x/name
Overview
The name service is intended to provide a system for creating human-readable names as aliases for addresses and to imply ownership and control. These names can be used to provide a stable reference to a changing address or collection of addresses.
One issue with a blockchain is that addresses are complex strings of characters that are difficult to type and remember. On the other hand the name service can provide a potentially shorter and easier to remember alias such as provenance.pb or attribute.user.pb to use in place of the address.
A Name Hierarchy
Another challenge for users of a blockchain is establishing authority and delegating control. A specific example of this is the definition of the authoritative source of a piece of information. Where did this information come from? Who created it/vetted it? How can this control be distributed in such a way that the right people can control the information? A narrow aspect of this type of control can be satisfied through the creation of a hierarchical name system modeled after DNS. If the address passport.pb has been created and is owned by the Provenance Passport application, then level-3.accredited.passport.pb can be expected to be under the direct or delegated control of the passport application.