[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Registrar Data vs RDS Data

[Andrew Sullivan]

Hi,

On Tue, Aug 08, 2017 at 10:43:19AM -0400, Andrew Sullivan wrote:

> I _think_ the RDS we are working on is supposed to be the set of
> common data that is to be collected, or is optionally collected, and
> is accessible to at least one party through a publicly-specified query
> mechanism against the registration database(s); this mechanism might
> restrict the data that a given party is able to retrieve as a result
> of such a query.

I am not too sure that we came to any resolution about this, and I
must say that this week's poll questions make me more confused than
ever.  The questions ask about things being "in the RDS" that are
entirely static elements: the abuse contact, and other such things
that are not the sort of thing that are collected, but rather that are
configured (probably once) at the time the service is started.

The discussion around contacts that has started on the list is
similarly conflating data that is collected with that which is
displayed: there is no double collection of different contact data
normally, even if the data is displayed in whois today more than one
time.  

This all makes me feel like we are equivocating on what we are
supposed to be doing: that we are most of the time actually talking
about what is displayed in an RDDS even though we're talking about the
wider RDS thing, which includes data collection.

I wouldn't go on about this tediously, except that I think it is
leading us into ratholes in that people forget about the distinction
between collection and display.

I'm not sure what to suggest about this.  One thing that occurred to
me today is that we could stop worrying about collection and start
worrying about what is going to be published in the RDDS for someone
to see.  If at least one person under some circumstances can look at
the data, then we know we can collect it.  If _nobody_ can, then there
is a live question as to whether the data may be collected at all.
(As soon as we have a legitimate use for consuming the data, then by
definition the data is permissible to collect for that purpose, as far
as I can tell.)

There remains the problem of data that is collectable by the registry
for its purposes, but not allowed in the RDS.  The reason that's a
problem is because I know of at least one registry that simply
connects the RDDS (i.e. whois) and the SRS to different copies of the
very same database.  In that case, it would seem that all the data in
the SRS is by definition in the RDS, and if there's some distinction
then we appear to be getting into specifying implementations rather
than policy.

Best regards,

A

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
ajs at anvilwalrusden.com