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Note: The following is an excerpt from the official IETF RFC. It is provided here as a convenience and is not authoritative. Refer to the original document as the authoritative reference.

The [MIME-DIR] document defines a MIME Content-Type for holding different kinds of directory information. The directory information can be based on any of a number of directory schemas. This document defines a [MIME-DIR] usage profile for conveying directory information based on one such schema; that of the white-pages type of person object.

The schema is based on the attributes for the person object defined in the X.520 and X.521 directory services recommendations. The schema has augmented the basic attributes defined in the X.500 series recommendation in order to provide for an electronic representation of the information commonly found on a paper business card. This schema was first defined in the [VCARD] document. Hence, this [MIME- DIR] profile is referred to as the vCard MIME Directory Profile.

A directory entry based on this usage profile can include traditional directory, white-pages information such as the distinguished name used to uniquely identify the entry, a formatted representation of the name used for user-interface or presentation purposes, both the structured and presentation form of the delivery address, various telephone numbers and organizational information associated with the entry. In addition, traditional paper business card information such as an image of an organizational logo or identify photograph can be included in this person object.

The vCard MIME Directory Profile also provides support for representing other important information about the person associated with the directory entry. For instance, the date of birth of the person; an audio clip describing the pronunciation of the name associated with the directory entry, or some other application of the digital sound; longitude and latitude geo-positioning information related to the person associated with the directory entry; date and time that the directory information was last updated; annotations often written on a business card; Uniform Resource Locators (URL) for a website; public key information. The profile also provides support for non-standard extensions to the schema. This provides the flexibility for implementations to augment the current capabilities of the profile in a standardized way.

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