[Auth]re-post

[by way of Ron Burk <address@hidden>]

>Did you know that using social security numbers in that manner
>is illegal in some countries.

Irrelevant to this standard; it specifies only how a request
for information can be made, not how the information is
used or by whom. All kinds of things may be illegal in some
countries (such as storing any encrypted information on
your local hard disk), but that's not the problem of this
standard, since it only details how requests for information
can be made. We're not making the request, we're not
answering the request, we're not storing the data.

>Has any work been done on making the address standards
>work with all countries.

This standard should definitely *not* try to invent a new
solution to that problem. It should try to hew to the 80/20
rule, and be sure that the most common forms of
addresses are handled easily (most likely by adopting
the address mechanics of some existing standard).

>or what.  But.... Is there a mechanism to give a warning (to the
>user) about what type of info is being automagically given?

Absolutely not a part of this envisioned standard. "This
standard does not say anything about [...] how the user
manages that information." Let the makers of client
software compete to provide the best user interfaces.

All these comments probably indicate a need to change the
proposal to highlight what its initial purpose is: to have an outline
of a specification to carry to (primarily) vendors of personal
information database software and (secondarily) selected
web site designers.

Many items need to *not* be specified before involving these
two groups, since it's a fundamental premise that garnering
support from them is critical to the success of the proposal.
In particular, the vendors already have fully designed and
functional databases, and already have dealt with issues
such as foreign addresses, user interfaces for giving control
over what warnings are provided, etc. Overspecifying before
involving them is probably self-defeating.


Ron Burk
HighTechInfo.com, www.hightechinfo.com