more on Neustar to create their own DNS root

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Hendrik Rood <Hendrik.Rood () Stratix nl>
Date: October 2, 2005 12:41:44 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: smb () cs columbia edu
Subject: Betr.: [IP] Neustar to create their own DNS root


Prof. Farber,

It seems that this is nothing more or less than a contract re- 
assignment. The .gprs TLD root of the GSM Association used by GPRS  
Roaming eXchanges (GRX) is already operational since 2001. The French  
telecoms regulator ART has commissioned a study in 2003 on the GPRS  
Roaming exchanges, their networks, their peering relations and the  
central DNS problem which is available online (summary in English)  
http://www.art-telecom.fr/publications/etudes/gprs/ang-syn- 
gprsjuil03.htm .

The existence of a dedicate .gprs root is not a secret. It is  
mentioned for instance in the service description of GRX-provider  
Comfone ( http://www.comfone.com/_main_pages/services/data/ 
service_overview/overview_GRX.pdf ).

Qoute: "Domain Name Service (DNS) allows the resolution of URLs into  
the IP address of the destination network. Our DNS is set up  
according to GSMA guidelines and is a mirror of the .gprs Root DNS of  
GSMA. Synchronisation at regular and standard intervals guarantees  
that the DNS database is up-to-date."

Comfone is one of todays a commercial peering provider of a GRX- 
network. A neutral GRX peering point is in operation by the Amsterdam  
Internet Exchange since spring 2002. In 2004 an Asian neutral peering  
point was opened in Singapore, operated by PacNet.
The fact that Ams-IX was running a private .gprs root for the  
cellular industry was not a secret to the Internet community. It was  
presented by Henk Steenman (Ams-IX technical director) and mentioned  
in the minutes of RIPE41. http://www.ripe.net/ripe/wg/eix/r41- 
minutes.html

I have sent a translation of a Dutch article of an interview with Ams- 
IX managing director Job Witteman, which mentioned the operation of  
a ..gprs-root at the Ams-IX to ICANNwatch.org on April 05 2002.  
http://www.icannwatch.org/article.pl?sid=02/04/05/201927&mode=thread

Quote: "Witteman also temporary manages with his AMS-IX the top level  
domain .GPRS, that exist in practice next to the top level  
domains .com, ..net and .org. Witteman: 'Due to practical reasons AMS- 
IX currently administers the domains under the .GPRS-domain - a  
logical consequence of hosting the .GPRS root servers at AMS-IX. It  
is however intended to relocate the administrative responsibilities  
in the long run to the GSM-Association.' "

The press release about the Neustar contract awarded by the GSM  
Association is just that intended relocation of the administrative  
responsibilities for the .gprs-root  from Ams-IX.

With this background information it is clear that mr. Bellovin has  
read too much in the carefully worded press release.

The more significant point is off course that a group of very  
influential market parties in the communications industry has decided  
not to rely on ICANN and DOC's procedures and prior approval and  
established a private root with a global reach for networks reaching  
1.3 billion subscribers today.

Hendrik Rood
--



> > > David Farber <dave () farber net> 30-09-05 15:47:30 >>>


Begin forwarded message:

From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb () cs columbia edu>
Date: September 30, 2005 12:15:11 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Neustar to create their own DNS root


Neustar, a company that should certainly know better, has announced
that they're going to create a .gprs TLD to serve the mobile phone
industry (http://www.neustar.com/pressroom/files/announcements/
ns_pr_09282005.pdf)
This, of course, requires creation of a private root zone, against the
very strong warnings in RFC 2826.  This is not quite as bad as a
general-purpose alternate root, since it's restricted to use by mobile
operators, but it's bad enough.  Here's one possible complication:
suppose some operator decides that some other company is better
qualified than Neustar to operate yet another private TLD.  Which root
should they then subscribe to?  (Yes, this would punish that company
more than Neustar.  It would also leave Neustar in the driver's seat
for any future such private TLDs.)

There may be even more to this situation.  ICANN recently approved
..mobi, which is aimed at consumers and "providers of those products,
services, content, and other items to ... other Providers".  Why aren't
they using .grps.mobi for this?

(Beyond all that, a U.S. diplomat stated in Geneva that the U.S. would
not agree to turn over control of the Internet to the U.N.  "It's not a
negotiating issue. This is a matter of national policy.")

         --Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb



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