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RE: Registered Namespace prefixes

• To: "'veillard@r...'" <veillard@r...>, Jeff Lowery <Jeff.Lowery@c...>
• Subject: RE: Registered Namespace prefixes
• From: Jeff Lowery <Jeff.Lowery@c...>
• Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 10:39:08 -0800
• Cc: XML Dev <xml-dev@l...>

>   I want prefixes "m" "ms" "microsoft" "ibm" and  "xml" for 
> good measure.

Yes, this is an issue involving around fairness.  Fairness issues, for
better or worse, are often settled in court (which involves a lot of money
for absolutely no fun).

How could we minimize fairness concerns?  One is to maintain the existing
'provisional' namespace mechanism, where prefixes are unrestricted and
domain name issues (in regards to URI's) are largely resolved.

In addition, we can set aside some prefixes by deferring to existing
registries.  I'm specifically thinking of ticker symbols on NASDQ and NYSE.
There are others, I suppose.  A ticker symbol would make a good prefix for
top-level namespaces.

If the mechanism of telescoping (subscoping?) of prefixes proves warranted,
then there's more prefix value space for project-level prefixes: they are
bound in scope by larger domain prefixes.


> Now if you are this authority, how to you get this power, and 
> how are you
> managing the vast amount of money I may offer for those 
> specific prefixes.

Good questions.  I have no authority whatsoever, nor do I desire it.  There
are plenty of people who like authority, espcecially where there's a little
money or power to be had, and there are ways of setting up organizations
that share common interests but are limited in how they can exercize
authority by charter.

I don't have the answer, but obstacles to arriving at one seem surmountable.
Getting agreement on the technical aspects are foremost; political issues
can be settled later.

> The technical problem is nothing compared to that delegation of power
> over names, and the problem of actually maintaining the 
> registry over time.
> How can you promise to keep an identifier in the base the 
> same for the duration
> I expect my data to be living (100 years maybe) ? Of course 
> if you break
> then my data loose their integrity or meaning ... Sorry this 
> is too critical,
> to rely on a registry.

If the registry entries are static (once entered, that's it; no takebacks),
then issues regarding reliability are much diminished.  As a matter of fact,
there's really no need to access the registry... all you need is to be
reasonably certain that a prefix that is denoted as registered (by the use
of period delimiters, for example) is in fact what it claims to be.
Violaters will be prosecuted, or something.  Maybe they'll be thrown in a
bath of leeches instead.

[snip]

-- Jeff

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