[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] a suggestion for "purpose in detail"

Deacon, Alex Alex_Deacon at mpaa.org
Tue Mar 28 14:30:40 UTC 2017


Hi

I agree that this is a nice framework and want to thank Andrew for putting this together.  Having concrete written proposals such as this to discuss/debate is IMO important to ensure we make good progress.    

It is not clear however we will need this level of detail/specificity in whatever the “end product” of our purpose discussion may be but believe the analysis is useful to move the ball forward.  

Thanks. 
Alex

	


On 3/28/17, 9:09 AM,  <gnso-rds-pdp-wg-bounces at icann.org on behalf of jgalvin at afilias.info> wrote:

    I support this suggestion/framework.
    
    I could be swayed that the Date publication is not really public 
    information so I’m interested in other points of view.
    
    Jim
    
    
    
    On 20 Mar 2017, at 18:21, Andrew Sullivan wrote:
    
    > Hi,
    >
    > I left the meeting with data protection experts last week feeling
    > quite strongly the need for a specific and concrete purpose for each
    > datum we recommend to collect and to make available; and the need for
    > a definition of who the maximal (appropriate) audience is (given the
    > purpose).
    >
    > At the same time, I think that a reasonably short and high-level
    > statement of purpose along the lines that we have been preparing can
    > provide a useful set of principles.
    >
    > It strikes me that maybe we could take the high-level purpose
    > statement, and go through some potential data elements and link each
    > one concretely to at least one of the principles in our candidate
    > list.  In what follows I name these "purpose 1", "purpose 2", &c.  The
    > purposes are numbered according to the scheme in RDS PDP Phase 1: Key
    > Concepts Deliberation –Working Draft-7March2017 (on p7).  I'm aware
    > that the details in the candidate list are still in flux, but I think
    > the broad strokes are pretty close anyway, so I thought I'd try it
    > with the "thin" data we agreed to start with.  This mail is a little
    > long because I'm dealing with all the classes of elements in one
    > message.  I suppose we could break this into one-thread-per-element
    > (or class) if we don't converge quickly on each of them.  The outline
    > below is just my view, of course, though obviously I think that what I
    > say is true.  I use the "maximal audience" because I think that if
    > there is any "whole public" use then there's no point considering more
    > restrictive uses.  (For instance, if we need the domain name to be
    > published to everyone on the Internet because it won't work otherwise,
    > then it makes no difference if LEOs want that data under some sort of
    > authorized-access protocol, because they'll just get it under the
    > wide-open rules instead.  So we don't need to care about the LEO
    > purpose in that case.)  "Maximal audience" might not work for cases
    > where two different classes have different needs both of which require
    > some restrictions, but it's handy here because we're talking about
    > thin data.
    >
    > I'm sorry this is long, but I hope it is a useful contribution to the
    > discussion.
    >
    > Best regards,
    >
    > A
    >
    > ---%<---cut here---
    >
    > Here is a convenient example thin whois response, in case anyone wants
    > it to for reference in what follows.  (Among other things, it reminds 
    > me
    > that something I started to do has never been completed, so thank you
    > to this WG for reminding me of that. :-) )
    >
    >    Domain Name: ANVILWALRUSDEN.COM
    >    Registrar: TUCOWS DOMAINS INC.
    >    Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 69
    >    Whois Server: whois.tucows.com
    >    Referral URL: http://www.tucowsdomains.com
    >    Name Server: NS1.SYSTEMDNS.COM
    >    Name Server: NS2.SYSTEMDNS.COM
    >    Name Server: NS3.SYSTEMDNS.COM
    >    Status: clientTransferProhibited 
    > https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
    >    Status: clientUpdateProhibited 
    > https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
    >    Updated Date: 17-jan-2017
    >    Creation Date: 30-jun-2010
    >    Expiration Date: 30-jun-2017
    >
    >
    > 1. DOMAIN NAME
    > ---------------
    >
    > a. Collection
    >
    > The domain name is required to be collected under purpose 1.  Without
    > this, there is no domain name, so it is literally impossible to have
    > anything to collect or publish.
    >
    > b. Publication
    >
    > The domain name is required to be published under purpose 1, because
    > it is a key by which data is accessed.  If you wish to look up the
    > current data about a particular name, you use the name as the key by
    > which you query.  (This is not the only possible key.  For instance,
    > in an EPP registry you could in principle use the ROID to look up a
    > particular name object.  But that does not give you the current data
    > for the thing so named; it just gives you the data about that
    > Repository Object.  Two different versions of the same name -- like if
    > example.com is registered by Alice then deleted and later registered
    > by Bob -- have different ROIDs.)
    >
    > c. Maximal audience
    >
    > The data audience is Internet-wide under purpose 1 or purpose 2 (or
    > both).  The domain name is by definition not private data, because
    > domain names registered in DNS domain name registries (i.e. every
    > registry possibly covered by ICANN policy -- the registries
    > subordinate to the IANA DNS name registries) are name registration in
    > a public name space.  Note that it is not possible to keep the
    > existence of a name private, because even if a name were initially
    > undisclosed its existence would be disclosed whenever someone else
    > tried to register it.
    >
    > 2.  REGISTRAR IDENTITY
    > -------------------
    >
    > There are four items here, but three classes of data.  The (i)
    > registrar ID provides data about the entity that created the entry in
    > the registry (formally, in EPP, "repository").  The (ii) Whois Server
    > and Referral URL both provide metadata necessary for the operation of
    > the distributed database that makes up the RDS (in systems other than
    > whois, approximately the same data with the same relation to identity
    > would be in place, but the details might be different.  I think we can
    > treat this as a class anyway).  Finally, IANA has a registry of
    > registrar IDs
    > (https://www.iana.org/assignments/registrar-ids/registrar-ids.xhtml#registrar-ids-1),
    > and that contains their (iii) names.  This is a protocol parameter
    > registry, but it appears to be managed by ICANN so it is probably
    > appropriate for this PDP to make the policy about how that is to be
    > managed.
    >
    > a.  Collection
    >
    > Data (i) and (ii) are all required to be collected under purposes 1
    > and 2.  Without this data it is not possible to know the source of the
    > data and it is not possible to trace it further in the system.  Data
    > (iii) needs to be collected in order to give (i) meaning, because it
    > is the only way to know whether two IANA ids are bound to the same
    > organization or person.
    >
    > b.  Publication
    >
    > Data (i) are possibly required to be published under purpose 1.  This
    > largely depends on whether we think the identity of who is managing an
    > object in the registry is part of the "lifecycle of a domain name".
    > My feeling is "yes".  Also, this information is likely to be disclosed
    > anyway; see below.
    >
    > Data (ii) are required to be published under purposes 1 and 2, as long
    > as there is at least one data element that is required under some
    > purpose and is not available from the registry.  (Since the actual
    > registration life cycle is controlled by the registrar and not the
    > registry, this appears likely.)  Owing to the way these work,
    > publication of these is likely to "leak" information about (i) or
    > (iii) also.
    >
    > c.  Maximal audience
    >
    > Given purposes 2 and 3 and probably 5, and since the source of contact
    > information is registrars, the maximal audience is probably everyone
    > on the Internet.  If we think that purposes 2, 3, or 5 are limited in
    > respect of who needs to make such contact or who needs to check
    > accuracy, then the maximal audience is the set of all those who have
    > such a need.  It's worth observing, however, that at least the
    > technical contact for a name ought to be contactable by anyone on the
    > Internet, since when we want to "facilitate communication with domain
    > contacts" at least part of the reason is as a fallback when a site
    > breaks in some way.  (This may suggest that we need to unpack the
    > details of purpose 3.)
    >
    > 3.  NAME SERVERS
    > ---------------
    >
    > a.  Collection
    >
    > Without collecting the name servers, domain names cannot function on
    > the Internet, so this is required under purposes 1 and 2.  (Given that
    > the registration of the name itself and the collection of the name
    > servers are both required for the basic functioning of the Internet
    > Domain Name System, it strikes me that we may be missing a more
    > obvious purpose in our list, but I guess (1) and (2) will be enough
    > and we're already so late that I am loathe to suggest something more.)
    >
    > b.  Publication
    >
    > Whenever a name is available on the Internet, the name server data is
    > already available in the DNS, so this data is necessarily published.
    > Under either purpose 1 or 2 (or both), the data about nameservers in
    > the RDS provides an avenue for troubleshooting issues in the DNS, and
    > so it is required for those purposes.
    >
    > c.  Maximal audience
    >
    > Anyone who wants to access a site must be able to find this data in
    > the DNS.  Potentially anyone who has a problem with resolution can use
    > the data in the RDS to aid in troubleshooting, so the audience under
    > purpose 1 or 2 (or both) is everyone on the Internet.
    >
    > 4.  STATUS VALUES
    > ----------------
    >
    > a.  Collection
    >
    > The status values are not exactly "collected", but are at least in
    > part the result of various actions by the sponsoring registrar and
    > registry on the name.  (Some can be set directly.)  These govern the
    > disposition of the name in question, and are a necessary condition for
    > having a shared registration system, so they are required under
    > purpose 1.
    >
    > b.  Publication
    >
    > The status values govern the possible things that could be done to a
    > name, and therefore the data must be published under purpose 1.
    >
    > c.  Maximal audience
    >
    > At leasr some status values are required for doing some
    > troubleshooting of resolution failures, so the audience for at least
    > some values under purposes 1 or 2 is "everyone on the Internet".  It
    > is possible to argue that some of the status values are relevant only
    > to those people who wish to perform some actions on the domain (such
    > as transferring) or people in a position to do some kinds of activity
    > (such as updating contact information).   If we really think it
    > necessary, we could undertake the exercise of audience evaluation for
    > each EPP status.
    >
    > 5.  DATES
    > ---------
    >
    > While the dates might appear to be different kinds, they aren't, since
    > for our purposes they all have at least one common utility (see
    > below).
    >
    > a.  Collection
    >
    > The dates, like status values, are not exactly "collected": they're a
    > consequence of certain activities.  They're necessary for the workings
    > of the shared registration systems using the current fee-for-term
    > model that (approximately?) all gTLD registries use today, so they're
    > required under purpose 1.
    >
    > b.  Publication
    >
    > The dates are required under purpose 1 or 2 in order to aid
    > troubleshooting of resolution.  (If a name worked yesterday and not
    > today, it is helpful to know that it was just created -- meaning the
    > old one was deleted -- or that it is expired, or that someone updated
    > the name only last night.)
    >
    > c.  Maximal audience
    >
    > Because of the troubleshooting aspects of these dates, the audience
    > under purpose 1 or 2 is everyone on the Internet.
    >
    > -- 
    > Andrew Sullivan
    > ajs at anvilwalrusden.com
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