GssPolicies/RegistrarPolicies

Registrar Policies

Introduction
Accreditation

Registrar Qualification Policy
Registrar Application Policy

Code of Conduct

Registrar Code of Conduct Policy

Registrant Qualification

First-Come First-Served Policy
Global Personal I-Name and I-Number Registration Policy
Global Organizational I-Name and I-Number Registration Policy
Global Network I-Number Registration Policy
Minimum/Maximum Registration Quantity Policy
Minimum/Maximum Registration Term Policy
Implementation Notes

Registration Agreements
Delegated I-Brokers

Registrant Notification

Notification Policy
Subscription Policy
Implementation Notes

Notification Options
Opt-in Subscriptions

Registration Transfers

Transfer Authentication Policy
Transfer Authorization Policy
Transfer Fee Policy
Transfer Term Policy
Transfer Limit Policy
Implementation Notes

Opening New Accounts
Transfer-Related Services

Registrar Reporting

Registrar Reporting Policy

1. Introduction

XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrars play a critical role in XDI.ORG infrastructure as the service providers offering public access to the Global Registry Services (GRS). This section contains the GSS policies that apply to XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrars (referred to simply as "Registrars").

2. Accreditation

Accreditation is the process under which an applicant becomes authorized by XDI.ORG and registered with the appropriate Global Registry Service Provider (GRSP) to begin offering GRS registration services.

2.1. Registrar Qualification Policy

If an applicant is an ICANN-Accredited Registrar in good standing, the application is pre-qualified to become an XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrar. The applicant may apply by submitting the Registrar Application Form (see GssForms.)

If an applicant is not an ICANN-Accredited Registrar, it MUST demonstrate that it can meet the following requirements:

Legal Capability. Applicant must demonstrate that it has the legal standing and authority to enter into a Registrar Agreement and that it is not subject to any legal proceedings which may impair its ability to comply with the Registrar Agreement or otherwise act as a Registrar.
Management Capability. Applicant must demonstrate that it has a management team experienced in operating a registrar business or as a provider of other similar critical network infrastructure services.
Financial Capability. Applicant must demonstrate that it has sufficient operating capital, reserves, insurance, and accounting infrastructure to operate as a Registrar at its projected registration volumes.
Technical Capability. Applicant must demonstrate that it has the necessary equipment, staffing, and technical expertise to meet the technical and operational requirements of the GSS.
Customer Service Capability. Applicant must demonstrate that it has the staffing and systems necessary to process its projected volumes of registrations, status changes, transfers, and other GRS-related transactions.
Data Protection Capability. Applicant must demonstrate that it has the security, privacy, and accountability policies and procedures necessary meet the data protection requirements of the GSS.

2.2. Registrar Application Policy

An applicant MUST complete the following steps to become an XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrar and begin offering GRS registration services:

Apply for Accreditation. The applicant must submit a completed copy of the Registrar Application Form to the Primary GRSP serving as an Agent of XDI.ORG. See GssForms for instructions.
Receive a Notice of Qualification. The Primary GRSP will process the Regisrar Application Form, notify the applicant of any missing or incomplete information, and once complete, verify the supplied information. If the applicant meets the qualifications defined above, the Primary GRSP will notify applicant and XDI.ORG that the applicant qualifies for accreditation.
Execute a Registrar Agreement. Applicant must execute the Registrar Agreement (see GssAgreements). Once this agreement is prepared, a Registrar is ready to enter Operational Testing and Evaluation (OT&E).
Complete OT&E. The OT&E process administered by the Primary GRSP is covered in GssPolicies/RegistryPolicies and GssOpSpecs.
Complete Legal Agreements. Each Registrar must publish their own Registration Agreements and their accompanying Security, Privacy, and Accountability Policies before commencing service. See the rest of this section and GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies. The Registrar must notify the Primary GRSP when these are complete.
Receive GRSP Authorization for Commencement of Service. Once the steps above are complete, the Primary GRSP will notify the applicant and XDI.ORG that the Registrar is fully operational and ready to commence service. Unless requested by the Registrar, XDI.ORG will publish this notification to its website and mailing lists.

3. Code of Conduct

The XDI.ORG GRS is provided as public infrastructure to enable individuals and organizations to access, navigate, and use the services of the

Dataweb and the

Social Web. Every XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrar serves as an Agent of XDI.ORG in providing access to this infrastructure, and is therefore required to uphold the following Code of Conduct.

3.1. Registrar Code of Conduct Policy

Registrars MUST at all times operate as trusted providers of Global Registration Services and MUST comply with the following Code of Conduct provisions:

With regards to Registrant data, Registrar shall at all times uphold the provisions of the XDI.ORG I-Trust(tm) Contract (see GssAgreements.)
No Registrar shall be granted or try to obtain preferential access to the GRS. The sole exception shall be during the first six month startup period for a new Global Service. During this period a GRSP may offer Registrars preferential access to a Global Service in order to provide market incentives for early adopters under terms negotiated with XDI.ORG (see GssPolicies/RegistryPolicies).
Registrar and its owners shall not in any way attempt to warehouse Global I-Names or in any way inhibit anything other than first-come, first-served equal access to Global I-Names by all Registrars and Registrants, nor shall they assist any Registrant in such activity.
Registrar shall clearly and conspicuously disclose to Registrants any business activity or relationship which may reasonably present a conflict with or have a material impact on Registrar's ability to serve Registrants fairly and impartially.

4. Registrant Qualification

As abstract identifiers, XRIs syntax provides the option to use a single prefix character called a Global Context Symbol (GCS) to represent the abstract global context of an identifier. (See the InameInumberTechFaq for more information.) The following policies reflect the intent of this syntax by specifing the qualifications for registration in each corresponding Global Registry.

4.1. First-Come First-Served Policy

Registration of Global I-Names and Global I-Numbers SHALL be on a first-come, first-served basis. For each Global Registry, registration shall be open to all Registrants who meet the qualifications for that Registry as further defined in the following policies.

4.2. Global Personal I-Name and I-Number Registration Policy

Registration of Global Personal I-Names and I-Numbers (under the GCS "=" symbol) MUST be restricted to individuals registering in their own personal capacity. Registrants in these Registries MUST agree to the XDI.ORG Global Terms of Service, including the Dispute Resolution Policy, as part of their Registration Agreement. Registrants MUST warrant that they do not assert intellectual property rights in the registered I-Name or I-Number.

4.3. Global Organizational I-Name and I-Number Registration Policy

Registration of Global Organizational I-Names and I-Numbers (under the GCS "@" symbol) SHALL be open to all Registrants registering in the capacity of an organization or other non-personal context. Registrants in these Registries MUST agree to the XDI.ORG Global Terms of Service, including the Dispute Resolution Policy, as part of their Registration Agreement. Registrants MAY assert intellectual property rights in the registered I-Name or I-Number.

4.4. Global Network I-Number Registration Policy

Registration of Global Network I-Numbers (under the GCS "!" symbol) SHALL be restricted to XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrars. Registrants MUST agree to the XDI.ORG Registrar Agreement, including the Dispute Resolution Provisions. Registrants MUST warrant that they do not assert intellectual property rights in the registered I-Number.

4.5. Minimum/Maximum Registration Quantity Policy

Except in the case of a Global Network I-Number, the minimum registration is one Global I-Name and one Global I-Number. Registrants MAY register more than one Global I-Name to the same Global I-Number, however in this case the Registrar MUST verify the Registrant's authentication credential(s) for the Global I-Number before submitting the registration request. There is no maximum number of registrations.

4.6. Minimum/Maximum Registration Term Policy

In the V1 GSS, the minimum registration term is one year. The maximum registration term is ten years with the exception of the limited quantity of special 50-year term registrations allowed under Early Global Services.

4.7. Implementation Notes

4.7.1. Registration Agreements

Registrars must use a Registration Agreement for Global I-Names and Global I-Numbers that reflects these policies and incorporates the XDI.ORG Global Terms of Service. See GssAgreements.

4.7.2. Delegated I-Brokers

Individuals or organizations who wish to serve as an I-Broker within the XDI.ORG Community, but do not wish to become an XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrar, may register a Community Network I-Number with any XDI.ORG-Accredited Register that offers Network I-Number delegation services. See GssPolicies/InumberPolicies.

5. Registrant Notification

The DNS domain name system requires contact information ("Whois" data) for all registrants, which is in turn used to provide notifications. Due to the requirements of the GSS data protection policies (GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies), particularly the Minimum Information Policy, there is no equivalent requirement in the XDI.ORG GRS. (There is a Public Trustee service where Registrants may choose to file identification data to provide an alternate means of authentication if they lose access to their GRS Shared Secret, but it is strictly voluntary. See GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies.)

Therefore to comply with other GSS policies intended to protect the integrity and stability of the GRS, including the Dispute Resolution Policy (GssPolicies/DisputeResolutionPolicies), GRSPs and Registrars must implement a standard means of notifying Registrants of communications relating to their registration status, renewals, disputes, etc.

In addition, to best serve the interests of the XDI.ORG Community, XDI.ORG needs the ability to notify Registrants about topics of general interest to the XDI.ORG Community. To conform to the Global Privacy Policy, these communications must be on an opt-in basis.

The following policies specify how these notification requirements will be met.

5.1. Notification Policy

GRSPs MUST provide Registrars, and Registrars MUST provide Registrants, a means of being notified of any communication regarding their registration(s) as required under these GSS policies, including those arising from Dispute Notification Service (see GssPolicies/DisputeResolutionPolicies). These notifications MUST conform to the XDI.ORG Global Privacy Policy (GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies). Notification MAY be either active (messages pushed to a specific recipient address) or passive (messages retrieved when logging into an account). Registrars SHOULD offer Registrants both options. This requirement MUST be communicated to the Registrant in the Registration Agreement, and the Registrant MUST be warned that if they choose passive notification, the Registrant SHOULD log in to their account regularly in order not to miss messages that could result in suspension, termination, or expiration of their registration.

5.2. Subscription Policy

GRSPs MUST provide Registrars, and Registrars MUST provide Registrants, with the option of receiving notifications on topics general interest to all members of the XDI.ORG Community. Subscriptions to these topics MUST conform to the XDI.ORG Global Privacy Policy (GssPolicies/DataProtectionPolicies) and MUST be on an opt-in basis. Notification MAY be either active (messages pushed to a specific recipient address) or passive (messages retreived when logging into an account). Registrars SHOULD offer Registrants both options. These subscription options MUST be communicated to the Registrant at the time of registration, and the Registrant MUST have the ability to easily change their subscription status.

In the V1 GSS, Registrants MUST be offered the option to subscribe to ONE of the following two topics:

GSS Amendments Only. Only messages regarding amendments to the GSS (including the XDI.ORG Global Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Security Policy.)
XDI.ORG General Interest. Messages about XDI.ORG, the GSS, the GRS, XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrars, or other topics of general interest to all members of the XDI.ORG Community. This will include all messages sent to GSS Amendments Only.

5.3. Implementation Notes

5.3.1. Notification Options

Registrars must inform Registrants during the registration process that the Registrar requires some means of notifying the Registrant of communications regarding their registration, such as a Dispute Resolution procedure or a pending expiration. For privacy purposes, Registrars should give Registrants the option to receive these notices actively via email, SMS, or some other push mechanism, or passively via logging into their account. In the latter case, Registrants should be warned that regular logins are required in order not to miss timely notifications. Registrars may also wish to offer Registrants the option of escalating certain types of messages from passive publication to active subscription.

5.3.2. Opt-in Subscriptions

Per the Subscription Policy, Registrars must also offer Registrants the ability to opt-in to subscriptions on topics of general interest to the XDI.ORG Community as a whole. A Registrar may of course do the same for topics published by the Registrar to its own community, and as a best practice it is recommended that the options for both Global and Community subscriptions be offered at the same time.

6. Registration Transfers

The following policies govern the ability of Registrants to transfer GRS registrations between themselves or between XDI.ORG-Accredited Registrars. They are motivated by the need to ensure a free, fair, open market for GRS services while at the same time enabling persistent identification of a Registrant or other Resource regardless of changes over time to the Registrant's or the Resource's Global I-Name(s), Registrar(s), I-Broker(s), resolution values, or other registration data.

6.1. Transfer Authentication Policy

All XDI.ORG Agents involved with a registration transfer MUST verify the authentication credential(s) of the relevant Registrants or Trustees as specified in the GSS Operational Specifications (GssOpSpecs) before proceeding with the transfer.

6.2. Transfer Authorization Policy

All XDI.ORG Agents involved with transfer of a Global I-Name or Global I-Number MUST verify that such a transfer is authorized by the relevant Registrants or Trustees and conforms to the I-Name Transfer Policies (GssPolicies/InamePolicies) and I-Number Transfer Policies (GssPolicies/InumberPolicies).

6.3. Transfer Fee Policy

The fee charged, if any, by an XDI.ORG Agent for transfer of a Global I-Name or Global I-Number to another Registrant or Registrar: a) MUST be commercially reasonable, and b) MUST be published and easily available to all Registrants. In addition, 60 days notice MUST be provided to all Registrants or Registrars prior to any increase in such fees or changes in fee policies.

6.4. Transfer Term Policy

Transfer of a registered Global I-Name or Global I-Number between Registrants or Registrars MUST NOT affect its current registration term. Changes to the current registration term MUST be made independent of the transfer process.

6.5. Transfer Limit Policy

After a GRS registration is transferred to another Registrar or Registrant, it MUST NOT be transferred again to another Registrar or Registrant for a period of sixty (60) days.

6.6. Implementation Notes

6.6.1. Opening New Accounts

The registration interfaces provided by Registrars should enable Registrants to open new accounts by:

Accepting a Global I-Name or Global I-Number transferred from another Registrant (to the extent allowed by the policies above), or
Transfering the Registrant's existing registration from another Registrar.

6.6.2. Transfer-Related Services

Although XDI.ORG Agents may provide other software or services (discovery, escrow, warranty, etc.) to facilitate transactions between Registrants, such software or services that do not involve the actual transfer of Global I-Name or Global I-Number registrations are outside the scope of the V1 GSS specifications.

7. Registrar Reporting

7.1. Registrar Reporting Policy

Registrars MUST provide, at a minimum, the Confidential Registrar Report as specified in GssPolicies/RegistryPolicies to the Primary GRSP and XDI.ORG for each calendar quarter. The report is due no later than 15 calendar days after the end of the quarter. Handling of this report by the Primary GRSP and XDI.ORG is specified in GssPolicies/RegistryPolicies.