Re: [metadataInURI-31] A guide to where we stand on issue metadataInURI-31

Hi Noah,

I agree with your summary points, except:

> Those with authority over resources (what are the right words here  
> about ownership?) MAY encode metadata in a URI for their own  
> private purposes.

[nit] I'd rephrase this slightly to reflect that URIs *always* encode  
metadata for private purposes (e.g., where to find the file / what  
code to dispatch to).

> Quoting from the 8 July 2003 Draft Summary of Principles: "People  
> and software making use of URIs assigned outside of their own  
> authority (i.e. observers) MUST NOT attempt to infer properties of  
> the referenced resource except as licensed by relevant normative  
> specifications or by URI assignment policies published by the  
> relevant URI assignment authority."

I think that it's just as important to make this point (i.e., on  
equal standing with those you put forth): "Authorities MAY  
communicate information about the structure of their URIs (in other  
words, instructions of how to extract metadata from them) for use by  
observers."

Doing so is very useful and common, and people reading the opacity  
documentation often conflate it with unhinted inference (which *is*  
bad).

Cheers,


--
Mark Nottingham
mnot@yahoo-inc.com

Received on Friday, 24 February 2006 23:25:58 UTC