| Internet-Draft | Using JSContact in RDAP | December 2022 |
| Loffredo & Brown | Expires 13 June 2023 | [Page] |
This document describes an RDAP extension which represents entity contact information in JSON responses using JSContact.¶
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This document specifies an extension to the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) that allows RDAP servers to use JSContact [I-D.ietf-calext-jscontact] to represent the contact information associated with entities in RDAP responses, instead of jCard [RFC7095]. It also describes the process by which an RDAP server can transition from jCard to JSContact. RDAP query and response extensions are defined to facilitate the transition process.¶
According to the feedback from RDAP Pilot Working Group [RDAP-PILOT-WG], a group of RDAP server implementers representing registries and registrars of generic TLDs, the most commonly raised implementation concern, for both servers and client implementers, related to the use of jCard [RFC7095] to represent the contact information associated with entities. Working Group members reported jCard to be unintuitive, complicated to implement for both clients and servers, and incompatible with best practices for RESTful APIs.¶
JSContact [I-D.ietf-calext-jscontact] provides a simpler and more efficient representation for contact information with regard to time and effort saved in processing it. In addition, similarly to jCard, it provides a means to represent internationalised and unstructured contact information. Support for internationalised contact information has been recognised being necessary to facilitate the future internationalisation of registration data directory services.¶
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.¶
The JSContact specification declares the object type "Card" which represents a single contact card. To avoid confusion, in the following of this document, the term "JSCard" is used to refer to "JSContact Card".¶
The JSContact specification defines a data model and JSON representation of contact information that can be used for data storage and exchange in address book or directory applications. It aims to be an alternative to the vCard data format [RFC6350] and to be unambiguous, extendable and simple to process. In contrast with jCard, it is not a direct mapping from the vCard data model and expands semantics where appropriate.¶
JSCard differs from jCard in that it:¶
follows an object-oriented rather than array-oriented approach;¶
is simple to process;¶
requires no extra work in serialization/deserialization from/to a data model;¶
includes no "jagged" arrays;¶
[I-D.ietf-calext-jscontact-vcard] provides informational guidance on the conversion of jCard into JSCard, and vice versa. Appendix A shows JSContact counterparts for the most commonly used jCard properties in an RDAP response.¶
Entity objects in RDAP responses MAY include a "jscard" property whose value is a JSCard object instead of the "vCardArray" property defined in [RFC9083].¶
Servers returning the "jscard" property in their response MUST include "jscard" in the "rdapConformance" array.¶
The JSCard "uid" property SHOULD contain the same value as the RDAP "handle" property.¶
Since most of the JSCard collections are represented as maps, map keys must be defined. A JSContact map key MUST comply with the definition of the Id type. To aid interoperability, RDAP providers MUST use the following Id values related to string values and labels defined in [RFC5733]:¶
"org" in the "organizations" map when there is a single <contact:org> element. If both internationalised and localized forms exist, the key MUST be used for the internationalised form;¶
"addr" in the "addresses" map when there is a single <contact:addr> element. If both internationalised and localized forms exist, the key MUST be used for the internationalised form;¶
"email" in the "emails" map for the <contact:email> element;¶
"voice" in the "phones" map for the <contact:voice> element;¶
The information needed to register the JSContact Id values in the "RDAP JSON Values" registry [RFC9083] is described in Section 6.2.¶
If present, the localized versions of name, organization and postal address MUST be added to the "localizations" map. The following is an elided example of an RDAP entity lookup response including a JSCard object that presents a localized postal address (See PDF for non-ASCII character string).¶
...
"jscard": {
"@type" : "Card",
"@version" : "1.0",
"uid" : "YYYY",
"locale" : "en",
"fullName" : "Vasya Pupkin",
"organizations" : {
"org" : {
"@type" : "Organization",
"name" : "My Company"
}
},
"addresses" : {
"addr" : {
"@type" : "Address",
"street" : [ {
"@type" : "StreetComponent",
"type" : "name",
"value" : "1 Street"
}, {
"@type" : "StreetComponent",
"type" : "postOfficeBox",
"value" : "01001"
} ],
"locality" : "Kyiv",
"countryCode" : "UA"
}
},
"localizations" : {
"ua" : {
"addresses/addr" : {
"@type" : "Address",
"street" : [ {
"@type" : "StreetComponent",
"type" : "name",
"value" : "1, Улица"
}, {
"@type" : "StreetComponent",
"type" : "postOfficeBox",
"value" : "01001"
} ],
"locality" : "Киев",
"countryCode" : "UA"
},
"fullName" : "Вася Пупкин",
"organizations/org" : {
"@type" : "Organization",
"name" : "Моя Компания"
}
}
}
}
...
Implementers MAY use different mapping schemes to define keys for additional entries of the aforementioned maps or others. For example, a mapping scheme may consist in using a trivial sequential number (e.g. "url-1", "url-2", etc.)¶
The following is an example of an RDAP entity including a JSCard object that has been converted from the example in section 5.1 of [RFC9083].¶
{
"rdapConformance": [
"rdap_level_0",
"jscard"
],
"objectClassName" : "entity",
"handle":"XXXX",
"jscard":{
"@type": "Card",
"@version": "1.0",
"uid": "XXXX",
"locale" : "en",
"fullName": "Joe User" ,
"name": {
"@type": "Name",
"components": [
{
"@type": "NameComponent",
"type": "surname",
"value": "User"
},
{
"@type": "NameComponent",
"type": "given",
"value": "Joe"
},
{
"@type": "NameComponent",
"type": "suffix",
"value": "ing. jr"
},
{
"@type": "NameComponent",
"type": "suffix",
"value": "M.Sc."
}
]
},
"kind": "individual",
"preferredLanguages": {
"fr": {
"@type": "LanguagePreference",
"pref": 1
},
"en": {
"@type": "LanguagePreference",
"pref": 2
}
},
"organizations": {
"org": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Example"
}
},
"titles": {
"title": {
"@type": "Title",
"type": "title",
"name": "Research Scientist"
},
"role": {
"@type": "Title",
"type": "role",
"name": "Project Lead"
}
},
"addresses": {
"addr": {
"@type": "Address",
"contexts": {
"work": true
},
"street": [
{
"@type": "StreetComponent",
"type": "name",
"value": "4321 Rue Somewhere"
},
{
"@type": "StreetComponent",
"type": "extension",
"value": "Suite 1234"
}
],
"locality": "Quebec",
"region": "QC",
"postcode": "G1V 2M2",
"country": "Canada",
"countryCode": "CA",
"coordinates": "geo:46.772673,-71.282945",
"timeZone": "Etc/GMT+5"
},
"home": {
"@type": "Address",
"contexts": {
"private": true
},
"fullAddress": "123 Maple Ave\nSuite 90001\nVancouver\nBC\n1239\n"
}
},
"phones": {
"voice" : {
"@type": "Phone",
"contexts": {
"work": true
},
"features": {
"voice": true,
"cell": true,
"video": true,
"text": true
},
"pref": 1,
"number": "tel:+1-555-555-1234;ext=102"
}
},
"emails": {
"email": {
"@type": "EmailAddress",
"contexts": {
"work": true
},
"address": "joe.user@example.com"
}
},
"cryptoKeys": {
"@type" : "@CryptoResource",
"contexts": {
"work": true
},
"uri": "http://www.example.com/joe.user/joe.asc"
},
"links": {
"@type" : "@LinkResource",
"contexts": {
"private": true
},
"uri": "http://example.org"
}
},
"roles":[ "registrar" ],
"publicIds":[
{
"type":"IANA Registrar ID",
"identifier":"1"
}
],
"remarks":[
{
"description":[
"She sells sea shells down by the sea shore.",
"Originally written by Terry Sullivan."
]
}
],
"links":[
{
"value":"http://example.com/entity/XXXX",
"rel":"self",
"href":"http://example.com/entity/XXXX",
"type" : "application/rdap+json"
}
],
"events":[
{
"eventAction":"registration",
"eventDate":"1990-12-31T23:59:59Z"
}
],
"asEventActor":[
{
"eventAction":"last changed",
"eventDate":"1991-12-31T23:59:59Z"
}
]
}
Two new query parameters are defined for the purpose of this document.¶
The query parameters are OPTIONAL extensions of path segments defined in [RFC9082]. They are as follows:¶
RDAP allows servers to communicate service information to clients through notices. According to Section 4.3 of [RFC9083], an RDAP response may contain one or more notice objects. Each notice may include a set of link objects, which can be used to provide clients with references and documentation. These link objects may have a "rel" property which defines the relationship type, as described in [RFC8288], Section 4. The transition process outlined in this document uses two link relation types, namely "related" and "alternate", described in [RFC8288].¶
The information about the specifications used in the construction of the response is also described by the strings which appear in the "rdapConformance" property of the RDAP response.¶
Clients can ask servers to use the query parameters defined in Section 3.1 in accordance with [RFC9082].¶
The principles of the procedure for jCard to JSCard transition are based on the best practices in [API-DEPRECATION].¶
The procedure consists of four contiguous stages. During the procedure, the presence of "jscard" tag in the rdapConformance array indicates that JSCard is returned instead of jCard. The date and time format used to notify clients about the stages of this procedure is defined in [RFC3339].¶
The procedure described in this document aims to achieve the following goals:¶
only one contact representation would be included in the response;¶
the response would always be compliant to [RFC9083] because:¶
clients would be informed about the transition timeline;¶
the backward compatibility would be guaranteed throughout the transition;¶
This stage corresponds to providing jCard as the default contact card [RFC9083]. The RDAP server is not able to provide an alternate format for the contact card. The rdapConformance array MUST NOT contain the "jscard" tag.¶
During this stage, the server uses jCard by default, but the RDAP server will return JSCard if the client sets the query parameter "jscard" to 1/true/yes. The rdapConformance array MUST contain the "jscard" tag if JSCard is returned.¶
From this stage on, the RDAP server MUST include the "jscard" tag in the rdapConformance array of the help response to signal clients that JSCard can be returned instead of jCard.¶
The RDAP server SHOULD include a notice titled "jCard sunset end". Such a notice includes a description reporting the jCard sunset end date and time and two OPTIONAL links:¶
"related": a link to a URI-identified resource documenting the transition procedure;¶
"notices": [
{
"title": "jCard sunset end",
"description": ["2022-12-31T23:59:59Z"],
"links": [{
"value": "http://example.net/entity/XXXX",
"rel": "related",
"type": "text/html",
"href": "http://www.example.com/jcard_deprecation.html"
},
{
"value": "http://example.net/entity/XXXX",
"rel": "alternate",
"type": "application/rdap+json",
"href": " http://example.net/entity/XXXX?jscard=1"
}
]
}
]
"notices": [
{
"title": "jCard sunset end",
"description": ["2022-12-31T23:59:59Z"],
"links": [
{
"value": "http://example.net/entity/XXXX?jscard=1",
"rel": "related",
"type": "text/html",
"href": "http://www.example.com/jcard_deprecation.html"
}
]
}
]
This stage corresponds to the provisioning of JSCard by default, but the RDAP will return jCard if the client sets the query parameter "jcard" to 1/true/yes. The rdapConformance array contains the "jscard" tag unless jCard is returned. The "jscard" query parameter MUST be ignored.¶
The RDAP server SHOULD return a notice titled "jCard deprecation end". Such a notice includes a description reporting the jCard deprecation end date and time and two OPTIONAL links:¶
"related": a link to a URI-identified resource documenting the transition procedure;¶
"notices": [
{
"title": "jCard deprecation end",
"description": ["2023-06-30T23:59:59Z"],
"links": [
{
"value": "http://example.net/entity/XXXX",
"rel": "related",
"type": "text/html",
"href": "http://www.example.com/jcard_deprecation.html"
},
{
"value": "http://example.net/entity/XXXX",
"rel": "alternate",
"type": "application/rdap+json",
"href": " http://example.net/entity/XXXX?jcard=1"
}
]
}
]
"notices": [
{
"title": "jCard deprecation end",
"description": ["2023-06-30T23:59:59Z"],
"links": [
{
"value": "http://example.net/entity/XXXX?jcard=1",
"rel": "related",
"type": "text/html",
"href": "http://www.example.com/jcard_deprecation.html"
},
{
"value": "http://example.net/entity/XXXX?jcard=1",
"rel": "alternate",
"type": "application/rdap+json",
"href": " http://example.net/entity/XXXX"
}
]
}
]
This stage corresponds to providing JSCard as default contact card. The RDAP server is not able to provide an alternate contact card. The rdapConformance array always contains "jscard" tag. The RDAP server doesn't include any notice about the jCard deprecation process. Both "jscard" and "jcard" query parameters MUST be ignored.¶
The length of both jCard sunset and jCard deprecation periods are not fixed by this specification. Best practices in REST API deprecation suggest that, depending on the deprecated API's reach, user base and service offering, a convenient time could be anywhere between 3 - 8 months. Anyway, RDAP providers are RECOMMENDED to monitor the server log to figure out whether declared times need to be changed to meet client requirements.¶
NOTE: Please remove this section and the reference to RFC 7942 prior to publication as an RFC.¶
This section records the status of known implementations of the protocol defined by this specification at the time of posting of this Internet-Draft, and is based on a proposal described in RFC 7942 [RFC7942]. The description of implementations in this section is intended to assist the IETF in its decision processes in progressing drafts to RFCs. Please note that the listing of any individual implementation here does not imply endorsement by the IETF. Furthermore, no effort has been spent to verify the information presented here that was supplied by IETF contributors. This is not intended as, and must not be construed to be, a catalog of available implementations or their features. Readers are advised to note that other implementations may exist.¶
According to RFC 7942, "this will allow reviewers and working groups to assign due consideration to documents that have the benefit of running code, which may serve as evidence of valuable experimentation and feedback that have made the implemented protocols more mature. It is up to the individual working groups to use this information as they see fit".¶
Responsible Organization: Institute of Informatics and Telematics of National Research Council (IIT-CNR)/Registro.it¶
Location: https://rdap.pubtest.nic.it/¶
Description: This implementation includes support for RDAP queries using data from the public test environment of .it ccTLD.¶
Level of Maturity: This is an "alpha" test implementation.¶
Coverage: This implementation includes all of the features described in this specification.¶
Responsible Organization: Institute of Informatics and Telematics of National Research Council (IIT-CNR)/Registro.it¶
Location: https://web-rdap.pubtest.nic.it/¶
Description: This is a Javascript web-based RDAP client. RDAP responses are retrieved from RDAP servers by the browser, parsed into an HTML representation, and displayed in a format improving the user experience. RDAP responses containing JSCard objects are handled identically to those containing jCard objects. Raw versions of RDAP responses including either jCard or JSCard objects are provided.¶
Level of Maturity: This is an "alpha" test implementation.¶
Coverage: This implementation includes all of the features described in this specification.¶
Location: https://client.rdap.org/¶
Description: This is a web-based "single page" RDAP client. RDAP responses are retrieved from RDAP servers by the browser, and parsed into an HTML representation. RDAP responses containing JSCard objects are handled identically to those containing jCard objects.¶
Level of Maturity: This is an "alpha" test implementation.¶
Coverage: This implementation implements client support for parsing JSCard objects in RDAP responses.¶
Responsible Organization: CentralNic Group PLC¶
Location: https://rdap.centralnic.com/{tld}¶
Description: This server is the product RDAP service for all top-level domains on the CentralNic registry platform.¶
Level of Maturity: Production quality.¶
Coverage: This implementation includes all of the features described in this specification.¶
IANA is requested to register the following values in the RDAP Extensions Registry:¶
With regard to the fields of the "RDAP JSON Values" registry [RFC9083], the "JSContact Id Value" type SHALL be used to register the RDAP values for the JSContact Id type as defined in Section 3.¶
IANA is requested to register the following values in the "RDAP JSON Values" registry:¶
Unlike jCard, the formatted name as well as any other personally identifiable information is not required in JSCard. The only mandatory property, namely "uid", is not a sensitive information as it happens, instead, for the "fn" property in jCard. Therefore, redacted properties can be merely excluded without using placeholder values. This means that, with reference to what is described in [I-D.ietf-regext-rdap-redacted], only the "Removal" method can be used for redacting JSContact properties whereas the "Empty Value" is also used for redacting jCard.¶
The authors would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their contributions to this document: Jasdip Singh and Francesco Donini.¶
Provided that the keys defined in Section 3 are used for the JSContact maps, the mapping between the most commonly used jCard properties in an RDAP response and their JSContact counterparts is shown in the following. The mapping is done through the use of JSONPath expressions [I-D.ietf-jsonpath-base].¶