Introduction
- Background
- High-Level Organization of the GSS
- Audiences for the GSS
- Internet Governance and Policy Makers
- Registrars and I-Brokers
- Trust Federations
- XRI/XDI Developers and Vendors
- Other Key Introductory Documents
NOTE: The content on this page is non-normative, i.e., it is not officially part of the XDI.ORG Global Services Specifications (GSS), but only introductory material. See GssDefinitions for further terminology and layout conventions.
1. Background
XDI.ORG was founded in July 2000 to serve as a public trust for the development of open, community-governed infrastructure for persistent identity and trusted data sharing. In late 2002 its first public specifications were contributed to OASIS to become the starting points for the XRI (Extensible Resource Identifier) and XDI (XRI Data Interchange) Technical Committees. The complete
With the XRI and XDI specifications now emerging from OASIS, XDI.ORG is embarking on the second phase of its charter to establish open public Global Services for use of XRIs and XDI. The first pilot program for these services, called
Early Global Services, was developed in conjunction with
Identity Commons and
launched at
Digital ID World 2004.
The next step is publication and public review of these proposed Global Services Specifications (GSS) for the official launch of XDI.ORG Global Registry Services (GRS). This wikiweb site contains the complete normative GSS specifications in draft form. The public review process will continue through March - see the FrontPage for details about how to comment via either this wiki or the
GSS Comment mailing list.
2. High-Level Organization of the GSS
Although it consists of 20 individual wiki pages and a handful of additional linked documents, the GSS can basically be broken down into five major areas.-
Definitions and Terminology. The GssDefinitions and GssServices pages establish the formal definitions used throughout the GSS. They are most helpful as references while reading the other pages.
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Policies. The GssPolicies section, consisting of nine subsections, is the heart of the GSS. An overview of all nine is available at Summary of Key Policies – from this page you can easily navigate to those most relevant to your interests. Note that GssAmendments also expresses the policies governing how the GSS will be revised.
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Technical and Operational Specifications. GssTechSpecs defines the external OASIS, IETF, and W3C specifications on which the GSS specifications depend. GssOpSpecs provides the additional technical specifications necessary to implement the policies in the GssPolicies sections using the GssTechSpecs.
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Legal Agreements. GssAgreements includes all the legal documents specified in the GSS, whether standalone agreements such as the Registrar Agreement, or text meant to be referenced by other legal documents, such as the Global Terms of Service.
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Forms and Reports. Lastly, GssForms and GssReports specify details about any Forms and Reports required by other GSS policies, such as the Registrar Application Form, the Public Registry Report, and the Confidential Registrar Report.
3. Audiences for the GSS
GSS review is recommended for the following audiences.3.1. Internet Governance and Policy Makers
While its roots and structure are very different, the role XDI.ORG plays in XRI/XDI infrastructure is similar to thatRecommended sections for this audience:
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Policies - GssPolicies
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Global Service Provider (GSP) Policies - GssPolicies/GspPolicies
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Registry Policies - GssPolicies/RegistryPolicies
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Registrar Policies - GssPolicies/RegistrarPolicies
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I-Name Policies - GssPolicies/InamePolicies
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I-Number Policies - GssPolicies/InumberPolicies
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Data Protection Policies - GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies
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Dispute Resolution Policies - GssPolicies/DisputeResolutionPolicies
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Service Level Agreements - GssSlas
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Legal Agreements - GssAgreements
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Amendments - GssAmendments
3.2. Registrars and I-Brokers
Service providers who are basing new services on emerging XRI/XDI infrastructure (called "i-brokers") should have a strong interest in the GSS. I-brokers who choose to become XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrars have the ability to register Global I-Names/I-Numbers with the Global Registry Service (GRS), a very similar role to that which ICANN-Accredited Registrars play in the ICANN Shared Registry System (SRS) for domain names.Recommended sections for this audience:
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Policies - GssPolicies
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Registry Policies - GssPolicies/RegistryPolicies
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Registrar Policies - GssPolicies/RegistrarPolicies
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I-Name Policies - GssPolicies/InamePolicies
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I-Number Policies - GssPolicies/InumberPolicies
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Public Authority Policies - GssPolicies/PublicResolverPolicies
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Data Protection Policies - GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies
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Dispute Resolution Policies - GssPolicies/DisputeResolutionPolicies
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Technical Specifications - GssTechSpecs
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Operational Specifications - GssOpSpecs
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Service Level Agreements - GssSlas
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Legal Agreements - GssAgreements
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Forms - GssForms
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Reports - GssReports
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Amendments - GssAmendments
3.3. Trust Federations
Trust federations are associations that are emerging to help solve the same interoperability and trust issues for i-brokers that credit card associations help solved for banks in the 1960's. Two examples areRecommended sections for this audience:
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Policies - GssPolicies
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Registry Policies - GssPolicies/RegistryPolicies
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Registrar Policies - GssPolicies/RegistrarPolicies
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I-Name Policies - GssPolicies/InamePolicies
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I-Number Policies - GssPolicies/InumberPolicies
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Cross-Reference Policies - GssPolicies/CrossReferencePolicies
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Public Authority Policies - GssPolicies/PublicResolverPolicies
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Data Protection Policies - GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies
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Dispute Resolution Policies - GssPolicies/DisputeResolutionPolicies
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Technical Specifications - GssTechSpecs
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Operational Specifications - GssOpSpecs
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Service Level Agreements - GssSlas
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Legal Agreements - GssAgreements
3.4. XRI/XDI Developers and Vendors
Lastly, XRI/XDI infrastructure is designed to enable entirely new types of servers, services, tools, and applications that need persistent identity and trusted data sharing as a foundation. Developers and vendors of these new software products and services have a vested interest in the quality and stability of the Global Services offered by XDI.ORG.Recommended sections for this audience:
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Definitions and Terminology - GssDefinitions
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Services - GssServices
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Policies - GssPolicies
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Registry Policies - GssPolicies/RegistryPolicies
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Registrar Policies - GssPolicies/RegistrarPolicies
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I-Name Policies - GssPolicies/InamePolicies
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I-Number Policies - GssPolicies/InumberPolicies
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Cross-Reference Policies - GssPolicies/CrossReferencePolicies
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Public Authority Policies - GssPolicies/PublicResolverPolicies
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Data Protection Policies - GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies
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Technical Specifications - GssTechSpecs
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Operational Specifications - GssOpSpecs
