At 01:59 AM 20/05/2004 +1000, Ian Smith wrote:

>I've been paying attention, this is the third posting of this reference
>to an ongoing series of advertisements - Press Releases - by some mob
>flogging a 'patent pending' plugin 'technology' (for Some Particular OS,
>no doubt) that is a complete con for the un-DNS-educated to believe that
>these so-called 'domains' have anything _at_ _all_ to do with the global
>Domain Name Service that underlies the internet.

I'm sorry to write a "me too" message, but I must agree with Ian.

Anyone can implement their own name server with whatever names they like on 
it. The DNS is not just the technology of name serving - it is also a 
widely used process, flawed as it might be, to add names to the list.

These press releases are just the latest of several underground attempts to 
extend the DNS namespace without going through that process. Ian is quite 
right to highlight to dangers and risks here, and I too have noted  that 
David seems to have given this particular story more prominence than I 
believe it merits.

The decentralised, open, freewheeling nature of the Internet collides with 
the need for a central, authoritative, reliable source of domain names and 
IP addresses. For once, it has to be the latter that wins.

Cheers

Paul Foxworthy


---- Coherent Software ------------- http://www.cohsoft.com.au/ ----