From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Steven) Subject: Re: Where is the True Power? Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 10:33:33 +0800 Organization: Prima Computer Sorry, I have just read this phone book analogy one too many times. I understand that packets still route without the internic, but DNS has become a fundamental part of using the internet. If you want a serious analogy compare it to the part of the telephone switch that maps cable pairs to telephone numbers. People have already built new root servers and they have not been very successful. Perhaps Bill Gates could make one and pre configure windows/mac to use it, but others would have a bit harder time getting people to switch. To be perfectly honest I don't understand why everyone hasn't started their own TLDs. I like the idea of a root server revolt, but it doesn't seem it would work? The net result is it no matter how you slice it, it is going to be controlled more and more by business. This is inevitable. There is money to be made and business is going to go after it. The name of the company, and its policy are irrelevant to companies who lose millions of dollars each day to inflate their share prices. Ideally we would create an appropriately named .CON TLD for internet companies seeking an IPO and the rest of us would carry on as before, but that seems highly unlikely. Prying .COM from the jaws of the corporate alligator seems just as unlikely. One would be much more productive lobbying for a new, free, government subsisted TLD for non-commercial use, or at least the blessing to organize a non-profit one. I prefer to see the thing privatized, but not in the form of a franchised monopoly. You have a handful of companies who run the bulk of the backbone, let them run the NIC. They have the know how and are more interested in selling bandwidth then hype. Steven > This has been said many times before, but it bears repeating. All > this fuss about domain name policy, registrars, etc., is somewhat of a > red herring. > It's like saying that those who hold the true power over the nation's > phone system do so by virtue of the fact that they publish the phone > directories. > When push comes to shove, what really matters is whether my IP packet > will get forwarded properly from one router to another. > If things get bad enough and the domain registrars upset too many > people, new ones will spring up in their place. Systems will start > contacting new or additional root domain servers. In the worst case, > companies will start publishing their IP addresses together with their > domain names. Yes, it will be messy and inconvenient. > But if those who have control over the backbone and large ISP routers > start making choices about which packets they will or won't forward > (perhaps based on whether the source or destination is toeing the line > on their favorite domain policy) then all bets are off and things could > reach a state of true chaos very quickly. > Cheers, > Clive Dawson > Austin, TX [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In her message, Judith suggests sending complaints to an address at the ICANN website. To my way of thinking, that would be a big waste of time. They are listening to no one and responding to no one at this point. If you write to complain, I think your domain name will be one of the first to get snatched, out of retaliation. If at this point you can find a registrar somewhere who is not beholden to that crowd, then use it and tell the rest of us where to find it also. PAT]