Re: [ga] Re: Urgent: questions for ICANN Board Candidates

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Sat, Sep 08, 2001 at 11:07:16PM +0100, Paul Cotton wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kent Crispin" <kent@songbird.com>
> 
> Almost as mind-numbingly stupid as claiming that Nominet could use some
> alternate root service.  Both claims are irresponsible, unrealistic
> bluster.
> --- end ---
> 
> The scenario related to Nominet being forced into the position by ICANN.

While Mr Walsh has suggested such an action, no one from ICANN has
*ever* made even a remote suggestion of doing anything like that.  All
the threats of going to alternate roots have come from particular 
persons involved with particular ccTLDs who are upset because they 
don't like someone at ICANN, or because they don't like the proposals 
ICANN has made.

> Obviously it would be emminently preferable for Nominet to remain a part of
> the ICANN root for .uk - but given the dominant domestic nature of .uk if
> the hand were forced, UK ISP's could use an alternative root server that did
> resolve Nominets .uk's outside of ICANN's root.  Nobody in their right mind
> would WANT this to happen, but if circumstances dictated then it could be
> done.  I have no doubt the UK government would side with Nominet over
> ICANN's wishes and the ISP's would ensure they could offer all the .uk sites
> that their customers wanted.

I can *easily* imagine circumstances where the UK government would not
side with Nominet.  Bear in mind that the new registry would also be
British -- perhaps a very large British ISP...  

I have talked with government officials who are very unhappy with
"their" ccTLD registry, and who are actively seeking ways to get control
of it.  There are other cases where the registry and the government are
happy with each other. 

> --- start ---
> Perhaps.  But 1) ISPs don't handle all name resolutions, and thus, they
> can't really solve the problem; and 2) ISPs in the rest of the world
> would not be under such a constraint.  The banks etc would have to
> decide whether they wanted their names to resolve outside the UK, in the
> root zone that 99% of the rest of the world uses.  If so, they would
> quickly register in the new registry.  Otherwise, they might not.  The
> ICANN root zone offers some thing that no ccTLD root zone could offer --
> current and continuing worldwide visibility.
> --- end ---
> 
> This ignores that .uk is more important to the domestic market rather than
> to the worldwide arena.

No, I didn't ignore that.  I'm moderately familiar with Nominet's
situation, I think. 

>  The banks etc would want to look after their
> customers, and their customers would want to be able to resolve the entire
> existing .uk namespace as that is where a significant proportion of the
> sites they already use would reside.  It would not be necessary for the
> domain registrants to register in the new registry, as the close to 3
> million existing nominet .uk registrations are reason enough for ISP's to
> make sure they can offer that resolution.

You missed my point, I think.  The banks would be registered in *both* 
versions of .uk, so that they would get maximum coverage.  The new 
registry could offer free registrations to those who could demonstrate 
a registration in nominet (easy to do, since the information is 
public).  Pretty soon the overlap would be very high, and there would 
be little incentive to keep Nominet over the new *British* registry.  
Might take many years, but I think that worldwide access will become 
more important over time.

> Never underestimate the power of patriotism even in the face of logic,
> especially in the UK.

There are scenarios where patriotism might dictate the elimination of
Nominet.  It is an assumption that Nominet continues to do a good job.

> I understand this is all hyperthetical argument and it simply won't happen
> regardless.

Reality is so complex :-)

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Be good, and you will be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain
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