Re: [urn] Registration request for urn:thread:

[Peter Saint-Andre <[e-mail]>]

On 1/25/24 11:40 AM, Dale R. Worley wrote:
> Esko Dijk <[e-mail]> writes:
>>> This text says "published" but the page at the URL only allows access
>>> under NDA.
>>
>> Right, the "internal use only" in the EULA seems to prohibit public
>> discussion on content or quoting.  Could we say "made available by
>> Thread Group to members and non-member licensees"?
> 
> My opinion is "No", unless it's agreed that *all* non-members are
> licensed to see, copy, and discuss it in any forum.  See, e.g.,
> 
>      https://www.ietf.org/about/introduction/
>      Introduction to the IETF
>      Mission
> 
>      The IETF wants the Internet to be useful for communities that share our
>      commitment to openness and fairness.
> 
>      https://www.ietf.org/about/open-records/
>      Open records
> 
>      The IETF operates in an open and transparent fashion and we publish open
>      records of most of the contributions, submissions, statements, and
>      communications that we receive.
> 
>      https://www.ietf.org/privacy-statement/
>      IETF/IRTF/IAB Privacy Statement
>      Our Commitment to Transparency
> 
>      The IETF/IRTF/IAB operates in an open and transparent fashion. As a part
>      of this transparency, any contributions, submissions, statements or
>      communications that you make to any Party including any Personal Data,
>      other than as expressly excepted in this statement, will be made public
>      through electronic and other means.
> 
> Having a URN namespace whose fundamental rules and structure is trade
> secret is contrary to the spirit of the IETF.

Section 5.1 of RFC 8141 states:

    Formal URN namespaces might be appropriate even when some
    aspects are not fully open.  For example, a URN namespace might make
    use of a fee-based, privately managed, or proprietary registry for
    assignment of URNs in the URN namespace.  However, it might still
    benefit some Internet users if the associated services have openly
    published names.

In this case, I would say that the letter of RFC 8141 overrides the 
spirit of the IETF.

In general, we have encouraged registration of URN NIDs if doing so 
"provides benefit to some subset of users on the Internet" (ibid.). That 
seems to be at least the intent of the work that Thread Group is doing.

Peter