<div class="gmail_quote">Cross posting to NCSG.<div><br></div><div>I am truly interested in this. I think a new infrastructure (new name rules, new root servers) that is founded on human values instead of obscure interests is profoundly needed.</div>
<div><br></div><div>It is time for a (r)evolution.</div><div><br></div><div>Best regards,</div><div><br></div><div><font color="#888888">Nuno Garcia<br><br></font><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="im">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Lauren Weinstein</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lauren@vortex.com" target="_blank">lauren@vortex.com</a>></span><br>
Date: 1 December 2010 00:17<br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">Subject: [ NNSquad ] Announcing Project IDONS: Internet Distributed Open Name System<br>To: <a href="mailto:nnsquad@nnsquad.org" target="_blank">nnsquad@nnsquad.org</a><br>
<br><br><br>
<br>
<br>
Announcing Project IDONS: Internet Distributed Open Name System<br>
<br>
<a href="http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000787.html" target="_blank">http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000787.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Greetings. As regular readers know, I am a vocal critic of ICANN's<br>
plan for a massive expansion of new Top Level Domains (TLDs), and of<br>
the increasing abuse of the domain name system both for the profit of<br>
the "domain-industrial complex" and for Internet censorship and<br>
control purposes -- among other related concerns ( <a href="http://bit.ly/dh6zOf" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/dh6zOf</a> ).<br>
<br>
Recently, in "Take a Tiny First Step Toward Controlling Your Internet<br>
Addressing Destiny" ( <a href="http://bit.ly/9MJiOf" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/9MJiOf</a> ), I noted:<br>
<br>
"An alternative Internet name to address mapping system -- fully<br>
distributed, open source, fault-tolerant, secure, flexible, and<br>
not subject to centralized constraints, meddling, and censorship<br>
-- will take significant time to develop, and a long transition<br>
period for deployment."<br>
<br>
And I asked readers to take part in some initial experimental<br>
activities (thanks to all who responded).<br>
<br>
What I didn't say then -- in the hope of having this project a bit<br>
farther along before any public announcements -- is that I've been<br>
talking to my colleagues and others about this issue for quite some<br>
time, and I believe it's fair to say that we've agreed that it is not<br>
only necessary to move beyond the current DNS and naming environment,<br>
but that such a project is entirely practical -- if managed in an<br>
organized and reasonable manner.<br>
<br>
Ad hoc attempts to bypass the existing system -- such as those newly<br>
proposed by Pirate Bay ( <a href="http://bit.ly/hOZcvd" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/hOZcvd</a> [ars technica] ) -- are<br>
likely to create fragmentation and confusion, and therefore ironically<br>
tend to further entrench the existing system.<br>
<br>
But, even though it may seem on its face like suggesting that the<br>
electric grid move from A.C. to D.C. throughout, a fundamental<br>
evolution in the way that we handle names and addresses on the<br>
Internet is an idea whose time has come.<br>
<br>
The scope of the project on which I've been working, which I call<br>
IDONS - Internet Distributed Open Name System -- is in early stages,<br>
but would ultimately be significant both in terms of technology and<br>
time. It may perhaps be reasonably compared with the scale of IPv6<br>
deployment in some ways.<br>
<br>
For reference only, since working documents have evolved beyond this,<br>
the original set of objectives for IDONS included:<br>
<br>
- Fully distributed<br>
<br>
- No centralized control<br>
<br>
- Fault tolerant<br>
<br>
- Open source<br>
<br>
- All communications encrypted<br>
<br>
- Local databases optionally encrypted<br>
<br>
- Extensible and expandable to any foreseeable size and loads<br>
<br>
- Finite, deterministic time for "settlement" of new name/identifier<br>
registration requests across the entire IDONS space<br>
<br>
- Gateways during extended transition phase for interoperation with<br>
non-upgraded network segments, clients, etc.<br>
<br>
- Decoupling of locally-defined (e.g. human-meaningful) names and<br>
related addressing elements (aliases, etc.), from actual "random<br>
string" network identifier objects and constructs<br>
<br>
- Minimal constraints on name selections and changes<br>
<br>
- No central registries<br>
<br>
- No registrars<br>
<br>
- No fees nor charges necessary for any name or address operations<br>
across IDONS<br>
<br>
There's a whole lot more involved of course -- both technical and<br>
nontechnical. Nor do I believe that such a project can succeed with<br>
serious community support and significant funding. Like I said above,<br>
ad hoc won't fly for this.<br>
<br>
Enough for now.<br>
<br>
Interested parties are invited to contact:<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:idons@vortex.com" target="_blank">idons@vortex.com</a><br>
<br>
Thanks.<br>
<br>
--Lauren--<br>
Lauren Weinstein (<a href="mailto:lauren@vortex.com" target="_blank">lauren@vortex.com</a>)<br>
<a href="http://www.vortex.com/lauren" target="_blank">http://www.vortex.com/lauren</a><br>
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800<br>
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): <a href="http://www.pfir.org" target="_blank">http://www.pfir.org</a><br>
Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): <a href="http://www.nnsquad.org" target="_blank">http://www.nnsquad.org</a><br>
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance):<br>
<a href="http://www.gctip.org" target="_blank">http://www.gctip.org</a><br>
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: <a href="http://www.vortex.com" target="_blank">http://www.vortex.com</a><br>
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy<br>
Lauren's Blog: <a href="http://lauren.vortex.com" target="_blank">http://lauren.vortex.com</a><br>
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein</a><br>
Google Buzz: <a href="http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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