Movatterモバイル変換

Network Working Group                                        F. HendrikxRequest for Comments: 4350                                     C. WallisCategory: Informational                           New Zealand Government                                                           February 2006A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Formal Namespacefor the New Zealand GovernmentStatus 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 (2006).Abstract   This document describes a Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace   Identification (NID)convention as prescribed by the World Wide Web   Consortium (W3C) for identifying, naming, assigning, and managing   persistent resources and XML artefacts for the New Zealand   Government.1.  Introduction   The New Zealand Government has already adopted XML as its primary   means of storing and exchanging data.  The New Zealand Government   publishes documents, schemas, and other government artefacts.   The New Zealand Government now wishes to define a namespace   convention and structure for its agencies by creating and managing   globally unique, persistent, location-independent identifiers for   their schema resources and XML artefacts.   This is a natural extension of the development of the Dublin Core   based New Zealand Government metadata standard (New Zealand   Government Locator Service, or NZGLS) used by government agencies to   create metadata and made operational to the public through an all-   of-government portal.   The New Zealand Government wishes to provide guidance on namespaces   to its agencies so that they use a portion of the adopted namespace   to minimise the risk of their creating different (and potentially   conflicting) namespace structures.  This issue potentially extends toHendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 1]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 2006   data exchange beyond government into the private sector of New   Zealand, thus placing the government under an obligation to provide   guidance in the assignment and management of additional namespaces.   The New Zealand Government wishes to register the country NID, NZL,   with the Name Specific String (NSS) split into two parts; the first   part being a specific sub-type <nz-specifier> and the second part as   a <nz-specifier defined string>.   As part of the URN structure, the New Zealand Government wishes to   define and subsequently manage the "govt" specifier.  It will also   assign additional specifiers requested by other New Zealand   organisations in accordance with the rules and processes proposed   herein.   The New Zealand Government hoped to make use of the two-letter   Namespace Identifier (NID) combination for its ubiquitous country   code, NZ.  But since there is as yet no process to register these   (seeRFC 3406 [1]) the government has opted to request its well-known   alternative three-letter country code (see ISO 3166 [3]).   This namespace specification requests a formal namespace (see [6] for   more information about formal namespaces).   Please note that this paper includes a discussion on the use of   diacritic marks, in particular, Maori macrons.  Maori is an official   language of New Zealand.  In recognition of the established practice   of publishing RFCs for a global audience in ASCII text where   diacritic marks are unable to be recognised, the text has been   presented without macrons.Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 2]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 20062.  Specification Template   Namespace ID:      "NZL".   Registration Information:      Version Number: 1      Date: 2005-03-31   Declared registrant of the namespace:      State Services Commission      New Zealand Government      100 Molesworth Street      Wellington,      New Zealand      Email: e-GIF@ssc.govt.nz   Declaration of structure:      The identifier has a hierarchical structure as follows:      urn:nzl:<nz-specifier>[:<nz-specifier defined string>]+      + denotes one or more occurrences of nz-specifier defined strings      all delimited by a colon.      For example:      urn:nzl:govt:registering:dogs:registration:1-0      urn:nzl:govt:registering:firearms:form:1-3      urn:nzl:govt:registering:recreational_fishing:form:1-0      The <nz-specifier> and <nz-specifier defined string> can comprise      any UTF-8 characters compliant with URI syntax and must not      contain the ":" character (see STD 66,RFC 3986 [2]).  The      exclusion of the colon from the list of other characters means      that the colon can only occur as a delimiter between string      values.  The values come from the terms listed in the NZGLS.      The State Services Commission (SSC) will take responsibility for      the <nz-specifier> "govt" and its sub level <nz-specifier defined      string> terms; e.g., "registering".Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 3]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 2006      The SSC will take responsibility to assign other <nz-specifiers>      to organisations who apply and can satisfy the SSC that they have      the capability to manage the sub level and its applicable <nz-      specifier defined string(s)>.   Relevant ancillary documentation:      The function and noun syntax used in the <nz-specifier defined      string> is based on and taken from the NZGLS      (http://www.e.govt.nz/standards/nzgls/thesauri/).   Identifier uniqueness considerations:      Identifiers in the <nz-specifier> "govt" are defined and assigned      in the requested namespace by the SSC after ensuring that the URNs      to be assigned are unique.  Uniqueness is achieved by checking      against the registry of previously assigned names.      The SSC will ensure that the URNs to be assigned to other      organisations applying for other <nz-specifier(s)> (e.g., mil, co,      org) are unique by checking against the registry of previously      assigned names.      The SSC will develop and publish the process for doing this,      which, where applicable, is consistent with the process it uses      for moderating the .govt.nz Top Level Domain (TLD).   Identifier persistence considerations:      The New Zealand Government is committed to maintaining uniqueness      and persistence of all resources identified by assigned URNs.      Given that the URN sought is NZL (the long-held ISO 3166 Alpha-3      representation of the country) and that the country's independence      from any other jurisdiction expected to continue indefinitely, the      URN should also persist indefinitely.      Likewise, the <nz-specifier> "govt" has a very long life      expectancy and can be expected to remain unique for the      foreseeable future.  The assignment process guarantees that names      are not reassigned.  The binding between the name and its resource      is permanent.      The SSC will ensure that other organisations applying to manage      other <nz-specifier> Second Level Name (2LN) sub-levels of the NZL      URN namespace (e.g., mil, co, org) uniquely assign the namespace      at this level.Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 4]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 2006   Process of identifier assignment:      Under the "NZL" NID, the New Zealand Government will manage the      <nz-specifier> "govt" and leverage the existing NZGLS thesaurus      for identifier resources to maintain uniqueness.      The process of assigning URNs at the <nz-specifier> sub-level will      be managed by the SSC of the New Zealand Government.  (The SSC has      managed and maintained the NZGLS thesauri since its inception in      2002 and has moderated the TLD .govt.nz).      The SSC will develop and publish the process for doing this, which      is consistent with the process it uses for moderating the .govt.nz      TLD, where applicable.  The process for marketing the ".govt.nz"      TLD can be found at these links:http://www.e.govt.nz/moderation/mod-policy/chapter1.html         andhttp://www.e.govt.nz/moderation/mod-policy/chapter2.html      The process is drawn from the 2LD policies and procedures of the      New Zealand Office of the Domain Name Commissioner,http://dnc.org.nz (and specificallyhttp://www.dnc.org.nz/story/30043-35-1.html).      Other New Zealand organisations may apply to the SSC to delegate      specifiers for resolution and management assigned by them.      Delegation of this responsibility will not be unreasonably      withheld provided that the processes for their resolution and      management are robust and are followed.      Organisations who apply to have a <nz-specifier> assigned to them      must satisfy the SSC that they have the capability to manage the      2LN sub-level and its applicable <nz-specifier defined string(s)>      responsibly.  The policies and procedures in the links above will      be provided to applicants as a guide and will be used by the SSC      to determine the applicant's capability.   Process of identifier resolution:      For the <nz-specifier> "govt", the SSC will maintain lists of      assigned identifiers on its web pages athttp://www.e.govt.nz/.      The SSC will require other organisations that apply to manage      other <nz-specifier> sub-levels to follow this practice unless      there are specific reasons (e.g., security) not to do so.Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 5]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 2006   Rules for Lexical Equivalence:      The lexical equivalence of the NZL namespace-specific strings      (NSSs) is defined as an exact, but not case-sensitive, string      match.  Best Practice guidelines will specify:      a)  NZL in either uppercase or lowercase (The New Zealand          government will assign names as case-insensitive, to ensure          that there will not be two NZL URNs differing only by case.)      b)  The first letter of each <nz-specifier> and <nz specifier          defined string> in uppercase or the whole value in lowercase.      c)  Any identifier in NZL namespaces can be compared using the          normal mechanisms for percent-encoded UTF-8 strings.      Note that textual data containing diacritic marks (such as Maori      macrons) will not be treated as lexically equivalent to textual      data without diacritic marks; i.e., a distinction will be made.      It is important to note that a macron can change the meaning of a      word in the Maori language.      The following explanation provides guidance in this respect.      NSS is any UTF-8-encoded string that is compliant with the URN      syntax (i.e., following the encoding rules for 8-bit characters).      Since Maori is an official language in New Zealand and its use of      diacritic marks (in this case macrons) invokes the requirement to      percent-encode reserved characters, the following extract fromRFC3986 [4] is applicable.         When a new URI scheme defines a component that represents         textual data consisting of characters from the Universal         Character Set [UCS], the data should first be encoded as octets         according to the UTF-8 character encoding [STD63]; then only         those octets that do not correspond to characters in the         unreserved set should be percent-encoded.  For example, the         character A would be represented as "A", the character LATIN         CAPITAL LETTER A WITH GRAVE would be represented as "%C3%80",         and the character KATAKANA LETTER A would be represented as         "%E3%82%A2".      As described above, UTF-8 allows the use of diacritic marks such      as New Zealand Maori macrons.      In the New Zealand context, the word "Maori" carries a diacritic      mark over the "a".  A URI including the macronised word "Maori"      would be percent-encoded as M%C4%81ori.Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 6]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 2006      Given that the "govt" namespaces will draw from the NZGLS      thesaurus (which does not at present utilise diacritic marks), the      "govt" <nz-specifier> will not utilise UTF-8's percent-encoding      convention for diacritic marks.  An "a" with a diacritic mark will      be presented simply as an "a".  There is no mapping or equivalence      table.  Therefore, the requirement to distinguish between terms      that have diacritic marks and those that do not will not arise in      the <nz-specifier> "govt".      Other organisations may use diacritic marks with certain      conditions.  Organisations that apply to manage other      <nz-specifier> sub-levels of the NZL URN namespace could utilise      UTF-8's diacritic functionality provided that they have the      applicable processes to separate Maori language terms using      macrons from those that do not, in order to ensure uniqueness in      accordance with rule c) above.   Conformance with URN Syntax:      No special considerations.   Validation mechanism:      None other than names being derived from the NZGLS thesaurus      "dictionary".   Scope:      Global, but primarily of national interest.3.  Namespace Considerations   The SSC undertook a preliminary study of the URI alternatives against   the key requirements.  The options were narrowed down to five.  These   were a private URI scheme, URL, PURL, IRI, and URN.  URN was   considered the most appropriate URI against the criteria.   Consultation on the preliminary study was actively sought from the   Internet Society of NZ (InternetNZ), the NZ Computer Society,   applicable vendors, and government agencies.  Publication on the   e-government web site allowed for public participation.   Points that should be noted are:   a)  With respect to the NID, the New Zealand Government is the first       known jurisdiction to apply its globally known ISO 3166 Alpha-3       country code to become a URN.  One objective of the ISO 3166       Alpha-2 and 3-letter country codes was to provide uniqueness.Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 7]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 2006   b)  The namespace follows the logical structure of the NZGLS as shown       in the examples above.4.  Community Considerations   Providers of government information for data exchange benefit by the   publication of the namespace because it provides much-needed guidance   on generating target namespaces for schema development using a   process that reflects what they already know; namely, metadata   creation in NZGLS.  The identifiers under the "govt" specifier will   track the terms used in the New Zealand government thesaurus.   Consequently, New Zealanders will ultimately benefit since the   exchange of more structured information will potentially improve   online experiences in areas such as forms design.   Any citizen or organisation with Internet web browser capability will   be entitled to access the namespace and its associated application,   registration, and resolution services.  While the assignment of   identifiers will be managed by the SSC, additional specifiers (such   as mil, co, org, and their <nz-specifier defined string(s)>) can be   openly applied for and registered by anyone following an approved   namespace governance process and proof of the applicant's bona fide   association with the intended specifier (i.e., no squatting or   hoarding).5.  IANA Considerations   This document includes a URN NID registration for NZL for entry in   the IANA registry of URN NIDs (seeRFC 2434 [5] for more   information).6.  Security Considerations   No serious security implications are envisaged beyond the potential   threat of spoofing.  The application, registration and assignment of   subsequent specifiers will leverage existing government processes to   authenticate the applicants and their association with the proposed   specifier application.7.  Acknowledgements   Since the specification described in this document is derived from   STD 66,RFC 3986 andRFC 3406, the acknowledgements in those   documents still apply.  In addition, the authors wish to acknowledge   Leslie Daigle and Ted Hardie for their suggestions and review.Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 8]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 20068.  References8.1.  Normative References   [1]  Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom,        "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms",BCP 66,RFC 3406, October 2002.   [2]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform        Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,RFC 3986,        January 2005.   [3]  ISO 3166, "Country name codes", ISO 3166-1:1997.8.2.  Informative References   [4]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform        Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,RFC 3986,        January 2005.   [5]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA        Considerations Section in RFCs",BCP 26,RFC 2434, October 1998.   [6]  URI Planning Interest Group, W3C/IETF (See acknowledgments)        September 2001,        <http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/NOTE-uri-clarification-20010921/>.Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                      [Page 9]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 2006Authors' Addresses   Ferry Hendrikx   Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Branch   State Services Commission   PO Box 329   Wellington   New Zealand   Phone: +64 4 495 6600   EMail: ferry.hendrikx@ssc.govt.nz   Colin Wallis   Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Branch   State Services Commission   PO Box 329   Wellington   New Zealand   Phone: +64 4 495 6600   EMail: colin.wallis@ssc.govt.nzHendrikx & Wallis            Informational                     [Page 10]

RFC 4350             URN for New Zealand Government        February 2006Full Copyright Statement   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions   contained inBCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors   retain all their rights.   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM 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.Intellectual Property   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be   found inBCP 78 andBCP 79.   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository athttp://www.ietf.org/ipr.   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at   ietf-ipr@ietf.org.Acknowledgement   Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF   Administrative Support Activity (IASA).Hendrikx & Wallis            Informational                     [Page 11]