OID repository
OID Repository
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Questions:

  1. What are the standards that define OIDs and the OID tree?
  2. Which kind of objects can be referenced by OIDs?
  3. Where can I learn more about OIDs and their registration?
  4. How to add information to the OID repository?
  5. How to modify the description of an OID?
  6. How to delete an OID (or move it elsewhere in the OID tree)?
  7. How does the OID repository provided on this website compare with Harald Alvestrand's repository?
  8. How to reference an OID description from this repository?
  9. How many OIDs are currently described in this repository?
  10. How to get an OID assigned?
  11. What decision needs be taken if a country wants a national Registration Authority for OIDs?
  12. Are there guidelines or standards regarding subsequent arcs of a country arc?
  13. What is the Internet OID?
  14. Where does the dot notation for OIDs come from?
  15. Why are top-level arcs restricted to three arcs numbered 0 to 2, and why are arcs beneath top-level arcs 0 and 1 restricted to fourty arcs numbered 0 to 39?
  16. What do we call a registration tree (or object identifier tree)?
  17. What is the ASN.1 notation of an OID?
  18. How is the entire registration tree managed?
  19. Which features are offered by this repository?
  20. What are the syntax rules to enter information about OIDs through the web interface?
  21. Which information is necessary to apply for an OID?
  22. Is there a particular OID that can be used for documenting examples of object identifiers?
  23. What is the difference between the first and current Registration Authorities that appear in the description of some OIDs? What is their duty?
  24. What constraints are imposed to OIDs used in SNMP MIBs (Management Information Bases)?
  25. Is there a way to look up an OID in the OID repository from my web browser?
  26. What is a leaf OID? What is a frozen OID?
  27. What is an orphan OID?
  28. What is an OID-IRI (Internationalized Resource Identifier)?
  29. What are the duties of a Registration Authority?
  30. Are there size limitations for OID encoding?
  31. Are there binary encoders/decoders for OIDs?
  32. Does this web site use cookies?
  33. How does this web site protect users' privacy?
  34. What are the guidelines to adequately describe an OID in this OID repository?
  35. How to be informed about updates to OIDs described in this OID repository?

Answers:

  1. What are the standards that define OIDs and the OID tree?
    They are defined in the Recommendation ITU-T X.660 series | ISO/IEC 9834 multi-part standard, and in particular in Rec. ITU-T X.660 | ISO/IEC 9834-1.
    Binary encodings of OIDs are specified in Rec. ITU-T X.690 | ISO/IEC 8825-1 for the Binary (BER) and Distinguished (DER) Encoding rules, in Rec. ITU-T X.691 | ISO/IEC 8825-2 for the Packed Encoding rules (PER). An XML encoding of OIDs is specified in Rec. ITU-T X.693 | ISO/IEC 8825-3.
    See the complete list of international standards on OIDs. (See also question 31 about binary encoders/decoders for OIDs.)

  2. Which kind of objects can be referenced by OIDs?
    Objects that can typically be identified by an object identifier are (non exhaustively): Examples of OID uses are also listed on the ITU-T flyer.

  3. Where can I learn more about OIDs and their registration?
    Apart from the official standards (see question 1), OIDs are explained in:
  4. How to add information to the OID repository?
     This OID repository is not an official Registration Authority, so any OID described in this OID repository has to be officially allocated by the Registration Authority of its parent OID. There are at least 4 ways of adding a new OID description to the repository:
    a. Enter the OID value in the box under "Add a description for the following OID to the database" on the main page and click on the "Create" button; a new page will then be displayed with some boxes to fill (see guidelines for describing an OID). You can also enter the OID in the following box:
         { }
    b. Go to the parent OID of the OID that you want to add (i.e. the OID at the immediate upper level in the OID tree) and click on the "Create a child OID" link on the top right-hand side of the page; a new page will then be displayed with some boxes to fill (see guidelines for describing an OID).
    c. Go to an OID at the same level as the OID that you want to add (a.k.a. sibling OID) and click on the "Create a sibling OID" link on the top right-hand side of the page; a new page will then be displayed with some boxes to fill (see guidelines for describing an OID).
    d. If you have a lot of OID descriptions to add, it is more convenient to describe them in an XML document that conforms to our XML Schema for OIDs and submit this document through the web interface.
    Note: In all 4 cases, the person (if any) you mention as registrant for the OID, and the person (if known) who is the registrant for the parent OID are automatically informed by email and can make comments on your submission. The description of an OID will not be visible until it is validated by the webmaster who is also automatically informed by email.

  5. How to modify the description of an OID?
    If you want to update an OID that is described in the OID repository, please click on the "Modify this OID" hyperlink at the top-right of the web page that describes the OID or enter the OID in the following box:
         { }
    Note: Your proposed modifications will have to be validated by the registrant of the OID being modified (if known), the registrant of the parent OID (if known) and the OID repository administrator (who will all be automatically informed by e-mail) before they get published.
    If the First or Current Registration Authorities requested privacy protection, their postal address, email address and phone number are not displayed (but you can receive them by email). In that case, please use the "Comments" box at the bottom of the "Suggest a modification" web page to describe the changes.
    If an OID is misplaced in the OID tree and should be moved elsewhere in the tree, please use the "Comments" box at the bottom of the "Suggest a modification" web page to be displayed to explain where (and why) the OID should be moved.
    You can also mention in the "Comments" box that an OID is a leaf in the OID tree (i.e. child OIDs cannot be allocated) or is frozen (i.e. no more child OIDs can be allocated).

  6. How to delete an OID (or move it elsewhere in the OID tree)?
    According to Recommendation ITU-T X.660 | ISO 9834-1, an OID shall not be deleted once it has been allocated by a Registration Authority. However if an OID that is described in this OID repository has never been officially allocated by the Registration Authority for the parent OID (or is misplaced in the OID tree), you can request its deletion from the OID repository (or move elsewhere) by clicking on the "Modify this OID" hyperlink at the top-right of the web page that describes the OID or by entering the OID in the following box:
         { }
    Use the "Comments" box at the bottom of the page to be displayed to explain why the OID should be deleted (or moved elsewhere). Your suggestion will have to be validated by the registrant of the OID (if known), the registrant of the parent OID (if known) and the OID repository administrator (who will all be automatically informed by e-mail) before it get published.

  7. How does the OID repository provided on this website compare with Harald Alvestrand's repository?
    We get Harald's agreement to dump his repository and merge the data into our repository. This was done in June 2003 and our OID repository now encompasses Harald's registry.

  8. How to reference an OID description in this repository?
    The shortest and easiest means is to append the OID (whether it is in ASN.1 notation, dot notation, IRI notation or URN notation) to the http://oid-info.com/get/ URL, e.g.:
  9. How many OIDs are currently described in this repository?
    There are more than 2 billion OID descriptions stored in this repository (see exact number). The repository is well alive and updated as often as necessary; statistics are available about the number of OIDs added to the repository (or updated) over the past 12 months. A (non-exhaustive) list of standards (and other documents that define OIDs) which have been captured in our repository is available.

  10. How to get an OID assigned?
    The original intention of the Recommendation ITU-T X.660 | ISO/IEC 9834 series was that anyone should be able to get an OID if they needed one. There are registration authorities from which it is easy and quite cheap (sometimes even free!) to have an OID assigned, such as: Important note: OIDs have to be requested from those registrations authorities because this OID repository is not a registration authority.

  11. What decision needs be taken if a country wants a national Registration Authority for OIDs?
    Country arcs are the subsequent arcs of {iso(1) member-body(2)} and {joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16)}. The values assigned to country arcs are the numerical codes (without leading zeros) assigned by the United Nations Statistics Division together with the corresponding and the ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 code. {iso(1) member-body(2)} was deprecated in favour of {joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16)}, thus countries which have never been operating a national Registration Authority (RA) for OIDs are encouraged to request an arc under {joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16)}. Countries are discouraged to request an arc under both {iso(1) member-body(2)} and {joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16)}.
    Recommendation ITU-T X.660 | ISO/IEC 9834-1, clause A.4.5, specifies that the ISO National Body of the country and the administration representing the country in the ITU shall agree together (as a national decision) on the organization that will be the RA for their country arc. In the case of a country arc under {iso(1) member-body(2)} the decision is only taken by the ISO National Body of the country. For more detailed information, see "Operation of a country Registration Authority".
    One way to know if your country is already operating an RA for OIDs is too check the known country RAs.

  12. Are there guidelines or standards regarding subsequent arcs of a country arc?
    Country arcs are the subsequent arcs of {iso(1) member-body(2)} and {joint-iso-itu-t(2) country(16)}.
    The structure underneath a country arc is a national decision. The basic standard is of course Recommendation ITU-T X.660 | ISO/IEC 9834-1. It might be worth having a look at Recommendation ITU-T X.670 "Procedures for registration agents operating on behalf of organizations to register organization names subordinate to country names".
    There is no guidelines besides the fact that any registration authority needs to keep records according to the aforementioned standards. A good idea is probably to look at how other countries have organized subsequent arcs beneath their country arc as well as reading the ITU handbook on "Object identifiers (OIDs) and their registration authorities". You can also take benefit from the guidelines to adequately describe an OID in this OID repository.

  13. What is the Internet OID?
    The Internet OID is {iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6) internet(1)} or equivalently in dot notation 1.3.6.1.

  14. Where does the dot notation for OIDs come from?
    (from Harald Alvestrand's website)
    The dot notation is an IETF invention. The ASN.1 group thought it better to have a notation using spaces and braces, with optional text labels, so that 1.3.6.1 would become something like {iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6) internet(1)} or {1 3 6 1} or variants thereof.
    The IETF folks thought this was somewhat inconvenient, and decided to use a space-free notation. This is, among other things, spelled out in IETF RFC 1778, section 2.15, but was in use long before that time. IETF RFC 2252, section 4.1, eliminates the "ds.4.10" form.

  15. Why are top-level arcs restricted to three arcs numbered 0 to 2, and why are arcs beneath top-level arcs 0 and 1 restricted to fourty arcs numbered 0 to 39?
    This enables optimized binary encodings in which all arcs beneath top-level arcs 0 and 1, and arcs 0 to 47 beneath top-level arc 2 are encoded on a single octet (see Rec. ITU-T X.690 | ISO/IEC 8825-1, clause 8.19). Arcs greater to 47 beneath top-level arc 2 are hence encoded on more than one octet.

  16. What do we call a registration tree (or object identifier tree)?
    In an open and international world such as the one of telecommunications and information technologies, you often need to be able to reference an "object" (see question 1) in a unique and universal way. The ASN.1 standard defines an object as being "a well-defined piece of information, definition or specification which requires a name in order to identify its use in an instance of communication".
    In general, an object is a class of information (for example, a file format), rather than an instance of such a class (for example, an individual file). It is thus the class of information (defined by some referenceable specification), rather than the piece of information itself, that is assigned a place in the tree.
    The naming structure that has been chosen is a tree structure that allows to name objects in a local or international context, without being limited either by the registration authority, nor by the number of objects they can register.

  17. What is the ASN.1 notation of an OID?
    Each OID arc is associated with a mandatory number (used for data transfers) and an optional (but recommended) alphanumeric identifier (for legibility).
    An identifier begins with a lower-case letter (from 'a' to 'z') and is followed by lower-case or upper-case letters (from 'a' to 'z', or from 'A' to 'Z'), digits (from '0' to '9') or hyphens ('-'). See Rec. ITU-T X.680 | ISO/IEC 8824-1, clause 32, for more details.
    In some cases, the identifier has been standardized and can be used alone (without the associated number) in the ASN.1 notation. The number can always be used alone. This web site will issue an error message if you are trying to display an OID using an invalid ASN.1 notation.
    An OID is semantically an ordered list of OID components (number only, or identifier followed by a number between parentheses, or identifier alone in some cases). Starting with the root of the OID tree, each OID component identifies an arc in the OID tree. The last OID component identifies an arc leading to a node to which an object has been assigned. It is this object which is identified by the OID.
    Example: {joint-iso-itu-t ds(5) attributeType(4) distinguishedName(49)} where joint-iso-itu-t is a standardized identifier which can appear alone,i.e. without its associated number.
    (See also question 14 for the dot notation and question 28 about the OID-IRI notation.)

  18. How is the entire registration tree managed?
    The management of the entire registration tree is accomplished by a process of delegation of authority. In this process the registration authority responsible for a given arc in the registration tree may partition that naming-domain. In doing so, it may or may not delegate the registration responsibility for the naming-domain formed by each partition to a subordinate Registration Authority. The naming of a partition does not necessarily imply authority to register objects under that partition. This delegation of registration responsibility can be applied repeatedly with a subordinate registration authority partitioning further the naming domain for which it is responsible and delegating responsibility for those partitions to registration authorities subordinate to it.
    The registration authority responsible for a given naming-domain must assign a name to the partition of that naming-domain that a given sub-authority will manage. The name assigned shall be globally unambiguous, and shall be concatenated as a prefix to all names assigned by that sub-authority. The repeated application of this process through a hierarchy of registration agents ensures the generation of unambiguous names.
    An organization, a standard or an automated facility can be the registration authority for more than one partition of a naming-domain (see also questions 11 and 12 for how country arcs are managed).

  19. Which features are offered by this repository?
    The description page for each OID offers the following features:
    • have a synthetic graphical view of the tree (click on theFolding the subtree andUnfolding the subtree icons to fold and unfold arcs);
    • display the description of another OID (the "Go" button);
    • use the "remote control" to display the description of:
      • the parent OID (i.e. the OID at the immediate upper level in the OID tree),
      • the previous or next sibling OID (i.e. OID at the same level in the OID tree),
      • the very first or very last sibling OID (i.e. OID with the lowest or greatest number at the same level in the OID tree), or
      • the first child OID (the OID with the lowest number at the immediate lower level in the OID tree);
    • submit a description of a child OID under the current OID (see also question 20): After putting down some information (description of the OID, its registrant...), the registrant of the OID (if known), the registrant of the parent OID (if known) and the OID repository administrator will be automatically asked by email to review and validate your submission. Note that the description page of the newly created OID will only be available after validation;
    • submit a description of a sibling OID, i.e. an OID at the same level as the current OID (see also question 20);
    • propose modifications of the description of the current OID: these modifications will have to be validated by the registrant of the OID (if known), the registrant of the parent OID (if known) and the OID repository administrator (who will all be automatically informed by e-mail) before they get published;
    • do a quick search of the entire OID repository by searching for a particular string in all attributes;
    • do an advanced search of the entire OID repository by searching for a particular value for each description attribute or even by using regular expressions.
    Other features are available from the main page of the OID repository:
    • display an OID description randomly;
    • display the number of OIDs in the repository as well as statistics about how many OID descriptions were added or modified over the past 12 months;
    • add the description of a given OID (see also question 20);
    • submit many OIDs to the database by describing them in an XML file.

  20. What are the syntax rules to enter information about OIDs through the web interface?
    When adding information about an OID into the OID repository, non-ASCII characters such as accentuated letters are allowed in most fields ("Description", "Information", registrant "First name", "Last name" and "Address"). The software will replace them by their equivalent HTML code.
    The following HTML tags are allowed in the "Description", "Information" and "Address" fields: <a>, <br/>, <code>, <i>, <img>, <li>, <ol>, <b>, <sub>, <sup> and <ul>. Use of <br> or <br/> is not mandatory to break lines because any newline character will automatically be replaced with <br/> by the software.
    See also the guidelines to adequately describe an OID in this OID repository.

  21. Which information is necessary to apply for an OID?
    According to clause 8.2 f of Recommendation ITU-T X.660 | ISO/IEC 9834-1, the registration record for an OID shall include at least:
    a) the definition of the object (when the registration authority of the parent OID performs a technical role, it checks that the object can be registered under the parent OID);
    b) when applicable, the identifier (beginning with a lowercase letter) assigned to the object (in addition to the unique number);
    c) the name and contact information of the organization that proposed the entry (usually it is the "First registration authority" for the requested OID);
    d) the dates of submission/registration.

  22. Is there a particular OID that can be used for documenting examples of object identifiers?
    - OID {joint-iso-itu-t(2) example(999)} (or 2.999) can be used by anyone, without any permission, for the purpose of documenting examples of object identifiers (in the same way as "example.com" is defined in IETF RFC 2606 as an example for web sites).
    - OID {iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6) internet(1) private(4) enterprise(1) 32473} (or 1.3.6.1.4.1.32473) has been allocated by IETF RFC 5612 for use as a Private Enterprise Number (PEN) in examples in Request For Comments (RFCs), books, documentation and the like.

  23. What is the difference between the first and current Registration Authorities that appear in the description of some OIDs? What is their duty?
    A Registration Authority (RA) is responsible for allocating child arcs to the OID for which it manages. It ensures that an integer is used once among the subsequent arcs (child OIDs). As much as possible, it avoids the same identifier (beginning with a lowercase letter) being used for multiple sub-arcs. It also keeps a record of information (name of a contact person, postal address, telephone and fax numbers, email address, etc.) about the RA for each child OID and delegates its duty to each 'child' RA. Such information can be stored in the OID repository but it is important to understand that an OID first need to be officially allocated by an RA before it can be described on this website which is not an official RA, but a repository of information about existing OIDs.
    The first Registration Authority of an OID is the very first person or company to whom the OID was allocated by the RA of the superior OID. According to Recommendation ITU-T X.660 | ISO/IEC 9834-1, the first RA can't be changed (if the responsibility is transferred to someone else, the information is recorded in the "Current Registration Authority" section, without changing the "First Registration Authority" section).
    By default, if the OID has recently been allocated, the Current RA is the First RA. So, if you are entering information in the OID repository, please fill only the "First Registration Authority" section, and don't copy the same information in the "Current Registration Authority" section).
    When someone or an organization takes over the duty from the First RA, the relevant information is indicated in the "Current Registration Authority" section without changing the "First Registration Authority" section.

  24. What constraints are imposed to OIDs used in SNMP MIBs (Management Information Bases)?
    The constraints are gathered in sections 4.6.5, 4.6.6, and Appendix D of IETF RFC 4181 (updated by RFC 4841) which makes references to IETF RFC 2578, sections 3.5, 3.6, 5.6, 7.10, and RFC 3416, section 4.1.
    - According to IETF RFC 2578, section 3.5, all OIDs are limited to 128 child OIDs and each OID has a maximum (integer) value of 232-1 (4294967295).
    - The last arc of an OID assigned to any object (be it table, row, column, or scalar) must not be equal to 0.
    - In some cases, a final arc 0 is used to translate between SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 notification parameters as explained in IETF RFC 3584, section 3.
    One example of a MIB module whose OID assignments follow the recommended scheme is the POWER-ETHERNET-MIB defined in RFC 3621.
    MIBs use a notation like ".2.999" where the leading dot shows that this OID is absolute while "2.999" might be considered as a relative OID by some tools which would then add a root OID in front of it.

  25. Is there a way to look up an OID in the OID repository from my web browser?
    - If you're using Firefox Mozilla Firefox or Mozilla Mozilla SeaMonkey or Chrome Google Chrome, an OpenSearch Plugin (a.k.a. search engine) allows to display information about an OID when an ASN.1 notation, dot notation, URN notation or OID-IRI notation is entered in the search bar at the top-right.
    - See also question 8.

  26. What is a leaf OID? What is a frozen OID?
    These are not standardized concepts. In case an OID is a leaf in the OID repository, no child OIDs can be allocated under that OID. In case an OID is frozen in the OID repository, no more child OIDs can be created in addition to the existing ones. In both cases, the system does not accept the creation of child OIDs. The status is also mentioned on the web page that describes an OID (see example for a leaf OID and for a frozen OID).
    To report that an OID is a leaf or is frozen, please suggest a modification for this OID and use the "Comments" box at the bottom.

  27. What is an orphan OID?
    This is not a standardized concept but this term is used to qualify an OID that is described in the OID repository, but some of its parent OIDs are not described in the OID repository. This does not mean that these unknown parent OIDs do not exist (actually they do exist because an OID can only be allocated by the Registration Authority of its parent OID). However the user who submitted the description of this OID has no knowledge of how to describe these parent OIDs.
    Orphan OIDs are not visible when one walks down the OID tree. However, they are displayed when one asks for the description of a particular OID. Orphan grandchild OIDs (i.e. OIDs for which we have a description as well as a description of their grandparent OID, but no description of their parent OID) are accessible from the description page of their grandparent OID.

  28. What is an OID-IRI (Internationalized Resource Identifier)?
    Historically, OIDs could only be denoted in dot notation (e.g. 2.27) or in ASN.1 notation (e.g. {joint-iso-itu-t(2) tag-based(27)}) where only ASCII identifiers are allowed. The need was identified for a human-friendly notation which would not be limited to latin alphabets and would encompass the diversity of Unicode alphabets.
    An OID-IRI (a.k.a. international OID) is a string of slash-separated Unicode labels from the root of the OID tree, which unambiguously identifies a node in the OID tree (e.g. "/Joint-ISO-ITU-T/Example").
    A Unicode label is a case-sensitive string of Unicode characters (except the SPACE character). Just as an OID node can have multiple identifiers in ASN.1 notation, it can have multiple Unicode labels (this allows backwards-compatibility when a company changes its name, for example). Each OID node has a default Unicode label which is its number (e.g. "/2/999").
    In order to support names of OIDs in multiple languages, an OID can have multiple Unicode labels, giving rise to a need to transform a path using Unicode labels into a canonical form of purely numerical labels to identify the OID. This is handled by the OID Resolution System.
    A long arc is a particular kind of Unicode label that identifies an OID that is not immediately beneath the root of the OID tree. For example, OID {joint-iso-itu-t(2) example(999)} has a long arc named "Example" allowing OID-IRI "/Example" which is shorter than OID-IRI "/Joint-ISO-ITU-T/Example". Long arcs are only allowed for OIDs under the joint-iso-itu-t(2) top-level arc (see the register of long arcs).
    The ASN.1 standard specifies an OID-IRI type for exchanging OID-IRI values between machines.

  29. What are the duties of a Registration Authority?
    Guidance is given in sections 8.2 (Operation), 9 (registration procedures) and 11 (recommended fee structure) of Recommendation ITU-T X.660 | ISO/IEC 9834-1.
    The open-source database system OIDplus from ViaThinkSoft can be used by Registration Authorities to manage their OIDs. It includes a feature to export data into an XML document that can then be uploaded to this OID repository.

  30. Are there size limitations for OID encoding?
    The OID standards have no limit whatsoever about the depth of an OID in the OID tree (i.e. number of arcs) and the size of the integer associated to each OID arc. At the moment, the longest OID described in the OID repository has 171 chars and 34 arcs. The greatest number for an OID arc has 39 digits. However, there are constraints for OIDs used in SNMP Management Information Bases (see question 24) and some tools may have size limitations (or bugs):
    - The ASN.1 JavaScript decoder at lapo.it, Bouncy Castle Crypto APIs, OpenSSL (version 0.9.8o, 1 Jun 2010) and the built-in Java class "org.ietf.jgss.Oid" can handle UUIDs used as OIDs.
    - Windows CryptoAPI Shell Extension (tested with Windows XP and Windows 7) cannot handle UUIDs used as OIDs: The maximum useable OID value in Windows is 264-1 (e.g. 2.999.18446744073709551615). Windows will show whitespace when any higher value occurs.
    - Mozilla software cannot handle UUIDs used as OIDs: The maximum useable OID value in Mozilla software is 232-1 (e.g. 2.999.4294967295). The program will show "Unknown" when an arc contains a higher value (e.g. {2 999 Unknown 0}).
    - Mac OS X cannot handle OIDs of the form 2.n where n > 47 (i.e. it wrongly decodes OIDs which need more than one octet in the first two arcs).
    More details can be found in Daniel Marschall's study about OID encoding and size limitations. Daniel's DER encoder can also help in your testing.

  31. Are there binary encoders/decoders for OIDs?
    See for example (non-exhaustive list):
    - OSS Nokalva's online ASN.1 playground encodes/decodes OIDs in any encoding rule (BER, DER, PER, UPER, XER) with the following schema:
         OID-Module DEFINITIONS ::= BEGIN
           OID ::= OBJECT IDENTIFIER
         END
      The OID is provided in ASN.1 notation in the "Data: Encode" box as follows:
         oid OID ::= {2 999}
    - Daniel Marschall's online DER encoder/decoder (for PHP and C);
    - The Legion of the Bouncy Castle's API for Java and C#;
    - Wireshark's subtool for ASN.1.
    See also Daniel Marschall's software compatibility analysis for large OIDs.

  32. Does this web site use cookies?
    You can set up your browser to reject cookies: Disabling their use will not materially impact on your interaction with this website.
    Only users who have submitted information on OIDs (description of a new OID or proposed modifications to an existing OID) have a unique cookie placed on their machine with their first name, last name and email address, so that the "submitter" section is automatically filled the next time they submit information. This cookie is not used to track your use of the OID repository.
    The OID helper chatbot is (externally) hosted by Pandorabots which normally tracks individual conversations by placing a cookie on your browser, in order to offer contextual answers to your questions (please check Pandorabots' privacy policy). However, if your browser is not setup to accept cookies, an alternative mechanism is used through a hidden variable in the HTML form.

  33. How does this web site protect users' privacy?
    The purpose of this section (updated on 24 Jan 2019) is to inform you about the way your personal data is handled on this web site. By providing your personal data to this web site, you acknowledge and consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal data for a legitimate interest as explained hereunder. This web site never sells, leases or rents your personal data.
    Only users who have submitted information on OIDs (description of a new OID or proposed modifications to an existing OID) have personal data stored in the OID repository database. The only reason to keep such information is to inform them when the OID description is validated or modified by the OID repository administrator, or when modifications are suggested by another user (see also question 32 about cookies). This information is not publicly disclosed on the web site. (Note, however, that it may be sent by email to the (current or first) registration authority of the OID and of its parent OID, when they are known).
    Only those users who are the contact of a (current or first) registration authority for an OID and have not ticked the box "Protect the privacy of the Registration Authority by not displaying the contact information on the web site" have their personal data (email address, postal address, phone number) publicly visible on the web site. (Note, however, that even when the "privacy" box is ticked, any user of this web site can request a copy of such data by email so as to be able to contact the registration authority of an OID; such requests are recorded). These users are automatically notified by email when information about them is entered and can request deletion of such data.
    In some cases, your personal data appears in the OID repository because it is publicly available on another web site (e.g. IANA enterprise numbers).
    To check if personal data related to you appears in the OID repository, please use the advanced search. You can also get a copy of all personal data appearing in the OID repository. In any case, your personal data is never used for sending any kind of publicity to you.
    A log of all modifications made to an OID is also kept (hence your personal data may appear in that log) but it is not public and would only be used by the OID repository administrator to explain or undo changes if needed.
    For any other question related to data protection or to request the rectification or erasure of your personal data, you can contact the webmaster. Repetitive, disproportionate or impracticable requests may be rejected.

  34. What are the guidelines to adequately describe an OID in this OID repository?
    The following rules are applied by the OID repository administrator when validating OID descriptions:
    • The description shall be as short as possible (usually, not more than one line) and focus on what (i.e. which object) is identified by the OID. The description shall not be a sentence (with a verb). Consequently, the description does not end up with a full stop "." (except when the full stop is part of an abbreviation). See also the syntax rules.
    • The description of the parent OID (consequently, the name of the entity owning the OID) should normally not be repeated at the beginning of the description of an OID.
    • The description should be easily understandable by any user of the OID repository. Substantives should not be put one after the other without inserting small words like "for", "of", etc. This helps understanding the description and avoids ambiguities when translating to other languages.
    • Useless expressions like "OID for", "OID identifying", "Root OID for", "Top arc for", "Arc for", "This OID describes", "This arc describes", etc., are forbidden.
    • Contrarily to what is usually done in English for paper or book titles, only the first word of a description is capitalized except, of course, when a subsequent word is capitalized in its own right, or when defining an abbreviation or acronym; In this latter case, the abbreviation is put between parentheses after the expression that defines it with each letter of the abbreviation being capitalized, e.g. Meaning of My Abbreviation (MMA).
    • Any text (e.g. how it is used, how child OIDs are allocated, etc.) which is not related to what is identified by the OID shall be moved to the "Information" part. Any text which can be assimilated to a publicity or a company description shall be avoided (a URL can be associated to the company name).

  35. How to be informed about updates to OIDs described in this OID repository?
    There are two sorts of RSS feeds that can be read by a feed aggregator to be notified about updates:
    • A general feed, listing the OIDs created, deleted or updated in the past 24 hours: http://oid-info.com/cgi-bin/display?a=rss;
    • A feed specific to each OID to be informed if this OID is created, deleted or updated: http://oid-info.com/cgi-bin/display?a=rss&oid=x.y.z.
    In both cases, only the latest action is published for each OID.
 
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