RFC 3043

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

📅 published January 2001, from ietf

RFC 3043: The Network Solutions Personal Internet Name (PIN) 💖

The title block first, so you know who's behind this and what it's about 🎀

  • RFC number: 3043
  • Title: The Network Solutions Personal Internet Name (PIN): A URN Namespace for People and Organizations
  • Author: Michael Mealling, Network Solutions, Inc.
  • Category: Informational 🦋
  • Date: January 2001
  • Obsoletes / Updates: the header doesn't list anything this RFC obsoletes or updates ✨

Status of This Memo 📜

okay so this memo is just giving info to the Internet community 💅 It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind, and distribution of it is unlimited 🌸

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

Abstract 🧚

this doc describes a Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace that Network Solutions, Inc. engineered for naming people and organizations 🫶

1. Introduction 🌈

okay picture this 🙈 Network Solutions' directory apps often need some unique, persistent way to talk about a person or org. Like, white pages services have to figure out whether one entry is different from another even when some of the data matches 👀 And e-commerce authentication needs to identify a user and/or company uniquely, maybe over huge stretches of time, because a customer relationship can last several decades 😭 Those relationships can outlast an email address, an ISP, a surname, or even the DNS itself 💀

The plan is that these apps get used and plugged into other (non-NSI) apps, kinda like how domain names in Network Solutions' database are mostly used in apps Network Solutions is _not_ involved in ✨ Same vibe as ISBNs: the entities maintain them, but they show up in all sorts of apps. So NSI's PIN namespace is meant for lots of apps that need a well-maintained identifier naming a person or organization 🎀

Here's the lowkey genius part 🔥 A URN namespace is a perfect fit for this kind of persistent identification, because those apps also need identifiers that are unique and persistent. And having a standardized resolution mechanism means other apps can 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 📋

Okay, this is the official checklist, and I'm obsessed with how thorough it is 🍓

Namespace ID 🏷️

The pin namespace ID is requested.

Registration Information 🗓️

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

Declared registrant of the namespace 👑

The registrant is:

Network Solutions
505 Huntmar Park Drive
Herndon, VA 22070

Declaration of structure 🌸

The structure of the NSS is a flat space of alphanumeric characters. It has no knowable structure outside the context of Network Solutions' internal resolver 🙃 Future changes to the assignment methods might let others assign sub-spaces of the flat namespace, but again, that knowledge is only valid internally and should never be inferred or relied upon externally 🚫

Relevant ancillary documentation 📚

None.

Identifier uniqueness considerations 🔐

Identifiers get assigned by Network Solutions' proprietary registration system, which guarantees uniqueness ✨ Right now the algorithm iterates from the last assigned number by some positive integer. Down the road it may change to incorporate a full range of alphanumeric elements. Either way, the system compares each newly created identifier against all the previous ones to make sure it hasn't already been assigned 🎀

Identifier persistence considerations 💎

The assignment process guarantees that names are not reassigned, and that the binding between a name and its person or organization is permanent 💜 That holds no matter what: personal name changes, corporate restructuring, death, or dissolution 😭

Process of identifier assignment 📝

Names are granted through Network Solutions' proprietary registration procedures.

Process of identifier resolution 🔍

PIN URNs get resolved through URN resolvers run by Network Solutions. Since a PIN URN identifies a person or organization, resolving one can only return information from an electronic proxy, which is just 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 beyond what's specified for resolution.

Scope 🌍

Global ✨

3. Examples 🍬

The following examples are not guaranteed to be real 🙈 They're here purely for teaching, so don't go sliding into anyone's DMs with them 💀

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

4. Security Considerations 🔒

This is the serious bit, bestie, so pay attention 🫶 Since the URNs in this namespace are opaque, there are no additional security considerations beyond the ones normally associated with using and resolving URNs in general 🧚

Warning: attempting to resolve a PIN URN through a resolver other than the one provided by Network Solution is error prone. In any case, that resolver 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

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

This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English.

The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Acknowledgement 🫶

Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society 💖

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