Re: NetSol screwing the pooch?

[Alex Pilosov <alex () pilosoft com>]

On Thu, 13 Apr 2000, Vadim Antonov wrote:

> There is no need for independent registries.  Customers wishing to
> register a domain should simply talk to their ISPs whose personnel can
> then go and update the consortium-owned database.  Oh, and BTW, they
> _already_ have the contact info for their customers, so they do not
> depend on the NSI-claimed "ownership" of that information.  And,
> unlike NSI or other registries, they can actually verify that
> information - and they have a pretty simple method of dealing with
> abusive customers.
>
> This approach scales, it can improve domain-related customer service
> by an order of magnitude, and it does not require any political games.  
> Despite the cut-throat competition in the market, ISPs managed to
> maintain a coherent and functioning global routing infrastructure.  
> The DNS is as essential for their customers as the actual packet
> transport; so i think it is time for competent people to take over it,
> too.

Problems: 
1. You'll have two databases, one maintained by consortium, and one
maintained by NSI/other registrars. I suppose you can say 'consortium data
takes priority' on consortium's root servers, however, what will happen
when data begins to diverge? Example: Domain expires in NSI db, gets
deleted, someone else takes it in NSI database. You have then to
mirror NSI changes...Its gets very ugly very fast.

2. Last attempts to do things like these (by edns, alternic) were fraught
with personality clashes among its founders, and ended badly (servers
brought down, and ISPs who were persuaded to point their roots at these
servers had to back out the changes).

Of course, one can say that they failed because they tried to _extend_ the
namespace, not just manage it. Who knows...

3. The other thing is that anything involving DNS governance is a dirty
business, and everyone who attempted to get involved in it doesn't want to
touch it again :)

(I'm sure Randy will make comment here ;)


-alex