PROV-ISSUE-52 (provenance-source-equal-treatment): why handling provider and third parties differently? [Accessing and Querying Provenance]

PROV-ISSUE-52 (provenance-source-equal-treatment): why handling provider and third parties differently? [Accessing and Querying Provenance]

http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/track/issues/52

Raised by: Luc Moreau
On product: Accessing and Querying Provenance

Let us assume I have the identifier for the document that I currently hold.
Why do we have two different methods to obtain its provenance-uri?

HTTP HEAD if we want to obtain provenance-uri(s) from the document provider.

SPARQL query if we want to obtain provenance-uri(s) from a third party.

Ultimately, it's the same operation (give me provenance-uri(s) for the current document), why two different methods? My view is that we should have a SINGLE operation, whoever we are dealing with, document provider or third party.