[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] On "authoritative" (was: Off the Simplicity Wall or Simply Off the Wall)

[David Cake]

> On 28 Apr 2017, at 10:07 pm, Andrew Sullivan <ajs at anvilwalrusden.com> wrote:
> 
> On Fri, Apr 28, 2017 at 01:56:21AM +0800, David Cake wrote:
>> The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario is not just the best source for information on Andrew’s drivers licence status, it also has authority to decide that status. This is a different meaning again - it is certainly possible for there to be a source of information that has authority, but that has not made that data available (perhaps because it has not made a decision itself as to what the data should be, or because it has authority to determie the data but is not always the original source). And it is this additional meaning that adds legal confusion.
> 
> I don't actually think that's a different meaning: once I have
> crankycanuck.ca allocated to me, I _do_ have the authority to decide
> whether the name is delegated or what the name servers are or
> whatever.  But I think the main point is

	I maintain it is a different meaning - but for the DNS they coincide by design. This is not the case for all manner of other forms of data. 
IANA is an interesting example to consider in this discussion - it is the authoritative source of data, but does not have the authority to originate changes to that data. 
	
> 
>> Which only confuses the issue further, and convinces me we should avoid the term outside a strict technical context. 
>> 
> 
> this.  Let's avoid the term because it's getting in our way.

	Agreed

	David