Network Working Group                                   H. Van de Sompel
Internet-Draft                                                      LANL
Expires: February 13, 2006                                    T. Hammond
                                                                     NPG
                                                               E. Neylon
                                                      Manifest Solutions
                                                               S. Weibel
                                                                    OCLC
                                                         August 12, 2005


The "info" URI Scheme for Information Assets with Identifiers in Public
                               Namespaces
                     draft-vandesompel-info-uri-04

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract

   This document defines the "info" Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
   scheme for information assets with identifiers in public namespaces.



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   Namespaces participating in the "info" URI scheme are regulated by an
   "info" Registry mechanism.

Editorial Note

   Any feedback on this draft should be directed to
   <http://info-uri.info/registry/feedback.html>.

Table of Contents

   1.   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.2  Information Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.   Application of the "info" URI Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   3.   The "info" Registry  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     3.1  Management Characteristics of the "info" Registry  . . . .   6
     3.2  Functional Characteristics of the "info" Registry  . . . .   6
     3.3  Maintenance of the "info" Registry . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   4.   The "info" URI Scheme  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     4.1  Definition of "info" URI Syntax  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     4.2  Allowed Characters Under the "info" URI Scheme . . . . . .  10
     4.3  Examples of "info" URIs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   5.   Normalization and Comparison of "info" URIs  . . . . . . . .  13
   6.   Rationale  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     6.1  Why Create a New URI Scheme for Identifiers from Public
          Namespaces?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     6.2  Why Not Use an existing URI Scheme for Identifiers from
          Public Namespaces? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
     6.3  Why Not Create a New URN Namespace ID for Identifiers
          from Public Namespaces?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   7.   Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
   8.   IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
   9.   Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
   10.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
     10.1   Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
     10.2   Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
        Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
        Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . .  22













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1.  Introduction

   This document defines the "info" Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
   scheme for information assets that have identifiers in public
   namespaces but are not part of the URI allocation.  By information
   asset this document intends any information construct that has
   identity within a public namespace.

1.1  Terminology

   In this document the keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "SHALL", "SHALL
   NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "MAY", "MAY NOT", and "RECOMMENDED" are
   to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119] and indicate
   requirement levels for compliant implementations.

1.2  Information Assets

   There exist many information assets with identifiers in public
   namespaces that are not referenceable by URI schemes.  Examples of
   such namespaces include Dewey Decimal Classifications [DEWEY],
   Library of Congress Control Numbers [LCCN], NISO Serial Item and
   Contribution Identifiers [SICI], NASA Astrophysics Data System
   Bibcodes [BIBCODE], and National Library of Medicine PubMed
   identifiers [PMID].  Other candidate namespaces include Publisher
   Item Identifiers [PII], Online Computer Library Center OCLC Numbers
   [OCLCNUM], and NISO OpenURL Framework identifiers [OFI].

   The "info" URI scheme facilitates the referencing of information
   assets that have identifiers in such public namespaces by means of
   URIs.  When referencing an information asset by means of its "info"
   URI, the asset SHALL be considered a "resource" as defined in RFC
   3986 [RFC3986] and SHALL enjoy the same common syntactic, semantic
   and shared language benefits that the URI presentation confers.  As
   such, the "info" URI scheme enables public namespaces that are not
   part of the URI allocation to be represented within the allocation.
   The "info" URI scheme thus provides a bridging mechanism to allow
   public namespaces to become part of the URI allocation.

   Namespaces declared under the "info" URI scheme are regulated by an
   "info" Registry mechanism.  The "info" Registry allows a public
   namespace that is not part of the URI allocation to be declared in a
   registration process by the organization that manages it (the
   Namespace Authority).  The "info" Registry supports the declaration
   of public namespaces that are not part of the URI allocation in a
   manner that facilitates the construction of URIs for information
   assets without imposing the burdens of independent URI registration
   and maintenance of resource representations on the Namespace
   Authority.  Information assets identified within a registered



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   namespace SHALL be added or deleted according to the business
   processes of the Namespace Authority, and yet MAY be referenced
   within network applications via the "info" URI in an open,
   standardized way without additional action on the part of the
   Namespace Authority.

   The "info" URI scheme exists primarily for identification purposes.
   Implementations MUST NOT assume that an "info" URI can be
   dereferenced to a representation of the resource identified by the
   URI although Namespace Authorities MAY disclose in the registration
   record references to service mechanisms pertaining to identifiers
   from the registered namespace.  Applications of the "info" URI scheme
   are restricted to the identification of information assets and the
   declaration of normalization rules for comparing identifiers of such
   information assets regardless of whether any services relating to
   such information assets are accessible via the Internet.  References
   to such services MAY be disclosed within an "info" registration
   record but these services SHALL NOT be regarded as authoritative.
   The "info" URI scheme does not support global resolution methods.
































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2.  Application of the "info" URI Scheme

   Public namespaces that are used for the identification of information
   assets, and that are not part of the URI allocation, MAY be
   registered as namespaces within the "info" Registry.  Namespace
   Authorities MAY register these namespaces in the "info" Registry,
   thereby making these namespaces available to applications that need
   to reference information assets by means of a URI.  Registrations of
   public namespaces that are not part of the URI allocation by parties
   other than the Namespace Authority SHALL NOT be permitted, thereby
   insuring against hostile usurpation or inappropriate usage of
   registered service marks or the public namespaces of others.

   Registration of a public namespace under the "info" Registry implies
   no particular functionalities of the identifiers from the registered
   namespace other than the identification of information assets.  No
   resolution mechanisms can be assumed for the "info" URI scheme,
   though for any particular namespace there MAY exist mechanisms for
   resolving identifiers to network services.  The definition of such
   services falls outside the scope of the "info" URI scheme.
   Registration does not define namespace-specific semantics for
   identifiers within a registered namespace, though allowable character
   sets and normalization rules are specified in Sections 4 and 5 so as
   to ensure that the URIs created using such identifiers are compliant
   with applications that use URIs.

   The registration of a public namespace in the "info" Registry SHALL
   NOT preclude further development of services associated with that
   namespace which MAY qualify the namespace for additional publication
   elsewhere within the URI allocation.





















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3.  The "info" Registry

   The "info" Registry provides a mechanism for the registration of
   public namespaces that are used for the identification of information
   assets, and that are not part of the URI allocation.

   NISO [NISO], the National Information Standards Organization, will
   act as the Maintenance Agency for the "info" Registry, and will
   delegate the day-to-day operation of the "info" Registry to a
   Registry Operator.  As the Maintenance Agency, NISO will ensure that
   the Registry Operator operates the "info" Registry in accordance with
   a publicly articulated policy document established under NISO
   governance and made available on the "info" website
   <http://info-uri.info/>.  The "info" Registry policy defines a review
   process for candidate namespaces and provides measures of quality
   control and suitability for entry of namespaces.

3.1  Management Characteristics of the "info" Registry

   The "info" Registry will be managed according to policies established
   under the auspices of NISO.  All such policies, as well as the
   namespace declarations in the "info" Registry, will be public.

3.2  Functional Characteristics of the "info" Registry

   The "info" Registry will be publicly accessible and will support
   discovery (by both humans and machines) of:

   o  string literals identifying the namespaces for which the Registry
      provides a guarantee of uniqueness and persistence

   o  names and contact information of Namespace Authorities

   o  syntax requirements for identifiers maintained in such namespaces

   o  normalization methodologies for identifiers maintained in such
      namespaces

   o  network references to a description of service mechanisms (if any)
      for identifiers maintained in such namespaces

   o  ancillary documentation

   Registry entries refer to the corresponding "namespace" and
   "identifier" components which are defined in the ABNF given in
   Section 4.1 of this document.





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3.3  Maintenance of the "info" Registry

   The public namespaces that MAY be registered in the "info" Registry
   will be those of interest to the communities served by NISO and
   therefore NISO is committed to act as Maintenance Authority for the
   "info" Registry, and to assign a Registry Operator to operate it.

   NISO, a non-profit association accredited by the American National
   Standards Institute (ANSI), identifies, develops, maintains, and
   publishes technical standards to manage information in the digital
   environment.  NISO standards apply technologies to the full range of
   information-related needs, including retrieval, re-purposing,
   storage, metadata, and preservation.

   Founded in 1939, incorporated as a not-for-profit education
   association in 1983, and assuming its current name the following
   year, NISO draws its support from the communities it serves.  The
   leaders of over 70 organizations in the fields of publishing,
   libraries, IT and media serve as its voting members.  Hundreds of
   experts and practitioners serve on NISO committees and as officers of
   the association.

   NISO has been designated by ANSI to represent US interests to the
   International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) Technical
   Committee 46 on Information and Documentation.

   The NISO headquarters office is located at: 4733 Bethesda Ave.,
   Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.  (For further information, see the NISO
   website <http://www.niso.org/>.)






















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4.  The "info" URI Scheme

4.1  Definition of "info" URI Syntax

   The "info" URI syntax presented in this document is conformant with
   the generic URI syntax defined in RFC 3986 [RFC3986].  This
   specification uses the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) notation of
   RFC 2234 [RFC2234] to define the URI.  The following core ABNF
   productions are used by this specification as defined by Section 6.1
   of RFC 2234: ALPHA, DIGIT, HEXDIG.

   The "info" URI syntax is presented in two parts.  Part A contains
   productions specific to the "info" URI scheme, while Part B contains
   generic productions from the RFC 3986 [RFC3986] which are repeated
   here both for completeness and for reference.  The following set of
   productions (Part A) are specific to the "info" URI scheme:

   ; Part A:
   ; productions specific to the "info" URI scheme

   info-URI        = info-scheme ":" info-identifier [ "#" fragment ]

   info-scheme     = "info"

   info-identifier = namespace "/" identifier

   namespace       = scheme

   identifier      = *( pchar / "/" )

   ; Note that "info" URIs containing dot-segments (i.e. segments
   ; whose full content consists of "." or "..") MAY NOT be suitable
   ; for use with applications that perform dot-segment normalization

   This next set of productions (Part B) are generic productions
   reproduced from the RFC 3986 [RFC3986]:















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   ; Part B:
   ; generic productions from RFC 3986
   [RFC3986]


   scheme          = ALPHA *( ALPHA / DIGIT / "+" / "-" / "." )

   pchar           = unreserved / pct-encoded / sub-delims / ":" / "@"

   fragment        = *( pchar / "/" / "?" )

   unreserved      = ALPHA / DIGIT / "-" / "." / "_" / "~"

   pct-encoded     = "%" HEXDIG HEXDIG

   sub-delims      = "!" / "$" / "&" / "'" / "(" / ")"
                     / "*" / "+" / "," / ";" / "="

   An "info" URI has an "info-identifier" as its scheme-specific part
   and MAY take an optional "fragment" component.  An "info-identifier"
   is constructed by appending an "identifier" component to a
   "namespace" component separated by a slash "/" character.  The "info"
   URI scheme is supportive of hierarchical processing as indicated by
   the presence of the slash "/" character although the slash "/"
   character SHOULD NOT be interpreted as a strict hierarchy delimiter.

   Values for the "namespace" component of the "info" URI are name
   tokens composed of URI scheme characters only (cf. the "scheme"
   production).  They identify the public namespace in which the
   (unescaped) value for the "identifier" component originates, and are
   registered in the "info" Registry, which guarantees their uniqueness
   and persistence.  Although the "namespace" component is case-
   insensitive, the canonical form is lowercase and documents that
   specify values for the "namespace" component SHOULD do so using
   lowercase letters.  An implementation SHOULD accept uppercase letters
   as equivalent to lowercase in "namespace" names, for the sake of
   robustness, but SHOULD only generate lowercase "namespace" names, for
   consistency.

   Values for the "identifier" component of the "info" URI MAY be viewed
   as being hierarchical strings composed of path segments built from
   path segment characters (cf. the "pchar" production), the segments
   being separated by slash "/" characters, although any semantic
   interpretation of the "/" character as a hierarchy delimiter MUST NOT
   be assumed.  In their originating public namespace, the (unescaped)
   values for the "identifier" component identify information assets.
   The values for the "identifier" component MUST be %-escaped as
   required by this syntax.  The "identifier" component SHOULD be



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   treated as case-sensitive, although the "info" Registry MAY record
   the case-sensitivity of identifiers from particular registered public
   namespaces.  The "info" Registry MAY also disclose additional
   normalization rules regarding the treatment of punctuation characters
   and the like.

   Values for the "fragment" component of the "info" URI are strings
   composed of path segment characters (cf. the "pchar" production) plus
   the slash "/" character and the question-mark "?" character.  No
   semantic role is assigned to the the slash "/" character and the
   question-mark "?" character within the "fragment" component.  The
   (unescaped) values for the "fragment" component identify secondary
   information assets with respect to the primary information asset
   which is referenced by the "info-identifier".  The values for the
   "fragment" component MUST be %-escaped as required by this syntax.
   The "fragment" component MUST be treated as being case-sensitive.

4.2  Allowed Characters Under the "info" URI Scheme

   The "info" URI syntax uses the same set of allowed US-ASCII
   characters as specified in RFC 3986 [RFC3986] for a generic URI.  An
   "info" URI string SHOULD be represented as a UNICODE [UNICODE] string
   and be encoded in UTF-8 [RFC2279] form.  Reserved characters as well
   as excluded US-ASCII characters and non-US-ASCII characters MUST be
   %-escaped before forming the URI.  Details of the %-escape encoding
   can be found in RFC 3986 [RFC3986], Section 2.4.

4.3  Examples of "info" URIs

   Some examples of syntactically valid "info" URIs are given below:

       a) info:ddc/22/eng//004.678

   where "ddc" is the "namespace" component for a Dewey Decimal
   Classification [DEWEY] namespace and "22/eng//004.678" is the
   "identifier" component for an identifier of an information asset
   within that namespace.

   The information asset identified by the identifier "22/eng//004.678"
   in the namespace for (22nd Ed.)  English-language Dewey Decimal
   Classifications is the classification

       "Internet"


       b) info:lccn/2002022641

   where "lccn" is the "namespace" component for a Library of Congress



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   Control Number [LCCN] namespace and "2002022641" is the "identifier"
   component for an identifier of an information asset within that
   namespace.

   The information asset identified by the identifier "2002022641" in
   the namespace for Library of Congress Control Numbers is the metadata
   record

       "Newcomer, Eric. Understanding Web services: XML, WSDL,
       SOAP, and UDDI. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2002."


       c) info:sici/0363-0277(19950315)120:5%3C%3E1.0.TX;2-V

   where "sici" is the "namespace" component for a of Serial Item and
   Contribution Identifier [SICI] namespace and "0363-
   0277(19950315)120:5%3C%3E1.0.TX;2-V" is the "identifier" component
   for an identifier of an information asset in that namespace in
   %-escaped form, or in unescaped form "0363-
   0277(19950315)120:5<>1.0.TX;2-V".

   The information asset identified by the identifier "0363-
   0277(19950315)120:5<>1.0.TX;2-V" in the namespace for Serial Item and
   Contribution Identifiers is the journal issue

       "Library Journal, Vol. 120, no. 5. March 15, 1995."


       d) <rdf:Description about="info:bibcode/2003Icar..163..263Z"/>

   where "bibcode" is the "namespace" component for a NASA ADS Bibcode
   [BIBCODE] namespace and "2003Icar..163..263Z " is the "identifier"
   component for an identifier of an information asset within that
   namespace.  This example further shows an application of an "info"
   URI as the subject of an RDF statement.

   The information asset identified by the identifier
   "2003Icar..163..263Z" in the namespace for NASA ADS Bibcodes is the
   metadata record in the ADS system that describes the journal article

       "K. Zahnle, P. Schenk, H. Levison and L. Dones, Cratering rates
       in the outer Solar System, Icarus, 163 (2003) pp. 263-289."


       e) info:pmid/12376099

   where "pmid" is the "namespace" component for a PubMed Identifier
   [PMID] namespace and "12376099" is the "identifier" component for an



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   identifier of an information asset in that namespace.

   The information asset identified by the identifier "12376099" in the
   namespace for PubMed Identifiers is the metadata record in the PubMed
   database that describes the journal article

       "Wijesuriya SD, Bristow J, Miller WL. Localization and analysis
       of the principal promoter for human tenascin-X. Genomics. 2002
       Oct;80(4):443-52."










































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5.  Normalization and Comparison of "info" URIs

   In order to facilitate comparison of "info" URIs, a sequence of
   normalization steps SHOULD be applied as detailed below.  After
   normalizing the URI strings, comparison of two "info" URIs is then
   applied on a character by character basis as prescribed by RFC 3986
   [RFC3986], Section 6.2.1.

   The following generic normalization steps SHOULD anyway be applied by
   applications processing "info" URIs:

        a) Normalize the case of the "scheme" component to be
           lowercase
        b) Normalize the case of the "namespace" component to be
           lowercase
        c) Unescape all unreserved %-escaped characters in the
           "namespace" and "identifier" components
        d) Normalize the case of any %-escaped characters in the
           "namespace" and "identifier" components to be
           uppercase

   Further normalization steps MAY be applied by applications to "info"
   URIs based on rules recorded in the "info" Registry for a registered
   public namespace but such normalization steps remain outside of the
   scope of the "info" URI definition.

   Since the "info" URI SHOULD be treated as being case-sensitive, a
   canonical form MAY only be arrived at by consulting the "info"
   Registry for possible information on the case-sensitivity for
   identifiers from a registered public namespace, and any case
   normalization step to apply.  The "info" Registry MAY also disclose
   additional normalization rules regarding the treatment of punctuation
   characters and the like.

   In cases, however, where no single canonical form of the "identifier"
   component exists, it is nevertheless RECOMMENDED that a Namespace
   Authority nominate a preferred form which SHOULD be used wherever
   possible within an "info" URI so that applications MAY have an
   increased chance of successful comparison of two "info" URIs.

   Note that "info" URIs containing dot-segments (i.e. segments whose
   full content consists of "." or "..")  MAY NOT be suitable for use
   with applications that perform dot-segment normalization.

   The following unnormalized forms of an "info" URI






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       U1. INFO:PII/S0888-7543(02)96852-7
       U2. info:PII/S0888754302968527
       U3. info:pii/S0888%2D7543%2802%2996852%2D7
       U4. info:pii/s0888-7543(02)96852-7

   are normalized to the following respective forms

       N1. info:pii/S0888-7543(02)96852-7
       N2. info:pii/S0888754302968527
       N3. info:pii/S0888-7543(02)96852-7
       N4. info:pii/s0888-7543(02)96852-7

   The "info" URI definition does not prescribe further normalization
   steps although applications MAY apply additional normalization steps
   according to any rules recorded in the "info" Registry for a
   registered public namespace.



































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6.  Rationale

6.1  Why Create a New URI Scheme for Identifiers from Public Namespaces?

   Under RFC 2718, "Guidelines for new URL Schemes" [RFC2718], it is
   stated that a URI scheme SHOULD have a "demonstrated utility", and in
   particular SHOULD be applied to "things that cannot be referred to in
   any other way".  The "info" URI scheme allows identifiers within
   public namespaces, used for the identification of information assets,
   to be referred to within the URI allocation.  Once a namespace is
   registered in the "info" Registry, the "info" URI scheme enables an
   information asset with an identifier in that namespace to be
   referenced by means of a URI.  As a result, the information asset
   SHALL be considered a resource as defined in RFC 3986 [RFC3986] and
   SHALL enjoy the same common syntactic, semantic and shared language
   benefits that the URI presentation confers.

6.2  Why Not Use an existing URI Scheme for Identifiers from Public
     Namespaces?

   Existing URI schemes are not suitable for employment as the "info"
   URI scheme admits of no global dereference mechanism.  While examples
   of resource identifiers minted under other URI schemes MAY not always
   be dereferenceable, nevertheless there is always a common expectation
   that such URIs can be dereferenced by various resolution mechanisms,
   whether they be location-dependent or location-independent resource
   identifiers.  The "info" URI scheme applies to a class of resource
   identifiers whose Namespace Authorities MAY or MAY NOT choose to
   disclose service mechanisms.  Nevertheless, Namespace Authorities are
   encouraged to disclose in the "info" registration record references
   to any such service mechanisms in order to provide a greater utility
   to network applications.

6.3  Why Not Create a New URN Namespace ID for Identifiers from Public
     Namespaces?

   RFC 2141 [RFC2141] states that "Uniform Resource Names (URNs) are
   intended to serve as persistent, location-independent, resource
   identifiers."  The "info" URI scheme, on the other hand, does not
   assert the persistence of the identifiers created under this scheme
   but rather of the public namespaces grandfathered under this scheme.
   It exists primarily to disclose the identity of information assets
   and to facilitate a lightweight registration mechanism for public
   namespaces of identifiers managed according to the policies and
   business models of the Namespace Authorities.  The "info" URI scheme
   is neutral with respect to identifier persistence.  Moreover, for
   "info" to operate as a URN NID would require that "info" be
   constituted as a delegated naming authority.  It is not clear that a



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   URN NID would be an appropriate choice for naming authority
   delegation.

   Further, the "info" URI scheme is not globally dereferenceable in
   contrast to the specific recommendation given in RFC 1737,
   "Functional Requirements for Uniform Resource Names" [RFC1737] that
   "It is strongly recommended that there be a mapping between the names
   generated by each naming authority and URLs.".  Individual Namespace
   Authorities registered in the "info" Registry MAY, however, disclose
   references to service mechanisms and are encouraged to do so.

   An extra consideration is that the "urn" URI syntax explicitly
   excludes generic URI hierarchy by reserving the slash "/" character.
   An "info" URI, on the other hand, admits of hierarchical processing,
   while remaining neutral with respect to supporting actual hierarchy,
   and thus allows the slash "/" character (as well as more liberally
   allowing the ampersand "&" and tilde "~" characters).  It therefore
   represents a lower barrier to entry for Namespace Authorities in
   keeping with its intention of acting as a bridging mechanism to allow
   public namespaces to become part of the URI allocation.  In sum, an
   "info" URI is more widely supportive of "human transcribability" as
   discussed in RFC 3986 [RFC3986] than is a "urn" URI.

   Additionally the "urn" URI syntax does not support "fragment"
   components as does the "info" URI syntax for indirect identification
   of secondary resources.

























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7.  Security Considerations

   The "info" URI scheme syntax is subject to the same security
   considerations as the generic URI syntax described in RFC 3986
   [RFC3986].

   While some "info" Namespace Authorities MAY choose to disclose
   service mechanisms, any security considerations resulting from the
   execution of such services fall outside the scope of this document.
   It is strongly recommended that the registration record of an "info"
   namespace include any such considerations.








































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8.  IANA Considerations

   The IANA registry for URI schemes
   <http://www.iana.org/assignments/uri-schemes> SHOULD be updated to
   include an entry for the "info" URI scheme when the "info" URI scheme
   is accepted for publication as an RFC.  This entry SHOULD contain the
   following values:

   Scheme Name: info

   Description: Information assets with identifiers in public namespaces

   Reference: (reference to the RFC under which the "info" URI scheme is
      described)





































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9.  Acknowledgements

   The authors acknowledge the contributions of Michael Mealling,
   Verisign, and Patrick Hochstenbach, Ghent University.















































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10.  References

10.1  Normative References

   [RFC1737]  Masinter, L. and K. Sollins, "Functional Requirements for
              Uniform Resource Names", RFC 1737, December 1994.

              Retrieved July 9, 2004 from
              <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1737.txt>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key Words for Use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirements Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

              Retrieved September 20, 2003 from
              <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt>.

   [RFC2141]  Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.

              Retrieved July 9, 2004 from
              <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2141.txt>.

   [RFC2234]  Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.

              Retrieved September 20, 2003 from
              <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2234.txt>.

   [RFC2279]  Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, A Transformation Format for Unicode
              and ISO10646", RFC 2279, October 1996.

              Retrieved September 20, 2003 from
              <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2279.txt>.

   [RFC2718]  Masinter, L., Alvestrand, H., Zigmond, D., and R. Petke,
              "Guidelines for new URL Schemes", RFC 2718, November 1999.

              Retrieved September 20, 2003 from
              <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2718.txt>.

   [RFC3986]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
              Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 3986,
              January 2005.

              Retrieved August 3, 2005 from
              <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt>.

   [UNICODE]  The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard, Version
              4.0.0, defined by: The Unicode Standard, Version 4.0".



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              (Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley, 2003).  ISBN 0-321-18578-1.

10.2  Informative References

   [BIBCODE]  "NASA Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Code".

              Retrieved August 1, 2003 from
              <http://adsdoc.harvard.edu/abs_doc/help_pages/data.html>.

   [DEWEY]    "Dewey Decimal Classification".

              Retrieved September 20, 2003 from
              <http://www.oclc.org/dewey/>.

   [LCCN]     "Library of Congress Control Number".

              Retrieved August 1, 2003 from
              <http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/lccn_structure.html>.

   [NISO]     "National Information Standards Organization".

              Retrieved August 1, 2003 from <http://www.niso.org/>.

   [OCLCNUM]  "Online Computer Library Center OCLC Control Number".

              Retrieved November 25, 2003 from
              <http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/fixedfield/oclc.shtm>.

   [OFI]      "ANSI/NISO Z39.88-2004, "The OpenURL Framework for
              Context-Sensitive Services", 1-880124-61-0".

              Retrieved August 3, 2005 from
              <http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/Z39_88_2004.pdf>.

   [PII]      "Publisher Item Identifier as a means of document
              identification".

              Retrieved September 25, 2003 from
              <http://www.elsevier.nl/inca/homepage/about/pii/>.

   [PMID]     "PubMed Overview".

              Retrieved September 25, 2003 from
              <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/
              overview.html>.

   [SICI]     "ANSI/NISO Z39.56-1996 (R2002), "Serial Item and
              Contribution Identifier (SICI)", ISBN 1-880124-28-9".



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              Retrieved September 25, 2003 from
              <http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/Z39-56-1996.pdf>.


Authors' Addresses

   Herbert Van de Sompel
   Los Alamos National Laboratory
   Research Library, MS-P362
   PO Box 1663
   Los Alamos, NM  87545-1362
   USA

   Email: herbertv@lanl.gov


   Tony Hammond
   Nature Publishing Group
   Macmillan House
   4 Crinan Street
   London  N1 9XW
   UK

   Email: t.hammond@nature.com


   Eamonn Neylon
   Manifest Solutions
   Bicester, Oxfordshire  OX26 2HX
   UK

   Email: eneylon@manifestsolutions.com


   Stuart L. Weibel
   OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
   6565 Frantz Road
   Dublin, OH  43017-3395
   USA

   Email: weibel@oclc.org










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