However, it is guaranteed that if an object is successfully retrieved
using that URI it will be to a certain given degree the same object as
this one. If the URI is used to refer to a set of variants, then the
dimensiosn in which the variants may differ must be given with the "vary"
parameter:
Syntax URI: <uri> [ ; vary = dimension [ , dimension ]* ]
dimension content-type[12] | language[13] | version[14]
If no "vary" parameters are given, then the URI may not return anything
other than the same bit stream as this object.
Multiple occurencies of this field give alternative access names or
I think this addresses a lot of the points you made but even more important
it makes it clear that reliable references to bitstreams have been thought
about. However, *MOST* references should not be reliable in this fashion.
For example, you almost always want a vary=language, vary=content-type.
--sanders