Internet Engineering Task Force Eric Brunner-Williams Internet-Draft Wampumpeag September, 2002 Expires March 2003 Request to Move RFC 954 to Historic Status Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. This document is an Internet-Draft. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. 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.'' The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This memo requests a change of the status of RFC 954, "NICNAME/WHOIS" to Historic. 1. Introduction The NICNAME/WHOIS [1] protocol, a TCP transaction based query/response protocol, and server [2], ran on a host located at SRI International. It was one of a series of internet services maintained by the DDN Network Information Center (NIC) at SRI International on behalf of the Defense Communications Agency (DCA). Brunner Expires Marcy 2003 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Request to Move RFC 954 to Historic Status September 2002 This service provided DDN-network-wide directory service to internet users, via user programs running on local hosts, and delivered the full name, U.S. mailing address, telephone number, and network mailbox for DDN users who were registered in the NIC database. 2. Action Since the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) no longer contracts to SRI International to operate the DDN Network Information Center (NIC) at SRI International on its behalf, and the ARPANET was retired in 1990, and all DDN services terminated in 1995, MILNET included, the IESG is moving RFC 954 to Historic status. 3. Security Considerations Moving RFC 954 to historic ends the application of DCA user data disclosure practices (unrestricted) to non-DCA Network Information Centers. Unrestricted access to NIC user registration data is a significant cause of limited user trust in network security, hence in a trustable network. Unrestricted access to NIC user registration data gives rise to excessive load on NIC user registration data services, excessive load on mail relays via unsolicited bulk email, and related abuses. 4. References [1] Harrenstein K., Stahl M., and E. Feinler, "NICNAME/WHOIS", RFC-954, Network Information Center, SRI International, October 1985. [2] MILNET address: 26.0.0.73, ARPANET address: 10.0.0.51 Author's Addresses Eric Brunner-Williams Wampumpeag, LLC 1415 Forest Ave., Portland, ME 04103 Email: brunner@nic-naa.net Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved. This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are Brunner Expires Marcy 2003 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Request to Move RFC 954 to Historic Status September 2002 included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English. The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns. This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Acknowledgement Funding for the RFC editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society. Brunner Expires Marcy 2003 [Page 3]