RFC 3043 (rfc3043) - Page 1 of 5
The Network Solutions Personal Internet Name (PIN): A URN Namespace for People and Organizations
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group M. Mealling
Request for Comments: 3043 Network Solutions, Inc.
Category: Informational January 2001
The Network Solutions Personal Internet Name (PIN): A URN Namespace
for People and Organizations
Status 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 (2001). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes a Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace that
is engineered by Network Solutions, Inc. for naming people and
organizations.
1. Introduction
In many cases Network Solutions' maintained directory applications
require some unique and persistent way to talk about an individual or
organization. For example, white pages style services need to
determine if one entry is distinct from another even if some of the
data happens to be the same. Also, e-commerce authentication
mechanisms needs to identify a user and/or company uniquely and
possibly over large spans of time. In many cases a customer
relationship can last several decades. Such long term customer
relationships can outlast any specific email address, Internet
service provider, surname, or possibly even the DNS itself.
The intent for these applications is that they be used and integrated
into other, non-NSI maintained applications in much the same way that
domain-names that exist in Network Solution's database are primarily
used in application that Network Solutions is _not_ involved in. In
much the same way that ISBNs are maintained by specific entities but
used in widely varying applications, NSI's PIN namespace is intended
to be used in many applications where there is a need for a well
maintained identifier that names a person or organization.
Mealling Informational