Jonathan,
One of the problems with "realnames" is that is not a replacement for DNS,
but only an "enhancement" to search engines. Realnames does not route
mail, or enable other tcp/ip connections other than web (http).
(for the sake of relevance to this thread, I will not discuss the myriad
of other problems with realnames).
The advantage of a _coordinated_ multiple root system, as Karl so aptly
highlighted in a previous post, is that a multiple root system improves
overall DNS performance, and eliminates the single point of failure
inherent in the single root system. (This goes for TLDs as well).
At Name.Space, and since 1996, we have been active proponents of
a coordinated, decentralized root system, and have filed public comments
on the Federal Register on several occasions advocating such a system.
In addition to our advocacy, Name.Space has designed and developed a
system we call SINDI (Secure Internet Name Data Integrator) which works,
in a totally secure, downwardly-compatible way to coordinate and synchronize
root and TLD data among known peers. Our system has been reviewed by
competent computer scientists who agree with it's feasability and technical
soundness. SINDI is an amazingly simple, and in my opinion, superior solution
to the "shared registry/registrar" system that NSI has introduced, at great
expense and difficulty. Name.Space intends to release SINDI as an
alternative to NSI's SRS, as an OPEN SOURCE project in the near future,
and also plans to license the system, along with our advanced, realtime
registry engine, to any interested parties who wish to participate in an
open, shared, and coordinated namespace.
I will be happy to discuss our plans with any *sincerely* interested parties
who wish to participate in the project. Please note that any commercial
competitors will be charged a fee to participate, and non-commercial,
research oriented participants may participate on the project in accordance
with our fair practice policy agreement.
If ICANN is interested, Name.Space will consider licensing our system
to them (and it could help to resolve a lot of contentious issues for them).
SINDI is an indepently conceived and funded project, developed solely
with private funds within the Name.Space organization. There were no
funds provided directly or indirectly by any government, outside corporation,
or any other body or entity outside of the Name.Space company.
Best regards,
Paul
for more info, please see (in chronological order):
http://petition.name.space.xs2.net/
http://namespace.org/statement/
http://namespace.org/comment/
>Rob,
>
>Yep, to break out of the current benefits of a single root one had better
>be able to offer an appealing alternative. Centraal may be building enough
>momentum to do this; my own thought has been that the browser makers are
>perfectly positioned to make the play and are quietly trying to do so: see
><http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.09/netizen.html?pg=5>.
>
>Imagine if the 99.9% relied-upon namespace were wholly run by Netscape or
>Microsoft. Would that be a victory for the private market, or would
>everyone be looking for ways to be fair about capturing the value of those
>names instead of letting Netscape or Microsoft auction them off? ...JZ
>
>At 01:58 PM 7/14/99 , Rob Raisch wrote:
>> > So what's stopping market forces, as you say, from creating the nicely
>> > nested (but still not completely overlapping) competitive set of DNS
>> > services? I'd imagine only the market itself so far--which has been known
>> > to miss good opportunities in the space, to be sure. ...JZ
>>
>>The infamous chicken-and-egg.
>>
>>Consumers have no compelling reason for access to alternative roots since
>>there are no compelling properties which can be reached solely through them.
>>
>>This is why I favor a bottom-up strategy of providing some product or
>>service of strong, general value that relies upon access to the alternate
>>roots for its operation. This is exactly the path Centraal has taken with
>>its RealNames service to accomplish the exact same goal from a competely
>>commercial perspective. No one seems to realize that RealNames is well on
>>the way to becoming an autonomous, independent alternate name service.
>>
>>I am unwilling to award Centraal this victory without a fight since to do so
>>would only create two slightly differing monopolies in place of the one
>>under which we currently labor. I don't think anyone noticed or cared that
>>NSI in an investor in Centraal...I wonder why?
>>
>>--
>>Rob Raisch CTO - RivalWorks, Inc. <http://www.rivalworks.com>
>>Who do you want to play today?
>
>
>Jon Zittrain
>Executive Director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law
>School
>http://cyber.law.harvard.edu
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
