On Wed, 4 Sep 2002, Colin Sutton wrote:

> > BTW, it is this single-point-of-failure by which ICANN controls the
> > DNS, that is largely responsible for all the rhetoric against alt
> > roots.
> > 
> > Those whose revenues are derived one way or another from the ICANN
> > system can wax poetic about all the "technical" reasons why alt roots
> > "break" the internet.

Alternatively (:-); those who *understand how the DNS works* can 
wax technical about why alt roots break the DNS. Because they do.

> > Well, color me guilty.  All it means is that I can see all the ICANN
> > approved TLD's, and the so-called alt TLD's too.  I can't imagine why
> > everyone doesn't do it.  (Who'd want to see less rather than more?!)

No.

Collisions are key here. If there are collisions - that is, overlapping
namespaces - (and with the alt root hierarchy, there is *nothing to stop 
this*) then whichever 'root' you happen to be pointed to at the time is 
the 'real' one.

Bad for consumers ("is this www.foo.com the one I wanted?") and
bad for vendors ("I sold foo.com; but 90% of the people using
the Internet can't resolve it the way I want them to, so my purchasers
are complaining to me") and bad for purchasers ("I bought foo.com but 
90% of the people using the Internet can't resolve it the way I want them to").

The only people it's not bad for are the people selling the 'new' names.

You do the math as to which side 'Judith Oppenheimer' comes from.

Ho hum.

Regards,

Saliya