Session Date/Time: 23 Mar 2022 12:00

mediaman Session Minutes

Summary

The mediaman working group held its first face-to-face meeting, focusing on three key drafts: a document defining criteria for new top-level media types, a specific proposal for a "haptics" top-level media type, and a document addressing multiple suffixes in media types. The group reached consensus to adopt the new top-level types criteria document as a working group draft, with a strong preference for retaining the "standards track RFC" requirement for new top-level types. The haptics proposal received positive initial feedback, with its advancement dependent on the criteria document. The discussion on multiple suffixes highlighted the need for more review, particularly on its processing model and security implications. Finally, the group agreed to remove "Mac file types" from registration forms.

Key Discussion Points

New Top-Level Media Types Document (draft-ietf-mediaman-new-tls)
- Martin Thomson presented draft-ietf-mediaman-new-tls, outlining potential criteria for new top-level media types based on RFC 6838.
- Key criteria discussed included rarity, clear scope, initial registrations, and the need for a Standards Track RFC.
- Barry Lieber questioned the strict "Standards Track RFC" requirement, suggesting expert review might be sufficient for some cases.
- Alexey Favorskoy and John Klensin advocated for retaining the Standards Track requirement, emphasizing the importance of community input, broader review, and the high bar appropriate for rare, foundational changes. Phil Roberts supported this for organizational reasons.
- The draft proposes a new IANA registry for top-level types, including their defining RFCs, to improve discoverability.
- Decision: The working group reached consensus to adopt draft-ietf-mediaman-new-tls as a working group draft. There was a strong preference to retain the "standards track RFC" requirement for defining new top-level media types.
Haptics Top-Level Media Type Proposal (draft-muthusamy-mediaman-haptics)
- Yeshwanth Muthusamy presented the haptics top-level media type proposal, arguing its necessity and alignment with the proposed criteria.
- He highlighted the ongoing standardization efforts in ISO/BMF, MPEG, and IEEE for haptics, and its relevance to XR and immersive media.
- The proposal detailed numerous existing and emerging haptic subtypes (e.g., HAP, ORG, IBS, HACT, MPEG Haptics, IEEE P1918.1.1, MIDI-based, Audio-to-Vibe), demonstrating a robust ecosystem.
- The haptics type is proposed to pertain to the human sense of touch, similar to audio and video for hearing and vision.
- Martin Thomson clarified that his criteria draft is not prescriptive and should evolve with feedback from specific proposals like haptics.
- Phil Roberts supported haptics as a separate top-level type due to the specialized expertise required and its distinct nature from existing types.
- Murray Kucherawy suggested developing both the criteria document and the haptics proposal in parallel.
- Outcome: Positive feedback for the haptics proposal. Its formal adoption and progression will follow the finalization of the top-level types criteria document.
Multiple Suffixes in Media Types (draft-ietf-mediaman-suffixes)
- Manu Sporny presented draft-ietf-mediaman-suffixes, aiming to define how multiple media type suffixes (e.g., +xml+gzip, +ld+json) should be processed and registered.
- Goals: Establish processing rules, define registration policies, and address security considerations.
- Key Changes: A revised processing model (to handle cases like image/svg+xml+gzip), new examples, incorporation of the "structured syntaxes suffixes registry," and a dedicated security considerations section.
- Concerns: Manu highlighted the lack of comprehensive review and sought feedback on the correctness of the new processing model.
- Security Discussion: Harold Alvestrand and John Klensin emphasized the realism of "fibbing attacks" (malicious mislabeling) and "GZip bombs" (decompression attacks) as critical security considerations for implementations.
- John Klensin also noted historical caution against structured subtypes, advocating for parameters instead, and warned about the complexity of managing multiple suffixes.
- Martin Thomson raised questions about whether only suffixes need registration or if specific suffix combinations also require registration, and the extent of "permissionless" innovation.
- Outcome: The draft requires significantly more review, particularly on its processing model and comprehensive security implications. Clarification is needed on the registration strategy for suffix combinations.
Mac File Types in Registration Forms (AOB)
- A discussion was held regarding whether to remove the "Mac file types" field from IANA media type registration forms.
- Pete Resnick and Barry Lieber confirmed that Mac file types are deprecated and not used by modern macOS (since OS X), with file extensions being the primary mechanism.
- Decision: Consensus to remove "Mac file types" as a required field from media type registration forms, with a suggestion that such information could be included in a "notes" field for legacy purposes if necessary.

Decisions and Action Items

Decisions:
- The working group adopted draft-ietf-mediaman-new-tls (New Top-Level Media Types document) as a working group draft.
- The working group confirms the preference that draft-ietf-mediaman-new-tls should specify "standards track RFC" as the requirement for defining new top-level MIME types.
- The working group decided to remove "Mac file types" as a required field from IANA media type registration forms.
Action Items:
- Harold Alvestrand: Confirm the adoption of draft-ietf-mediaman-new-tls on the mediaman mailing list.
- Working Group Participants: Provide thorough review and comments on draft-ietf-mediaman-suffixes, specifically on the processing model and security considerations.
- Manu Sporny: Conduct targeted outreach and interviews with key individuals (e.g., Ned Freed, Murray Kucherawy, Mark Nottingham) to gather feedback on draft-ietf-mediaman-suffixes.
- Manu Sporny: Clarify in draft-ietf-mediaman-suffixes the specific registration requirements for suffix combinations (i.e., whether combinations must be explicitly registered or if suffix components are sufficient).

Next Steps

Continue detailed review and iteration on draft-ietf-mediaman-new-tls and draft-ietf-mediaman-suffixes.
Address outstanding questions regarding the processing model and security considerations in the suffixes draft.
Advance draft-muthusamy-mediaman-haptics in alignment with the developing top-level criteria document.
Initiate the process to update IANA media type registration forms to remove the "Mac file types" requirement.