Ian, On Oct 22, 2012, at 11:46 PM, Ian Hickson wrote: >> "" is not a URL. > > Whether it's a valid URL the question if not whether an empty string is a valid URI. The point is that what you and Anne are addressing is parsing of URI *References* not URIs. Roy, IIUC, meant that "" is a URI *reference* - it is not a valid or invalid URI. This is why any references to fixing or aligning URI syntax with reality is besides the point and not neccessary. All that you (we) deal with is URI references and how to parse them to yield valid URIs. Jan