Prepublication Copy—Subject to Further Editorial Correction Signposts in Cyberspace: The Domain Name System and Internet Navigation Committee on Internet Navigation and the Domain Name System: Technical Alternatives and Policy Implications Computer Science and Telecommunications Board Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS Washington, D.C. www.nap.edu Prepublication Copy—Subject to Further Editorial Correction THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. Support for this project was provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ANI-9909852 and by the National Research Council. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the Commerce Department. International Standard Book Number Cover designed by Jennifer M. Bishop. Copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, D.C. 20055, (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 in the Washington metropolitan area. Internet, http://www.nap.edu Copyright 2005 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. 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Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. www.national-academies.org Prepublication Copy—Subject to Further Editorial Correction Prepublication Copy—Subject to Further Editorial Correction COMMITTEE ON INTERNET NAVIGATION AND THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM: TECHNICAL ALTERNATIVES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS ROGER LEVIEN, Strategy & Innovation Consulting, Chair S. ROBERT AUSTEIN, Internet Systems Consortium STANLEY M. BESEN, Charles River Associates CHRISTINE L. BORGMAN, University of California, Los Angeles TIMOTHY CASEY, University of Nevada HUGH DUBBERLY, Dubberly Design Office PATRIK FÄLTSTRÖM, Cisco Systems PER-KRISTIAN HALVORSEN, Hewlett-Packard Labs MARYLEE JENKINS, Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn, PLLC JOHN C. KLENSIN, Independent Consultant MILTON L. MUELLER, Syracuse University SHARON NELSON, Washington State Attorney General's Office CRAIG PARTRIDGE, BBN Technologies WILLIAM RADUCHEL, Ruckus Network HAL R. VARIAN, University of California, Berkeley Staff ALAN S. INOUYE, Study Director CHARLES BROWNSTEIN, Director MARJORY S. BLUMENTHAL, Director (through June 2003) MARGARET MARSH HUYNH, Senior Program Assistant KRISTEN BATCH, Research Associate v Prepublication Copy—Subject to Further Editorial Correction COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD DAVID E. LIDDLE, U.S. Venture Partners, Co-Chair JEANNETTE M. WING, Carnegie Mellon University, Co-Chair ERIC BENHAMOU, Benhamou Global Ventures, LLC DAVID D. CLARK, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, CSTB Chair Emeritus WILLIAM DALLY, Stanford University MARK E. DEAN, IBM Almaden Research Center DEBORAH ESTRIN, University of California, Los Angeles JOAN FEIGENBAUM, Yale University HECTOR GARCIA-MOLINA, Stanford University KEVIN KAHN, Intel Corporation JAMES KAJIYA, Microsoft Corporation MICHAEL KATZ, University of California, Berkeley RANDY H. KATZ, University of California, Berkeley WENDY A. KELLOGG, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center SARA KIESLER, Carnegie Mellon University BUTLER W. LAMPSON, Microsoft Corporation, CSTB Member Emeritus TERESA H. MENG, Stanford University TOM M. MITCHELL, Carnegie Mellon University DANIEL PIKE, GCI Cable and Entertainment ERIC SCHMIDT, Google Inc. FRED B. SCHNEIDER, Cornell University WILLIAM STEAD, Vanderbilt University ANDREW J. VITERBI, Viterbi Group, LLC CHARLES N. BROWNSTEIN, Director KRISTEN BATCH, Research Associate JENNIFER M. BISHOP, Program Associate JANET BRISCOE, Manager, Program Operations JON EISENBERG, Senior Program Officer RENEE HAWKINS, Financial Associate MARGARET MARSH HUYNH, Senior Program Assistant HERBERT S. LIN, Senior Scientist LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Senior Program Officer JANICE SABUDA, Senior Program Assistant GLORIA WESTBROOK, Senior Program Assistant BRANDYE WILLIAMS, Staff Assistant For more information on CSTB, see its Web site at <http://www.cstb.org>, write to CSTB, National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001, call (202) 334-2605, or e-mail the CSTB at [email protected]. vi Prepublication Copy—Subject to Further Editorial Correction Preface The Domain Name System (DNS), which was developed in the early 1980s, provides a way of associating alphanumeric names, which are easier for humans to use, with the numerical addresses that designate every location on the Internet. The system of DNS servers distributed across the Internet invisibly converts the names—serving as signposts in cyberspace—into the numerical addresses required by network routers to reach the signposted locations. The mnemonic quality of domain names became a practical necessity when the rapid increase in the use of e-mail and the World Wide Web (Web) caused the number of Internet users and uses to increase tremendously. Web sites often became known to their visitors by their distinctive domain names—for example, pepsi.com or whitehouse.gov. Carefully chosen domain names often enabled a searcher to navigate to a site simply by guessing (e.g., www.un.org). Consequently, those signposts gained economic, social, cultural, and political value and they became the objects of pride, competition, and dispute. It was fitting, therefore, that the DNS also provided the name—the “Dot Com Era”—for the period of the 1990s when “gold rush fever” drove frenzied efforts to stake out and exploit virtually every potentially valuable site on the Web. Inevitably, such efforts led to intense conflicts, especially disputes involving trademarks, which provided the impetus for the 1998 congressional mandate to initiate this study (see Box P.1). However, the passage of time, the rapid evolution of the Internet and the DNS, the additional and differing interests of the funding agencies, and the logic of the committee’s charter have resulted in a report whose scope differs in some respects from the original congressional request, but is as a result more responsive to the current interests of the report’s sponsors and audience. CURRENT CONTEXT AND STUDY TASK Although the initial feverish period of Internet exploitation appears to have passed, in its third decade the DNS will face new challenges arising from continued growth in the size and scope of the Internet and from its increasing integration into almost every aspect of human activity almost everywhere on the globe. The Internet will need more signposts, in more languages, to satisfy more uses and users. And the DNS will have to be carefully developed and managed to ensure that it can meet those needs while