Media Type Registration for Common Alerting Protocol
draft-barnes-atoca-cap-mime-00

Abstract

This document registers the media type "application/common-alerting-protocol+xml" for Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format .

Requirements Language

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

Status of this Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

This Internet-Draft will expire on April 08, 2012.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. IANA Considerations
• 2.1. Registration of the 'application/common-alerting-protocol+xml' media type
• 3. Security Considerations
• 4. References
• Authors' Addresses

1. Introduction

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) [cap] is an XML document format for exchanging emergency alerts and public warnings. This document registers a media type for CAP documents. The following is an example of a CAP message for a severe thunderstorm warning:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

   <alert xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:emergency:cap:1.1">
       <identifier>KSTO1055887203</identifier>
       <sender>KSTO@NWS.NOAA.GOV</sender>
       <sent>2003-06-17T14:57:00-07:00</sent>
       <status>Actual</status>
       <msgType>Alert</msgType>
       <scope>Public</scope>
       <info>
           <category>Met</category>
           <event>SEVERE THUNDERSTORM</event>
           <urgency>Severe</urgency>
           <certainty>Likely</certainty>
           <senderName>NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO</senderName>
           <headline>SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING</headline>
           <description> AT 254 PM PDT...
               NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
               DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
               THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTH CENTRAL ALPINE COUNTY...
               OR ABOUT 18 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
               KIRKWOOD... MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 5 MPH. HAIL...
               INTENSE RAIN AND STRONG DAMAGING WINDS
               ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM </description>
           <instruction> TAKE COVER IN A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER
               UNTIL THE STORM PASSES </instruction>
           <contact>BARUFFALDI/JUSKIE</contact>
           <area>
               <areaDesc> EXTREME NORTH CENTRAL TUOLUMNE COUNTY
                   IN CALIFORNIA, EXTREME NORTHEASTERN
                   CALAVERAS COUNTY IN CALIFORNIA, SOUTHWESTERN
                   ALPINE COUNTY IN CALIFORNIA </areaDesc>
               <polygon> 38.47,-120.14 38.34,-119.95 38.52,-119.74
                   38.62,-119.89 38.47,-120.14 </polygon>
           </area>
       </info>
   </alert>

2. IANA Considerations

2.1. Registration of the 'application/common-alerting-protocol+xml' media type

To:

ietf-types@iana.org

Subject:

Registration of MIME media type application/ common- alerting-protocol+xml

MIME media type name:

application

MIME subtype name:

common-alerting-protocol+xml

Required parameters:

(none)

Optional parameters:

charset; Indicates the character encoding of the enclosed XML. Default is UTF-8 [RFC3629].

Security considerations:

Transmission of CAP payloads does not introduce new security risks

Interoperability considerations:

CAP is widely used for emergency management.

Published specification:

RFC XXX [Replace by the RFC number of this specification].

Applications which use this media type:

Applications that convey alerts and early warnings according to the CAP standard.

Additional information:

OASIS has published the Common Alerting Protocol specification [CAP].

Person & email address to contact for further information:

Hannes Tschofenig, hannes.tschofenig@nsn.com

Intended usage:

Limited use

Author/Change controller:

IETF ATOCA working group

Other information:

This media type is a specialization of application/xml [RFC3023], and many of the considerations described there also apply to application/ common-alerting-protocol+xml.

3. Security Considerations

The introduction of the CAP MIME type does not present any new risks in itself. CAP messages are used to encode emergency alerts, which means that false CAP messages can have significant negative effects, such as the unnecessary evacuation of an area. Systems that process CAP messages will need to have mechanisms for integrity protection and origin authentication, in order to ensure either that end alert recipients do not receive false alerts or that they can distinguish valid alerts from false alerts.

4. References

Authors' Addresses