[urn] Re: Concern Regarding the Proposed Registration of the URN:GLUE Namespace

Tom, thanks for raising this concern.

Something like this was in the back of my mind when I wrote my note to 
the list last week, but you have enunciated things more clearly based on 
your experience with some of standards organizations that would be 
affected by this kind of "incorporating URN namespace".

I believe your concern is worthy of serious consideration. Personally I 
will put some time into thinking about it this week (in particular with 
regard to the GLUE specification), after which I will post again to the 
list.

Peter

On 3/15/26 3:16 AM, Tom Roberts wrote:
> Dear Members of the URN: community,
> 
> I signed up for the URN mailing list ([email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>) in 2024 and have been following the discussions 
> with interest, gaining a whole new level of respect for you and the 
> committee members. When I saw the original message on March 3rd from 
> Michael Jones regarding the proposed URN namespace GLUE, I reviewed the 
> draft specification (draft-ietf-spice-glue-id). After looking more 
> closely at the proposal, I felt compelled to share some concerns 
> directly with the community.
> 
> In a note to the list on March 11th, Mr. Saint-Andre raised an important 
> point regarding coordination with the organizations responsible for the 
> identifier systems being incorporated:
> 
> “/One straightforward consideration that comes to mind is making sure 
> that the registrants for these ‘incorporating URN namespaces’ have 
> coordinated with those who originally defined the identifier systems to 
> be incorporated./”
> 
> This observation resonated strongly with me. Many of the identifier 
> systems referenced in the draft such as LEI, GLN, DUNS, PEN, SWIFT and 
> ISO represent infrastructure that has taken years to develop and, in 
> many cases, substantial financial investment to operate and govern.
> 
> For example, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) 
> operates the LEI system on behalf of the Financial Stability Board 
> following the G20’s call for a global identifier for legal entities 
> participating in financial transactions. The ecosystem includes 
> accredited LEI issuers worldwide and significant operational 
> infrastructure. Last June in London, at the SWIFT offices, I met and 
> spoke with Karla McKenna from GLEIF regarding their expanding APIs and 
> the development of the vLEI, which will allow real-time organizational 
> validation.
> 
> Because of the scale and governance structures around systems such as 
> LEI and GS1 identifiers, creating equivalent identifiers under URN 
> raises concerns about potential confusion or duplication.
> 
> The draft itself notes that:
> 
> urn:lei
> 
is equivalent to
> 
urn:glue:lei
> 
> However, the GLUE specification also states in Section 7.2.1:
> “Resolution: Resolution of GLUE URNs, which are identifiers, is not 
> performed.”
> 
> This appears to introduce a namespace that references identifiers 
> maintained by other global authorities without providing a resolver or 
> governance mechanism comparable to those already operated by those 
> organizations. Given the scale of existing infrastructures for example 
> the LEI network of issuers or GS1’s global identifier systems it seems 
> possible that the introduction of URN:glue identifier could create 
> ambiguity within existing ecosystems.
> 
> Additionally, Section 7.1.2 proposes registering authorities such as 
> gln, lei, duns, pen, and iso within the GLUE registry, with the change 
> controller listed as the IETF. From the perspective of the organizations 
> that operate these systems, this may appear as though governance of 
> identifiers tied to their infrastructures is being partially abstracted 
> into an IETF-controlled namespace.
> 
> My intent in raising these points is not to oppose the technical goals 
> of the work, but rather to ensure that the broader ecosystem of 
> standards bodies and identifier authorities is considered. Many of these 
> organizations including ISO TC 154, ISO TC 68 (ISO 20022), and ISO/IEC 
> JTC 1 SC 42 (AI) operate under formal governance frameworks and long- 
> standing coordination processes.
> 
> By way of background, I currently participate in the technical working 
> group of ISO 17369(SDMX) under ISO TC 154, and I collaborate with 
> colleagues (as listed in the previous paragraph) and work across several 
> addtional standards communities. We are also in the final stages of 
> completing the URN:SDMX registration application, with the European 
> Central Bank currently serving as the secretariat. Once they give their 
> blessing, we will submit our formal application to this committee.
> 
> As part of that work, we also implemented our own resolver service.
> 
> https://urn.sdmx.io <https://urn.sdmx.io>
> 
> Because of this experience, I felt it was important to share these 
> observations directly with this committee. While I am not a member of 
> the URN committee, I have followed the discussion and wanted to share 
> some constructive feedback while the work is still progressing.
> 
> If the committee believes it would be useful, I would be more than happy 
> to assist in facilitating dialogue with relevant standards bodies or 
> identifier authorities to ensure alignment across communities.
> 
> Thank you for reading this message and I look forward to hearing your 
> thoughts.
> 
> I wish you a relaxing week ahead.
> 
> Best regards from Prague,
> 
> 
> <http://smartxdata.com/>
> 
> *Tom Roberts*
> 
> *Chief Data Officer / Founder*
> 
> *ISO 17369 TWG Member*
> 
> *Eurofiling Member*
> 
> *Mobile **CZ:+420 773 532 216 <tel:+420%20773%20532%20216>*
> 
> *Mobile US: +1 689-837-7529 <tel:+1%20689-837-7529>*
> 
> *Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>*
> 
> **
> 
> 
> CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION: This email message and any attachment may 
> contain privileged and confidential information intended only for the 
> use of the individual or entity to which the email is addressed. If the 
> reader of this message is not the intended recipient or the employee or 
> agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, that person 
> is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of 
> this communication is prohibited. If you have received this 
> communication in error, please notify us as soon as possible by 
> telephone (collect calls will be accepted). Thank you for your 
> cooperation and assistance.
> 
> <https://twitter.com/macktony>
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> urn mailing list -- [email protected]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]

_______________________________________________
urn mailing list -- [email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]