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Since URIs do not really refer to a web location, why do default namespaces in XML need a URI?
Why can’t the first appearance of any element be put in some standard default namespace?
The namespaces rec requires URI references for namespaces, so the status of some namespace as a default makes no difference. As for why any of them have to be URIs when in general they aren’t dereferencable (RDF is non-compliant in this respect), why ask why? At Some Point, Someone Thought It Would Be A Good Idea, and lo, It Was Made So.
However, it’s possible that you may be confusing a default namespace with no namespace at all. There is no “standard default” namespace.
The default namespace in a document is specified with the ‘xmlns’ attribute (no colon, no suffix) and can have any URI-lookalike value the author pleases. There is no standard value that it must have.
Furthermore, the xmlns attribute specification is optional. If it isn’t present – and it’s allowed to be absent – then there is no default namespace at all.