Statements against new.net?

Tue Mar 13 20:34:25 UTC 2001

> Are we going to have to go back to %hacking domain names, such as:
> 
> foobar.tvshow%ORSC,
> foobar.tvshow%MSN,
> foobar.tvshow%AOL,
> foobar.tvshow%ICANN,
> foobar.tvshow%pacificroot,
> foobar.tvshow%new.net,
> foobar.tvshow%name.space
> 
> and so on?
> 
That doesn't solve the problem.  The % is not effectively different from
the . in your example, and if you replace % with ., it becomes quite
obvious that you've just inserted a new top-level.  Once you've done
that, who controls who gets ICAN vs. AOL vs. MSN, and the problem
repeats.  Anyone who decides to run a competing root for resolving
these hack-names and voila, now foobar.tvshow%AOL means different
things depending on where you resolve %AOL to.

> > Were you not aware of the existence of one or more such organizations when
> > the IAB formulated this document?
> 
> I am *not* privy to IAB deliberations, but I'm fairly sure that they were
> painfully aware of their existence - the IAB doesn't issue documents in
> a vacuum.  RFC2826 was issued because the IAB was aware if their existence.
> 
> I fail to see how RFC2826 is in any way "political".  Upon careful re-reading
> it boils down to:
> 
> If you use one root, everybody agrees what things look like.
> 
> If you use multiple roots, what people will see depends on which root they ask.
> 
> How is this political?

It becomes political when it goes beyond those two statements and
says "Since these two statements are true, everyone should use one
root."  It becomes completely political when it expands that to
encompass the concept of "ICANN root is the one true root.  Thou
shall have no other root before me."

While I agree that having one true root is good, and that for the
time being, that should be the ICANN root, the bottom line is
that whether we like it or not, that is, indeed, a political
issue and not a technical one.  Sure, the desire to have one root
is driven by technical merits.  However, how that root is chosen,
which root it is, and who gets to decide are all political issues.

The fact that the current method of choice is "It's the one that has
been there the longest" doesn't change the fact that it is a method
of choice, and that it is a political issue.

Owen