RFC 3323 (rfc3323) - Page 1 of 22


A Privacy Mechanism for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



Network Working Group                                        J. Peterson
Request for Comments: 3323                                       Neustar
Category: Standards Track                                  November 2002


     A Privacy Mechanism for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document defines new mechanisms for the Session Initiation
   Protocol (SIP) in support of privacy.  Specifically, guidelines are
   provided for the creation of messages that do not divulge personal
   identity information.  A new "privacy service" logical role for
   intermediaries is defined to answer some privacy requirements that
   user agents cannot satisfy themselves.  Finally, means are presented
   by which a user can request particular functions from a privacy
   service.

Table of Contents

   1.      Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.      Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   3.      Varieties of Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.1     When is Privacy Necessary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.2     User-Provided Privacy  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   3.3     Network-Provided Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   4.      User Agent Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   4.1     Constructing Private Messages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   4.1.1   URIs, Display-Names and Privacy  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   4.1.1.1 Display-Names  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   4.1.1.2 URI Usernames  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   4.1.1.3 URI Hostnames and IP Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   4.2     Expressing Privacy Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   4.3     Routing Requests to Privacy Services . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   4.4     Routing Responses to Privacy Services  . . . . . . . . . . 13
   5.      Privacy Service Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14



Peterson                    Standards Track