Introduction

   In many cases Network Solutions' maintained directory applications
   require some unique and persistent way to talk about an individual or
   organization.  For example, white pages style services need to
   determine if one entry is distinct from another even if some of the
   data happens to be the same.  Also, e-commerce authentication
   mechanisms needs to identify a user and/or company 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.

   The intent for these applications is that they be used and integrated
   into other, non-NSI maintained applications in much the same way that
   domain-names that exist in Network Solution's database are primarily
   used in application that Network Solutions is _not_ involved in.  In
   much the same way that ISBNs are maintained by specific entities but
   used in widely varying applications, NSI's PIN namespace is intended
   to be used in many applications where there is a need for a well
   maintained identifier that names a person or organization.

   A URN namespace is uniquely suited to solve the persistent
   identification needs of these applications since they are also
   required to be unique and persistent.  The availability of a
   standardized resolution mechanism makes it possible for other
   applications to reference and resolve PIN URNs in their own systems
   in an open, non-proprietary way.

   This namespace specification is for a formal namespace.

2. Specification Template

   Namespace ID:

       "pin" requested.

   Registration Information:

       Registration Version Number: 1
       Registration Date: 2000-09-30

   Declared registrant of the namespace:

       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.  Future changes
         to the assignment methods may allow others to assign
         sub-spaces of the flat namespace but again, this knowledge is
         only valid internally and should never be inferred or relied
         upon externally.

   Relevant ancillary documentation:

       None

   Identifier uniqueness considerations:

       Identifiers are assigned by Network Solutions proprietary
         registration system in a way that guarantees uniqueness.  At
         this time the algorithm is to iterate from the last assigned
         number by some positive integer.  In the future this algorithm
         may change to incorporate a full range of alphanumeric
         elements.  In either case, the system will compare the newly
         created identifier with all of the previous ones to ensure
         that it has not already been assigned.

   Identifier persistence considerations:

       The assignment process guarantees that names are not reassigned
         and that the binding between the name and the person or
         organization is permanent, regardless of any personal name
         changes, corporate restructuring, death or dissolution.

   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.  Since a PIN URN identifies a person or
         organization, resolving a PIN URN will only be able to return
         information from an electronic proxy that is merely a
         representation of the actual person or organization being
         named.

   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

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 error
   prone.  In any case it 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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