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Paul Vixie On What DNS Is Not

Posted by timothy on from the this-could-be-a-long-book dept.

CowboyRobot writes "Paul Vixie (AboveNet, ARIN, ISC, MAPS, PAIX) has a fresh rant titled What DNS Is Not about the abuses of the Domain Name Server system. 'What DNS is not is a mapping service or a mechanism for delivering policy-based information. DNS was designed to express facts, not policies. Because it works so well and is ubiquitous, however, it's all too common for entrepreneurs to see it as a greenfield opportunity ... a few years ago VeriSign, which operates the .COM domain under contract to ICANN, added a "wild card" to the top of the .COM zone (*.COM) so that its authoritative name servers would no longer generate NXDOMAIN responses. Instead they generated responses containing the address of SiteFinder's Web site — an advertising server.'"

3 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. not only Verisign by Tom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Many ISPs do it as well. Right now, my ISP does it, even though I've opted out. Maybe one of these days I'll sue them.

    Maybe it's time that the Internet standards get a few clauses added that express these concepts explicitly. Like what Paul said about DNS. A clause like "a nameserver MUST responde truthfully, if technically possible. DNS responses MUST NOT be modified in any way for political, economic or business reasons."

    Then these fucked up ISPs would at least be in violation of a standard, which might give me what I need for a violation-of-contract suit.

    Remember: These changes are often invented by marketing and then pushed through even against the explicit protest of the technology people.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    1. Re:not only Verisign by NoYob · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Remember: These changes are often invented by marketing and then pushed through even against the explicit protest of the technology people.

      Every technological marketing gimick that has been invented was the result of some techie wanting to get rich quick (or kiss up to his boss) and I don't blame them. If I found a way to exploit DNS further or any other part of the net and was able to get rich from it, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

      And so would most of you, too.

      --
      It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
  2. Don't be a baby! by iYk6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So he must stop advising a board who makes decisions that he disagrees with? Yeah, that will solve problems. Everyone should only advise people who were going to make the decisions that the adviser was going to advise anyway. That way, all advisers are useless. And then ... what exactly is your end goal in making advisers useless?

    Some people do resign from boards when the board repeatedly makes decisions that the adviser does not approve of. The rejection just gets to be too much for them, and so they quit. It is understandable, but the board suffers when the range of opinions decreases.

    Basically, AC, people you work with will make decisions you disagree with. It is important that you put of with it, and not be a big baby.