On Sat, 23 Nov 2002, vinton g. cerf wrote: .... > The USG doesn't actually run the root server (although some of the > root servers are in fact housed at USG supported laboratories). The > Dept of Commerce in effect delegates the actual operation to the root > server operators.
As a technical, legal, and historical matter the USG does not "delegate" root server management to anyone. Root server operators are volunteers and self-organizing. The USG lacks the authority to tell them what to do, or to fire them. Indeed, as you note, some are not affiliated with the US in any way. Nit-picking, yes, but fairly important when sorting out who has authority over what. (Cf. http://personal.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/formandsubstance.pdf for a discussion of the legal import of the root sever operator's legal position.) > The issue is less the size of the file than the problem of updating many > copies of it reliably. The root server operators find it a challenge to > assure that even the modestly sized root zone file is correctly distributed > to all root servers accurately and in a timely fashion. Are there statistics on this? Certainly the published info I've seen is more of the patting-self-on-back variety. -- Please visit http://www.icannwatch.org A. Michael Froomkin | Professor of Law | [EMAIL PROTECTED] U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA +1 (305) 284-4285 | +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax) | http://www.law.tm -->It's hot here.<--
