Re: Theology [Was Re: [icann-eu] Re: [ICANN-EU] ccTLDs to ask for BoD seats?]

[Harald Alvestrand <Harald@Alvestrand.no>]

At 17:29 29/11/2000 -0500, t byfield wrote:
>the IAB's RFC 2826 <http://rfc2826.x42.com/> is an excellent
>example of why i make the analogy to theology:
>
>      To remain a global network, the Internet requires the
>      existence of a globally unique public name space. The
>      DNS name space is a hierarchical name space derived
>      from a single, globally unique root. This is a technical
>      constraint inherent in the design of the DNS. Therefore
>      it is not technically feasible for there to be more than
>      one root in the public DNS. That one root must be sup-
>      ported by a set of coordinated root servers administered
>      by a unique naming authority.
>
>this is a confession of faith, not an RFC. confessions of faith
>are fine; so are RFCs. but they're not the same thing.

I don't see the faith involved here; the IAB document says how the DNS 
works, and not much more.

The term "the public DNS" is the important operator: if you have two roots, 
you no longer have a single public DNS.
Today, the "rogue" roots are not the public DNS; they are something else.

If a large group of ccTLDs and ICANN were truly to fall out with each 
other, there would no longer be a reasonable choice for applying the term 
"the public DNS", and the comparision to the Antipope situation is indeed 
not unreasonable.

Still, the fact is that the "pope" and the "antipope" each whould have to 
maintain one root, supported by a set of coordinated root servers 
administered by an unique naming authority.

The fight would be over who owned the term "the public DNS" for their root.
And the users would lose.

--
Harald Tveit Alvestrand, alvestrand@cisco.com
+47 41 44 29 94
Personal email: Harald@Alvestrand.no