You're right that ORSC and OpenNIC haven't come to an agreement yet, but it's on the cards. We (OpenNIC) have arranged namespace peering with AlterNIC and PacRoot and we (and ORSC) are actively pursuing a solution in which it won't matter through which root your resolve, since the alternates will be peering each others' data.
Since ORSC has been (to my knowledge) the most relaxed about adding new TLDs to their root in the past, they have a lot of work to do in identifying conflicts between their space and other which OpenNIC doesn't need to do on account of the project's yourth (OpenNIC is still less than a year old). ORSC was one of the first and did not have the benefit of observing others' experience first as we did. They're working on it though, and we're interested in peering with them when they're ready, though.
So, exercise patience; most of the alterate roots are interested in unifying the namespace (while retaining the independance of each root within their own space, of course), so this is building. It does take time, though, so please, pick the root you like best and use it. Encourage that root to cooperate with the rest of us in building a federated namespace. It'll get there.;-)
I won't make the argument for choosing OpenNIC, though obviously that's the one I use, since inti's done that below. Just choose the one which fits the best with your opinions and help it work with the others.
1) talk to your favorite OS distro about including OpenNIC and other alternate roots as an install option
2) bring in content sites on alternative domain names, and put an explanation on those sites for how to access them by their non-ICANN
3) a monthly OpenDNS Day, where all participating sites with non-ICANN names will only server a page explaining this to folks who acess them by their ICANN names; I personally love this idea
4) whenever folks get together to rant about how much ICANN sucks, mention that there are alternatives (as in this article...;-)
5) get it in the mainstream press; OpenNIC has been discussed in several tech sites (here, K5, TheRegister), but also in some mainstream media (the Wall Street Journal, BBC Online and, next week, The Village Voice)
6) distribute an easy-to-use application that reconfigures a user's personal computer to use an alternative DNS system (in the works for *nix, MacOS and BeOS)
7) to speak to your interest, get the many alternate roots to cooperate in presenting a single collaboratevely managed namespace; if you think the other ones looks difficult, this is by far the hardest of the things I've mentioned
So, we are working on it. The commenters on this article are right, though, that it's a really big task and our percentage of the Net is quite small (and not growing as quickly as the general Net population, either). But the momentum is gaining and ICANN's antagonists number more every time they get any news coverage at all, so it's still positive.
There's nothing wrong with well-placed idealism.;-)
At any rate, please do start this up; the OpenNIC would be quite happy to help you in any way we can. After all, you could get the users who either don't care or don't want democratic management, we get the idealists.
But if we peer each others' root data, each our users can see the other root's domains, so in effect we become one root composed of different organizations working together. This is, after all, what the OpenNIC wants; we dpn't want to be "the one true root", we want to be one root out of many.
So, drop us a line and we'll help you get set up as much as we can and introduce you to the folks operating the other roots. The more the merrier...;-)
There is a searh engine for the alternates being built at atlantic.ocean, but it's quite rudimentary now.
One thing the OpenNIC sites are doing about it is building a notice into the site when you access it by the ICANN name telling you about the alternatives.
Additionally, if this interests you, please do write to Google requesting that they expand their indexing to include non-ICANN named sites.
They'll only know to do it if they're told about it...
That's why I registered trulysucks.net. I can run my Warner Brothers sucks site as warnerbrothers.trulysucks.net and there's nothing ICANN or the WIPO can do about it, since the "trademark" bit is in the third-level (and their policies only apply to the second-level domain, not what you put in it).
Anyone who wants to slag off a trademark holder is welcome to a DNS delegation in the domain (just send me an email); it's not a commercial thing at all.
As one of the folks quoted in the Reg article, I'm kinda surprised that the DNS project I'm working with hasn't be referenced here yet. Well, I'll take care of that...;-)
The OpenNIC is working on and promoting a system much like what's being discussed here. We want a global DNS root in which any person or group which can technicaly build and support a root is a welcome and equal participant and in which new TLDs are created simply by vote of the users.
Within OpenNIC, we operate several TLDs (.oss and.null, presumably, would be of the most interest to this crowd).
Slashdot Mirror
You're right that ORSC and OpenNIC haven't come to an agreement yet, but it's on the cards. We (OpenNIC) have arranged namespace peering with AlterNIC and PacRoot and we (and ORSC) are actively pursuing a solution in which it won't matter through which root your resolve, since the alternates will be peering each others' data.
;-)
Since ORSC has been (to my knowledge) the most relaxed about adding new TLDs to their root in the past, they have a lot of work to do in identifying conflicts between their space and other which OpenNIC doesn't need to do on account of the project's yourth (OpenNIC is still less than a year old). ORSC was one of the first and did not have the benefit of observing others' experience first as we did. They're working on it though, and we're interested in peering with them when they're ready, though.
So, exercise patience; most of the alterate roots are interested in unifying the namespace (while retaining the independance of each root within their own space, of course), so this is building. It does take time, though, so please, pick the root you like best and use it. Encourage that root to cooperate with the rest of us in building a federated namespace. It'll get there.
I won't make the argument for choosing OpenNIC, though obviously that's the one I use, since inti's done that below. Just choose the one which fits the best with your opinions and help it work with the others.
-robin
We're working on several mechanisms for that:
... ;-)
1) talk to your favorite OS distro about including OpenNIC and other alternate roots as an install option
2) bring in content sites on alternative domain names, and put an explanation on those sites for how to access them by their non-ICANN
3) a monthly OpenDNS Day, where all participating sites with non-ICANN names will only server a page explaining this to folks who acess them by their ICANN names; I personally love this idea
4) whenever folks get together to rant about how much ICANN sucks, mention that there are alternatives (as in this article
5) get it in the mainstream press; OpenNIC has been discussed in several tech sites (here, K5, TheRegister), but also in some mainstream media (the Wall Street Journal, BBC Online and, next week, The Village Voice)
6) distribute an easy-to-use application that reconfigures a user's personal computer to use an alternative DNS system (in the works for *nix, MacOS and BeOS)
7) to speak to your interest, get the many alternate roots to cooperate in presenting a single collaboratevely managed namespace; if you think the other ones looks difficult, this is by far the hardest of the things I've mentioned
So, we are working on it. The commenters on this article are right, though, that it's a really big task and our percentage of the Net is quite small (and not growing as quickly as the general Net population, either). But the momentum is gaining and ICANN's antagonists number more every time they get any news coverage at all, so it's still positive.
Nil desperandum.
Cheers,
-robin
There's nothing wrong with well-placed idealism. ;-)
... ;-)
At any rate, please do start this up; the OpenNIC would be quite happy to help you in any way we can. After all, you could get the users who either don't care or don't want democratic management, we get the idealists.
But if we peer each others' root data, each our users can see the other root's domains, so in effect we become one root composed of different organizations working together. This is, after all, what the OpenNIC wants; we dpn't want to be "the one true root", we want to be one root out of many.
So, drop us a line and we'll help you get set up as much as we can and introduce you to the folks operating the other roots. The more the merrier
Cheers,
-robin
This is definitely a problem.
...
There is a searh engine for the alternates being built at atlantic.ocean, but it's quite rudimentary now.
One thing the OpenNIC sites are doing about it is building a notice into the site when you access it by the ICANN name telling you about the alternatives.
Additionally, if this interests you, please do write to Google requesting that they expand their indexing to include non-ICANN named sites.
They'll only know to do it if they're told about it
Cheers,
-robin
That's why I registered trulysucks.net. I can run my Warner Brothers sucks site as warnerbrothers.trulysucks.net and there's nothing ICANN or the WIPO can do about it, since the "trademark" bit is in the third-level (and their policies only apply to the second-level domain, not what you put in it).
Anyone who wants to slag off a trademark holder is welcome to a DNS delegation in the domain (just send me an email); it's not a commercial thing at all.
-robin
As one of the folks quoted in the Reg article, I'm kinda surprised that the DNS project I'm working with hasn't be referenced here yet. Well, I'll take care of that ... ;-)
The OpenNIC is working on and promoting a system much like what's being discussed here. We want a global DNS root in which any person or group which can technicaly build and support a root is a welcome and equal participant and in which new TLDs are created simply by vote of the users.
Within OpenNIC, we operate several TLDs (.oss and .null, presumably, would be of the most interest to this crowd).
Cheers,
-robin
-robin