Thank you Gary and Kate.  I’ve reviewed the minutes, and look forward to discussing the topic.

As you may guess, my strong basis is towards self-assigned DNS-based namespace with optional registration.

I’m very much against baking Github into any specification.  I already spend too much of my workweek dealing with the fact that the “official” svn endpoints, sourceforge.net references, and java.net references, including in the text of controlling legal docs and controlling standards docs, have all rotted away in the Java world.  Github may today look like it has been around forever and will be around forever.  But I want something that will last the next 50 to 100 years.  Github wont.  DNS will.

The node.js and Node Foundation world has already discovered the problems with a trying to manage a two-level flat namespace, especially when it runs into trademark issues and legal demands.  SPDX does not want to be in the business of allocating, managing, and operating namespaces, even implicitly.  As soon as we do, we will be faced with landrushes, name squatting, and international trademark law, and legal demand letters.   We don’t want to be in that business.  If we just use the DNS, we can punt everything to that existing naming norm, legal precedent, and treaty infrastructure, and avoid all that very expensive headache.

I’m against mandatory registration.  I’ve learned over my career the value of design for scalability, avoidance of bottlenecks, and the elimination of choakpoints.

..m

Mark Atwood <atwoodm@...>

Principal, Open Source

+1-206-604-2198