If It's Thursday, This Must be the Internet
2005-12-11
Posted by: badanov
The way we see the fight over the Internet's DNS system is this:
If the world's despots want to control the Internet, they can build their own DNS systems and lie all they want to their charges.
Of course, that is the short version. The cogent version is much more complicated.
The questions are, could the UN build their own DNS system and would it work?
The answers are yes, and depends.
When you logged on to read this, your computer made a request for a IP/name set from your Internet Service Provider. That provider in turn made some reference either directly or indirectly to the root DNS servers. Those servers are like spotlights, that shine on your computer and allow your computer to be seen by others. You are on the net, courtesy of the root servers as they are now.
A possible outcome, when the UN and EU finally realizes they can't wrest control of the current DNS system, will be to build a separate DNS/IP assigning system all their own and to assign names/numbers on their own. As a matter of fact, is possible for every government on earth to set up their own little enclosed Internet, and keeps the world out.
But that is all. They can't surf the larger web without allowing log-ons to the root servers. Even if, for example, China was to set up Yahoo.com or require companies doing business in China to set up their domains on China's private preserve on its own root servers, unless there is a router that permits traffic between the two systems, those on the regular root system won't be able to access it at all.
But if a genius of some kind builds a router that permits traffic between the two, then the current Internet could face problems with IP/name conflicts. We don't know if massive IP number/DNS conflicts could cripple the Internet or not, but we certainly do believe that ICANN and our government needs to make contingencies for such an action.
So, this could wind up being the actual battleground for the Internet: instead of viruses and spam, we could have competing systems; trying to keep traffic from perhaps hundred of conflicting nodes to continue to enable Internet commerce as it stands now.
Is there a resolution? Not according to the UN and its Despotettes. It is their way and the highway. The question truly is, can the US make plans now to counter this threat?
If you have something to add, Fire Away!
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