ICANN to overhaul internet domain names?

[Cain]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7475279.stm

The net's regulator Icann has proposed a complete overhaul of the way people navigate the internet.

They will vote to decide if the strict rules on so-called top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can be relaxed.

The plans would allow firms to use their brands as web addresses while individuals could use their name.

[Cramulus]

Frankly, I'm shocked that I've never heard of Icann before.

[Cain]

I want princpiadiscordia.chaos or .eris.

[Triple Zero]

i also want http://www.cnn.fnord

[Cramulus]

i also want http://www.cnn.fnord

[Golden Applesauce]

I always just assumed that anyone with their own server could use whatever suffix they wanted... I was planning to use .sol3 as a global domain, instead of having to do stuff by country or figure out whether something was government, education, or non-profit.

[Triple Zero]

I always just assumed that anyone with their own server could use whatever suffix they wanted... I was planning to use .sol3 as a global domain, instead of having to do stuff by country or figure out whether something was government, education, or non-profit.

having your own (regular) server will just give you an IP-address to host things from.

to get a domain name you need to register one, which all "official" DNS-servers will then pick up, and anyone surfing to that domain name will then get redirected to the IP of your (regular) server.

technically, by hosting your own DNS-server, you can use whatever suffix you want. there's services out there called openDNS or freeDNS or something that do this. they mostly host shady "free speech" stuff (being, tinfoil hatters, weird sexual fetishists and probably some genuine underground organisations).
the problem with hosting your own DNS-server is that its domain-name resolutions are not propagated by the global network of DNS-servers. when your computer connects to the internet, it usually fetches the default DNS-server that belongs to your ISP, and so your domains will go on the "regular" internet. in order to use custom DNSes you'd need to configure your computer to connect to an openDNS server when it cannot find the requested address on the regular DNS-server. (it's in your router or the internet settings somewhere)

did that make sense? [it's terribly complicated, but i try to explain these things as clear as possible]

[Cain]

I understood it.  Would you have to configure for each individual server?

[Triple Zero]

no it's something the client has to do.

so if i wanted to use freeDNS (i need to look up if it's actually called that btw), i'd have to configure my computer to look at an extra DNS server (the freeDNS one) next to my regular internet ISP DNS server.

then i could both surf the regular internet, and the "augmented" internet with extra suffixes. for all the servers that are there.

and remember, a DNS service is just a tool that translates domain-names to IP-addresses, so if you have the IP address of a server with a domain on freeDNS, you could also just access it directly via http://123.123.123.123/news/something.html. (sort of, they might/could block it, but that is quite trivial to circumvent)

but alternate DNS systems are not that interesting IMO, because it's just alternate domain-to-IP mappings. if you want to view the really weird stuff, check out what is on the TOR network, they have their own domain suffix called .onion (it works not quite the same as a custom DNS server, but as a client you use it in the same way) which are servers hosted completely anonymously on the TOR network, mostly WIKIs with loads and loads of tinfoil shit on it possibly also some real secret things there, cause if you only surf the TOR network itself (which is horribly slow), the anonymity is really quite good, afaik.

and also, because someone had to do it:

[Cain]

Oh yeah, I've been on Tor's private network before...I should probably look again actually, I haven't been recently, and lots of sites appear and disappear around there.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

and also, because someone had to do it:

[Golden Applesauce]

no it's something the client has to do.

so if i wanted to use freeDNS (i need to look up if it's actually called that btw), i'd have to configure my computer to look at an extra DNS server (the freeDNS one) next to my regular internet ISP DNS server.

then i could both surf the regular internet, and the "augmented" internet with extra suffixes. for all the servers that are there.

and remember, a DNS service is just a tool that translates domain-names to IP-addresses, so if you have the IP address of a server with a domain on freeDNS, you could also just access it directly via http://123.123.123.123/news/something.html. (sort of, they might/could block it, but that is quite trivial to circumvent)

but alternate DNS systems are not that interesting IMO, because it's just alternate domain-to-IP mappings. if you want to view the really weird stuff, check out what is on the TOR network, they have their own domain suffix called .onion (it works not quite the same as a custom DNS server, but as a client you use it in the same way) which are servers hosted completely anonymously on the TOR network, mostly WIKIs with loads and loads of tinfoil shit on it possibly also some real secret things there, cause if you only surf the TOR network itself (which is horribly slow), the anonymity is really quite good, afaik.

Ah, thank you.

[Iason Ouabache]

Does this mean that the .xxx domain suffix is back on the table?

[Triple Zero]

Does this mean that the .xxx domain suffix is back on the table?

yes.

(the article specifically mentions this, you might want to read it )

[Cain]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7475986.stm


A complete overhaul of the way in which people navigate the internet has been given the go-ahead in Paris.

The net's regulator, Icann, voted unanimously to relax the strict rules on so-called "top-level" domain names, such as .com or .uk.

The decision means that companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names.

A second proposal, to introduce domain names written in Asian, Arabic or other scripts, was also approved.

"We are opening up a new world and I think this cannot be underestimated," said Roberto Gaetano, a member of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

The organisation said it had already been contacted about setting up domains in the Cyrillic script - used in many Eastern European countries.

"This is a huge step forward in the development of the internet - it will unblock something that has prevented a lot of people getting online," said Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy at Nominet, the national registry for .uk domain names.

"At the moment, there are one-and-a-half billion people online and four-and-a-half billion people for whom the Roman script just means nothing."

Dr Paul Twomey, chief executive of Icann, described passing the resolution as a "historic moment".