On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 10:39 AM Ben Laurie <benl@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 11 Apr 2021 at 16:42, Michael Thomas <mike@xxxxxxxx> wrote:Huh? Source?
I'm afraid my source is my own experience (Google has a *lot* of domains).
As if to make the point:
Expiring names is a daft idea. People should be able to buy a name and hold it for life. The only circumstance in which a name should be reassigned is if there is a valid IPR dispute over the use of the name.
The reason DNS names have to be rented not owned is that the design of the DNS requires that the registry provide query service for the entire net without any effective defenses against DoS except to spend bucketloads of cash on gear.
Since suggesting replacement of the industry I helped create, the WebPKI is considered to be a viable goal, I think it only fair to return the favor and propose a replacement for the DNS:
The callsign service began as simply asking myself, 'how would we have designed the MIT PGP Key Servers in the 1990s if the Haber Stornetta patent (i.e. blockchain) hadn't got in the way'.
We would have a registry maintaining an append only log from PGP fingerprints to the account/service currently servicing the holder's email.
Then I asked, 'we have portability for telephone numbers, why not for email?' This was rejected by many incumbents when they saw 'stickiness' to their advantage. But as anyone who has used a comcast or an ATT broadband connection and moved knows, stickiness works both ways. Anyone who has had to change their email address because of a move is not going to go back to using an email tied to a service in that way.
It turns out that the infrastructure required to support fingerprint mapping can support a name system at no extra cost - less than $0.10 per registered name for life to provide a really industrial level of reliability etc when operating at scale.
