Re: [ICANN-EU] coming late / root-server

[Marc Schneiders <marc@schneiders.org>]

On Thu, 12 Oct 2000, Gerhard Wendebourg wrote:

> At 16:57 12.10.00 GMT, Lutz Donnerhacke wrote:
> >* Gerhard Wendebourg wrote:
> >>But why can't the european not act independent, and administrate their own
> >>root ?
> >
> >The nature of a hierarchy is that there can be only one root.
> 
> Of course I understand that many people like the principe  of hierarchy and
> centralism, cause its clear and simple.

No, that is not the reason. It is because it works. And it is not
really a hierarchy anyway, no top but a root. It is an organized
address space, similar to postal addresses. For delivering snail mail
we use middlemen, post offices and the like. So there does not have to
be a central authority, as long as the middlemen know where to send
the mail for San Marino. If you decide to declare your own state
somewhere, mail to addresses in that state will not be deliverable,
however, until your state is properly recognized by other states. And
that is where some cental authority creeps in. Until you are
recognized by that authority you will have to tell all people who want
to send you snail mail using your new state address system to use a
particular service. Rather cumbersome.

DNS works like the middlemen in delevering e.g. email. Servers use it
to find out where the address is. You can decide you want your own
TLD. Go ahead. It is possible. But until you are recognized by the
main DNS system, which happens to be the one ICANN and the US DoC are
running, people will have difficulty to find your address. You have to
explain so much, that you must be very principled to go for it. 

Most people therefore rather go with the standard root system. And in
99.99% of the cases there is no problem, as you can get your own
address subspace for very little money. And inside that subspace you
are Stalin, Pope, God (to borrow your favourite role models).

Problems arise when others claim your address space. This does not
happen often, but it does. There must be better ways to resolve this
type of disputes, or people may indeed start looking for alternative
roots. But that would not be nice.

-- 
Marc Schneiders
_________________________________________
http://DW.GOODFAITH.ORG:    Have faith!
But let it be good, or you may be next...
_________________________________________