"copyrighted by Warren Communications News (202-872-9200, www.warren-news.com)
and posted by permission."E-Mail Disruption and Privacy Called Serious Concerns
Citing
growing concern over ICANN’s intention to introduce a “.biz”
top-level domain
name (TLD) in the face of an existing .biz TLD in another
root system, the newly
elected chmn. of the Domain Name Supporting Or-ganization’s
General Assembly (GA)
Thurs. called upon the Names Council
(NC) to form a working group to study the
implications of colliding TLDs.
In his letter to NC Chmn. Philip Sheppard, Danny
Younger said the flap over
.biz raised competition, Internet stability and possible
consumer confusion
issues, and asked that the NC facilitate “the full and unfettered
expression of
all views on this topic.” Sheppard couldn’t be reached by our deadline.
Younger’s
move came just 2 days after his selection as GA chmn. was
approved by the NC.
His top priority, he told us Tues., was to persuade the
NC to use working groups
to focus on specific issues (WID April 10 p5).
Proponents of alternate root servers
cheered Younger’s push for an air-ing
of the possible effects of colliding TLDs.
“[Y]our letter...seems to point
out that you intend to redress the critically
sensitive issues that threaten to
have far reaching consequences for the ‘average
joe’ using the Internet,”
PacificRoot Chief Technology Officer Bradley Thornton
wrote the GA
head. No one connected to an alternate root asked Younger to take
on the
controversy, said Atlantic Root Network Inc. (ARNI) Pres. Leah Gallegos,
who
operates a .biz TLD in a non-U.S. Govt. (USG) root: “Perhaps he sim-ply
has noticed
that the issue is an important one.”
So far the debate over colliding TLDs has
centered on the likelihood of
confusion on the Web. However, Thornton told Younger,
“The real ‘hid-den’
nasties... aren’t that you might not know which ABC.TLD website
you
will end up at (although this would occur on a regular basis), but things
such
as mail transport and other peripheral forms of electronic communication
and
protocols that depend upon [the Domain Name System (DNS)] as their
‘cable-car
wire’ will be irrevocably and adversely affected.”
“Try this for a scenario caused
by entering a duplicate .BIZ into the USG root,” Gallegos told us: Email sent to
a domain -say, yourname@dom.biz -“meant for someone who holds the domain in the ARNI
registry, but sent by someone whose computer sees the [USG] root. Where does the
mail go? It goes to the domain that the USG root sees.”
Someone else then
receives the mail, and vice versa, she said. All mail could be rerouted simply by
pointing to a different root, Gallegos said. “You could send important mail to a
company only to have it received by its direct competitor. Your medical provider
could send mail to your company regarding an employee and have it go to someone else’s
company with the same domain [in a different root server].”
Disruption to e-mail
from colliding TLDs is a crucial issue, Gallegos said, but it’s just now hitting
the Internet community’s radar screen because it’s more complicated than the problem
of duplicate Web addresses. ICANN is “misleading the public terribly” when it says
it’s responsible only for its own root, she said. ICANN is saying the USG root is
the only one that counts, and that there are separate name spaces. But there’s no
division of name spaces within the DNS, she said.
- Dugie Standeford
---------------------------------
My Own
Additional comments:
[Please note that if there is no duplication by DoC, the email
problem would not exist. Mail would either reach its intended recipient or
would bounce. With the duplication, however, the above scenario applies and
is a nightmare. DoC can prevent it by either not entering a duplicate .BIZ
(or any other duplicate) or by ICANN directing that the Neulevel registry choose
an alternate non-duplicating TLD string such as "ebiz."
There is a major
FUD campaign being waged to make things appear as though existing businesses are
creating the very problem that ICANN/DoC is promoting. Had they simply paid
attention and not attempted to isolate themselves from the rest of the world, we
would not be facing this chaos. Instead, this campaign will do nothing more
than exacerbate the problem rather than solve it. We have been trying to educate
people for many months now regarding the consequences of DoC entering a duplicate
into the USG root. It has fallen on deaf ears.
The political "opposition"
has looked only at the politics of not recognizing existing TLDs and has ignored
the real issue. They have said there are separate name spaces and that those
who work outside the ICANN framework are in a separate space and can operate in that
space. This is only partially true. There are separate networks all over
the world, but we all use THE SAME DNS. It does not matter what "root" you
point to. Roots only point to TLD nameservers and one cannot duplicate a TLD
in the DNS without causing serious problems, especially if that root is the one most
widely used.
That does not mean that DoC must include all existing operational
TLDs in their root (although they should). It does mean they must not duplicate
them. It is really simple. This has become a political football and is being
pushed really hard by the special interests who want to control the Internet.
The information they have been feeding the public is misinformation (FUD) and the
end result will be damaging to all users of the "net" when things go crazy.
The precedent they have set with their misinformation gives the go ahead to all roots
to include duplicate TLDs. Wait until some entity out there decides to duplicate
.com.
All I can say is, we tried. I hope DoC listens. I hope the reasonable
minds will also listen and understand the real issues.]