Hi Roger,
I would rather have a GUID that resolves than one with a certificate. Tools like Rod's bioGUID status page are the way to go
More of a consumer watchdog than regulator. It may transpire that such a service becomes so accepted it has the authority to 'bless' data suppliers but I believe that to be a long way off.
A GUID provider has to prove persistence by being persistent ? So we would need a _certified_ watchdog ;)
What I imagine would happen with a regulation is big organisations would throw resources at getting the certificate whilst small organisations and one-man-bands would actually provide as good or better services but not have certificates.
It depends on the audit method, if you take a look at the criteria for long term archives there surely are several criteria a one man band would never meet. But if you think of long term persistence (>decades) it is most likely that a one man band will not be able to ensure persistence - at least not beyond the lifetime of this person.. Btw. I forgot to mention the _english_ TRAC list of criteria (http://www.crl.edu/PDF/trac.pdf) in my blog. best regards, Robert -- Dr. Robert Huber, WDC-MARE / PANGAEA - www.pangaea.de Stratigraphy.net - www.stratigraphy.net _____________________________________________ MARUM - Institute for Marine Environmental Sciences (location) University Bremen Leobener Strasse POP 330 440 28359 Bremen Phone ++49 421 218-65593, Fax ++49 421 218-65505 e-mail rhuber@wdc-mare.org