◆ Semantic Web Catalogue

Problem thread

Who runs the registry?

When everyone depends on one set of identifiers, who issues them, on what terms, and what happens when the registry runs out, changes hands or closes its code?

issue
identification
also governance, sustainability
status
open
steps
10, 1957–2026
threads
all problem threads

Most of the identifiers the world runs on are issued by a registry: a military catalogue for objects in orbit, an industry council for barcodes, a foundation for DOIs, a regulator-backed foundation for legal entities. Each registry decides who may issue, what it costs and whether the codes are open. The Web adds a second question, whether those codes should become web addresses, while proprietary schemes and number formats that run out show how fragile the arrangements can be.

Lineage

  1. Oct 1957
    precedent standard
    Satellite Catalog Number

    From Sputnik on, the US military numbers every object it tracks in orbit, in order of discovery: one authority's catalogue becomes everyone's identifier. [src]

  2. 3 Apr 1973
    proposes standard ★ seminal
    Universal Product Code

    The US grocery industry chooses one product code in April 1973 and sets up the Uniform Code Council in 1974 to administer it: a registry run by the industry that uses it. [src1][src2]

  3. 1994
    proposes standard
    Handle System

    A general system for assigning and resolving persistent identifiers, first implemented in 1994 and run by CNRI until December 2015, when administration passed to several 'multi-primary administrators'. [src]

  4. 2000
    proposes standard ★ seminal
    DOI

    Identifiers for documents and data, introduced in 2000 on top of the Handle System, issued through registration agencies such as Crossref; a DOI names the object rather than where it is stored. [src]

  5. Oct 2010
    proposes standard
    EIDR

    The film and television industry founds its own registry in October 2010, giving every title, edit and version a DOI. [src]

  6. Dec 2012
    proposes standard
    Legal Entity Identifier

    After the 2008 crisis showed regulators could not tell who was exposed to whom, the G20 calls for one identifier for every party to a financial transaction; the first LEIs are issued in December 2012, and their records are published openly. [src]

  7. Jul 2013
    proposes project
    what3words

    A company names every 3-metre square on Earth with three words, under a patented, closed algorithm; it is widely used by British emergency services, and its owners have taken down reimplementations. [src]

  8. Oct 2014
    proposes standard
    Open Location Code

    An open encoding of coordinates into short codes, free for anyone to compute without a registry at all. [src1][src2]

  9. Aug 2018
    proposes standard ★ seminal
    GS1 Digital Link

    GS1 writes its product identifiers as web URIs, so a barcode or QR code on a pack resolves to information about the product: a registry's codes become web addresses. [src]

  10. 11 Jul 2026
    measures standard
    Two-line element set

    The satellite catalogue runs out of five-digit numbers when object 100,000 is catalogued; the orbit format everyone uses cannot hold it, and users must switch to a letter-prefixed workaround or a newer message format. [src1][src2][src3]

Recent signals

Dated events that show the problem moving, newest last.

  1. 5 Oct 2026

    Retailers in the US are piloting point-of-sale scanning of 2D barcodes that carry GS1 identifiers, ahead of the Sunrise 2027 goal. GS1 Digital Link[src]

Open now

Under each question, the answers people have put forward or built. The catalogue gives no odds on them.

  • Should a place, product or company have an identifier that no one owns? [src1][src2][src3]
    what3words is proprietary and has taken down reimplementations; Open Location Code is free to compute; the LEI's records are published openly by a foundation.
    • Codes that anyone can compute, with no registry at all. Open Location Code
      Open Location Code derives a short code from coordinates with a free, open algorithm, unlike the proprietary what3words.[src1][src2]
    • A registry run as a public utility under public oversight. Legal Entity Identifier
      The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation runs LEIs as a non-profit overseen by regulators, and offers the data free.[src]
  • Should registry codes be web addresses? [src1][src2]
    GS1 Digital Link and the European Legislation Identifier turn registry codes into URIs that resolve; most registries still issue plain codes.
    • Registry codes become web addresses that resolve. GS1 Digital Link
      GS1 Digital Link writes GTINs and other GS1 keys as web URIs, so a 2D code on a pack can lead to product data.[src]

Decision points

Dated moments when a decision or a deadline can change the outcome.

  1. Dec 2027
    GS1 Sunrise 2027 standard

    Industry goal for retail point-of-sale systems to read 2D barcodes, such as those carrying GS1 Digital Link, by the end of 2027; voluntary, not law.[src1][src2]

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