about: ftp:

There are I-Ds for two URI schemes:

1. about: URIs tackle about:blank and similar beasts.
2. ftp: URIs are another missing piece in the quest to finally get rid of RFC 1738.

Please review these drafts and send any feedback to the relevant IETF mailing lists — subscriptions are cheap, they cost you a working e-mail address. ;-)

So far nobody volunteered to finish the existing file: URI I-D (2005).  There are some dragons with respect to different browsers and operating systems, notably IE vs. Firefox and Windows vs. Linux, but really, almost any file: URI scheme RFC based on the work for other schemes would be better than RFC 1738 vintage 1994 today.  And you are not forced to emulate some negative records created by me for RFC 5538.  I think file: and ftp: URIs are the last missing pieces in this puzzle.  Check out the mailserver: (RFC 6196) and tn3270: (RFC 6270) URI schemes for pieces added in 2011.

Completely unrelated, and not deserving a separate article:  I've recently added a CC-BY-SA license for this blog.  That is mostly an experiment to show my support for Creative Commons and Wikimedia Commons as explained on my commons page with a fascinating (but long) video of a CCC lecture by Lawrence Lessig in 2006.  Clearly I can't revert this license to some more restrictive form for existing pages, but maybe I'll change it to public domain in the future if I feel like it, or if somebody asks for it with a sound reason (from my POV).