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Username: jandl
Date/Time: Sun, October 29, 2000 at 9:33 PM GMT (Sun, October 29, 2000 at 5:33 PM EDT)
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Score: 5
Subject: It's not even unofficial

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      Root server systems are just that - systems.  None that I am aware of claim to be knock offs, which the term "unofficial" would indicate.  It is a benefit to the public for a root server system to include as a subset, the ICANN TLD's, but none have to do that.  It is a courtesy to ICANN that the information is included.

      The problem as I see it is that most people do not understand that anyone can set up a root server system, and many more will do so.  The beauty of it is that the more systems who cooperate with one another, the more widely the load is balanced, and the less likely there would be a world-wide failure if one entire system went down.

      There is nothing, however, which says that any root server system is the de facto "official" system.  As time passes, there may be other systems which are as widely used as the legacy root system we are most familiar with.  Hopefully, they will all carry the same information (plus any private TLDs they may choose) and people can make choices as to which servers they wish to point for service.

      Not that I really like the comparison because of regulation, but just as you can choose cable as opposed to dish or one cable company over another, you will be able to choose root server systems as they become available.  There may be a slightly different choice of TLD's in each, and the public will determine which are the most popular and, thus, the most viable.  It would therefore, behoove the root system operators to carry the most number of available TLDs, would it not?  That includes ICANN, IMO.
 

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