De: 
         Louis Pouzin <pouzin@email.enst.fr>
       A: 
         ct@wsis-cs.org


WSIS - Intersession - Civil Society caucus

INTERNET GOVERNANCE

This note raises some issues that have been lingering around for a number of years, and not taken up
squarely.

There is no point hiding them, as it would weaken credibility. While there may not be clear
solutions, one could set up open-minded discussions and working parties involving *all*
stakeholders.
- -

1- IP number allocation

ICANN's assignment of IPv4 numbers has unabashedly given the lion's share to american organisations.
Hence, the rationale to have IPv6 numbers assignment controlled by an international neutral body.

2- Domain names are strictly sub-english.

As the world population is dominantly using other languages, non english countries or linguistic
groups should be able to use their own alphabets for domain and user names.

The IDN scheme allows extending the lifespan of a sub-english DNS. It does not bring up an
unrestricted use of non english alphabets.

Should non english countries or linguistic groups set up their own name directories, there would be
no need to use the DNS for names in their own languages. E.g. the .eu directory (of course
distributed) could handle name/address conversion for all EU alphabets.

In other words, DNS roots would be unnecessary for traffic among or within ccTLD's.

3- Centralized DNS root system

This hierarchical structure may have been appropriate on its inception 20 years ago. In a worldwide
system serving many countries that may have strongly diverging interests, to the point of waging
wars, this model is bluntly inadequate.

Roots are natural targets for hackers or terrorists. They spur traffic that could be avoided. Their
location is a matter of obscure decision making.

Through the A root, a ccTLD may be cast to oblivion. Traffic may be monitored without users
knowledge. Data may be delayed, diverted, or altered. More sophisticated spoofing may be rigged up,
according to some DNSSEC experts. It doesn't take much nose to anticipate that a number of
governments will take specific actions to protect their national infrastructure, once they have
understood the situation.

In comparison, the GSM system has no central root. Conversion between mobile numbers and physical
channels is handled by cooperating directories among operators. It is much better attuned than the
internet to a politically unstable world.
- -

Acronyms:

ccTLD: country code Top Level Domain
DNS: Domain Name System
DNSSEC: DNS SECurity extensions
EU: European Union
GSM: Global System for Mobiles
ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
IDN: Internationalized Domain Name
IP: Internet Protocol
IPv4: IP version 4
IPv6: IP version 6
WSIS: World Summit on the Information Society