Subject: WG ACTION: Geographic Location/Privacy (geopriv)

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 07:58:07 -0400

A new working group has been formed in the Applications
Area of the IETF.

For additional information, contact the Area Directors
or the WG Chair.

Geographic Location/Privacy (geopriv)
-------------------------------------
 
 Current Status: Active Working Group
 
 Chair(s):
     Allison Mankin <[email-masked]>
     Randall Gellens <[email-masked]>
 
 Applications Area Director(s): 
     Ned Freed  <[email-masked]>
     Patrik Faltstrom  <[email-masked]>
 
 Applications Area Advisor: 
     Ned Freed  <[email-masked]>
 
 Mailing Lists: 
     General Discussion:[email-masked]
     To Subscribe:      [email-masked]
         In Body:       subscribe
     Archive:           ftp://ftp.ietf.org/ietf-mail-archive/geopriv

Description of Working Group:
 
As more and more resources become available on the Internet, some
applications need to acquire geographic location information about
certain resources or entities. These applications include navigation,
emergency services, management of equipment in the field, and other
location-based services.

But while the formatting and transfer of such information is in some
sense a straightforward process, the implications of doing it,
especially in regards to privacy and security, are anything but.

The primary task of this working group will be to assess the the
authorization, integrity and privacy requirements that must be met in
order to transfer such information, or authorize the release or
representation of such information through an agent.

In addition, the working group will select an already standardized
format to recommend for use in representing location per se.  A key
task will be to enhance this format and protocol approaches using the
enhanced format, to ensure that the security and privacy methods are
available to diverse location-aware applications.  Approaches to be
considered will include (among others) data formats incorporating
fields directing the privacy handling of the location information and
possible methods of specifying variable precision of location.

Also to be considered will be:  authorization of requestors and
responders; authorization of proxies (for instance, the ability to
authorize a carrier to reveal what timezone one is in, but not what
city.  An approach to the taxonomy of requestors, as well as to the
resolution or precision of information given them, will be part of this
deliverable.

The combination of these elements should provide a service capable of
transferring geographic location information in a private and secure
fashion (including the option of denying transfer).

For reasons of both future interoperability and assurance of the
security and privacy goals, it is a goal of the working group to
deliver a specification that has broad applicablity and will become
mandatory to implement for IETF protocols that are location-aware.

Two further deliverables of the WG will be:

o An example API for application-level access to/management
  of link-based location information.  That is, for instance, the WG
  may describe an API for secure, privacy-enabling user/ application
  handling of location information specific to a 3G wireless link
  technology.

o Development of i-ds that make security and privacy integral to
  location information in HTTP and HTML, based on the work in
  draft-daviel-html-geo-tag-05.txt and
  draft-daviel-http-geo-header-03.txt.

Out of Scope:

This WG won't develop location-determining technology.  It will work
from existing technologies and where the technology is undeveloped,
will state that applicability may await others' developments.

This WG won't develop technology to support any particular regulatory
requirement [e.g. E.911] but will provide a framework that might be
used for private/secure definition of such technologies by other
bodies.

Coordination:

The WG will coordinate with other WGs developing general privacy and
location-aware functions, e.g. the SIP WG, so that the WG deliverables
can be used by them.  Other coordination should include the NymIP
research community, WC3, and the Location Information Forum.
 
 Goals and Milestones: 
 
   Jul 01       Discuss initial geographic location privacy and security 
                requirements i-d.                                              

   Aug 01       Discuss initial geographic information object/transport 
                framework i-d.                                                 

   Aug 01       Initial i-d on geographic information protocol design, 
                including privacy and security techniques.                     

   Aug 01       Review charter and initial i-ds with AD, and have IESG consider
                rechartering if necessary.                                     

   Sep 01       Use initial framework to develop an example  location/privacy 
                API that might be used in a 3G handset or other consumer 
                application.                                                   

   Sep 01       Submit security/privacy requirements I-D to IESG for 
                publication as Informational RFC.                              

   Oct 01       Use initial framework to restructure drafts on geographic 
                information in HTTP and HTML so that location security and 
                privacy are integral.                                          

   Oct 01       Submit geographic location/privacy framework to IESG for 
                publication as Informational RFC.                              

   Jan 02       Submit geographic location/privacy protocol to IESG  for 
                publication in standards track.                                

   Mar 02       Conclude working group