Re: [wg-review] RE: Domains and other matters

["Miles B. Whitener" <mbw@i-theta.com>]

> Yes, but the question remains: What is a domain name?  *Is* it
a trademark?  Or s it a business name?  or is it a word? or is it
a number? or a string of
> letters? a convenient language-based mnemonic tag?  Does
registration of a trademark grant any rights to a domain?  There
are no agreed upon answers
> to any of these questions.  What do you think?
>
> Sotiris Sotiropoulos

Think twice before you reject this answer as simplistic and
obvious, and I know it's been said many time, but that does not
make it untrue:

A domain name is just an entry in somebody's nameserver
configuration (and even at that, it's only an entry in a server
abiding by the current, port-53 oriented, Domain Name system,
which can be replaced or paralleled!).  If you convince somebody
to make an entry for you, you have at least in some sense
established an agreement for service between you and the entity
providing your subdomain name.  This could happen at the root
level ( Sotiris. ), second level (Sotiris-Sotiropoulos.org), or
any other level (The-other.Sotiris-Sotiropoulos.org,
A-previously-undiscovered.other.Sotiris-Sotiropoulos.org,
Junior.Sotiris-Sotiropoulos.org).  The holder / manager / owner
at each level can establish an agreement with users at the next
lower level.  You can register under COM, then make a deal with,
say, your son, to "register" his name under your domain.

The huge, and I think really the only question, is "who owns the
root domain?"  (And the answer is "It's owned aggregately, and in
individual proportions, by actual individual human beings.")  If
that can be dealt with, top level registrations should be
completely open, in my opinion.  Then, you can register simply
Sotiropoulos. ,  and IBM can register IBM.  Managing the root
domain (referred to as dot by some) is the only tricky issue.  It
would seem that this can be done outside of governments or under
them.  Many would prefer this to be a collegial process not
requiring governmental power nor involvement, but I think the
outcome of such a process would be just a temporary illusion.


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