Data Portability Policy for .tel domains

Telnic.org is the hub of the .tel community and the registry for .tel domains.

This page is a work-in-progress centralizing information about portability of information stored in .tel domains.

A .tel domain is primarily a data Visitor in the sense that its main purpose is to be the central hub for all your communication channels, pointing at all the resources that you use to communicate, be they phone numbers, email addresses or blogs.

A .tel domain does not broadcast updates: its data is served by DNS servers which behave as on-demand "pull" repositories.

Whatever registrars .tel domains are purchased from, they can be accessed via common read and write APIs. These APIs provide Delegated Access, Personal Backup and Public Data.

.tel domain zone files are normally deleted along with their associated data when the ownership lapses and/or changes hands.

APIs and Data Formats
.tel domains can be managed by a set of published APIs on the Telnic Developer Portal. The format of the complete import/export data structures is located within the WSDL file of the SOAP API specification. TelHosting Provider’s systems must allow Domain Name holders to import and export domain contents and metadata, including any protected contacts, readers and groups, and profile provisioning data in an XML format.

Reading .tel information is achieved through DNS queries for NAPTR, TXT, NINFO, LOC and other record types on the relevant .tel domain. The anatomy of a .tel domain is described in the Developers Manual for .tel Client Applications.

Identity and Authentication
Create a new Identity - .tel domains are globally unique, their purpose is to be a single point of contact for the owner. A Domain Name holder can have a portfolio of multiple domains, all managed by one or multiple accounts at one or multiple registrars or TelHosting providers. Authentication to manage .tel domains can be done via a standard username/password web interface or via OAuth WRAP. .tel domains are also OpenID providers, in the sense that you can connect to OpenID-enabled sites with your .tel domain.
Working with Things Stored Somewhere Else
Home and Visitor - Your .tel domain is a central switchboard for all your communication channels, and its main purpose is to publish all the means by which you can be communicated with. It is not a content platform, but it stores and publishes links to your content.
Watching For Updates
No Imports - .tel domains don't automatically watch for updates to your communication channels or personally identifiable data. However, third-party software products exist that utilize the TelHosting APIs to provide 2-way linkages with other services such as Twitter.
Broadcasting Changes Made Here
Silent - When you modify data in your .tel domain, the zone file for your domain is updated but the changes are not broadcast.
Delegated Access
Other Products Can Read and Write - Any device has read access to your published public data in your .tel domain through DNS queries. Published private data is encrypted using PKI and hidden in individual subdomains to be acccessed only by the targeted entities. Products can be given different levels of write access via OAuth WRAP protocol.
Personal Backup
Every accredited TelHosting Provider must support exporting and importing all of a user's data via the SOAP API's ExportData() method. This is to ensure that .tel owners are independent and can switch TelHosting providers and registrars as needed.
Public Data
Full access - A person can make use of any publicly published data on any .tel domain.
Account Mortality
Accounts Deleted upon Expiration - When a .tel domain ownership expires or is transferred, the data is normally automatically unpublished and the orphan TelHosting account subsequently deleted.
Termination
.tel domains are allocated for fixed periods of time with current holder having a priority right for renewal. At the conclusion of the registration period failure to renew the domain within the time determined by the registrar shall normally result in cancellation of registration. The previous holder can still redeem the domain within 30 days after such cancellation has been done, subject to its payment of the redemption fee. Cancelled (deleted) domains, upon expiration of all applicable post-expiration periods (normally 35 days) become available for re-registration.
Appeal
The .tel domain names are subject to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which establishes a procedure for resolving certain trademark disputes relating to domain names. You can also seek redress in court. Please get a qualified legal advice to determine the appropriate venue for resolution of your dispute
Where Things are Stored
Data is stored at the registrar or TelHosting provider's data centers. Furthermore, cached copies of your data can reside on relaying DNS servers at any point in time, due to the nature of the distributed DNS infrastructure.