[4249] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Using crypto to solve a part of the DNS/TM mess
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (bram)
Tue Mar 2 13:11:12 1999
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 06:07:44 -0800 (PST)
From: bram <bram@gawth.com>
To: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
Cc: cryptography@c2.net, coderpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19990302000013.00af3100@idiom.com>
On Tue, 2 Mar 1999, Bill Stewart wrote:
> You can trivially run a namespace under a 2nd-level domain name, e.g.
> new-name-format.namegods.com
> or foo.dyn.ml.org <- to cite a real example
> without having to disrupt the worldwide naming system.
Is there some way you could gaurantee for the world that you wouldn't
change your mind about the rules of such a thing and become dictator?
> Some of the small-country name registries have used ambiguity-resolving
> name-spaces, which had forms like
> www.1234.interesting-name.com.zz
> where multiple participants who wanted interesting-name.com.zz
> each got a number, and the page www.interesting-name.com.zz
> had some indication of which company named interesting-name was which.
Yuck.
I agree with the person who made comments about .to that there's no
particular reason why trademark law should apply to domain names - there's
no particular expectation on the part of the general public that foo.com
will correspond to the company foo, and putting up a web site at foo.com
which claims to be from company foo is no different from impersonating foo
from another domain name. (whitehouse.com seems relevant here)
I was told recently that if you have access to domain name servers you can
in practice create temporary domains using unclaimed domain names -
there's no particular punishment process for doing so, sites of that kind
are just removed eventually.
Does anybody know if/how it's possible to get domain names in the now
defunct .su ? Do you have to be grandfathered in? Is there a chance that
just unilaterally grabbing one might work?
-Bram
(Thinking he should get a domain in .to - that WIPO DNS paper looked kinda
scary)
