while I have your attention... Names, copyright and IPv6

[Scott W]

paul van den bergen wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>given how clearly you-all answered my query about 'hostname' (thanks folks) I 
>thought I'd chance my luck.
>
>so, let me get this straight...
>
>in the IPv4 world there is this thing called DNS and domain names... I can buy 
>my self a name off a name vendor - eg. bergen.org... I then get to own that 
>name...  so, 
>Question 1) where does the DNS record for that name reside? with my ISP? with 
>the name vendor?
>
>  
>
Well, the short version is there are several 'root servers' which anyone 
running BIND/DNS should laready have a list of- they are the initially 
consulted servers with respect to which servers are 'authoritative' for 
a given TLD(Top level domain, eg .com, .net, .edu, ....)

If you registered a .org domain, one of the TLD Domain servers for .org 
would be queried, and then down to your domain, eg bergen.org, which 
would point to who is registered as being Authoritative for the 
bergen.org domain.  This is generally handled when you register the 
domain name- you're given the option in many cases to have the registrar 
(eg, Network Solutions, GoDaddy.com (sucky name, but very inexpensive 
domain registrations), etc) handle DNS for your domain, or to specify 
your own name servers (which can be hosted by yourself, or someone that 
has agreed to providfe DNS services for your domain(s)).  In theory, and 
generally in practice, these changes can take up to ~12 hours or so to 
propgate, up to 48-72 hours to propogate your DNS records to the rest of 
the nameservers online. 

>lets say I have a network and wish to name the boxen depending on the OS 
>running on them thus...
>microsoft.bergen.org
>SCO.bergen.org
>Sun.bergen.org
>
>Question 2)
>where do those DNSrecord reside?
>  
>
On whomever is authoritative for the bergen.com domain.  type at a Unix 
prompt:
dig bergen.org

and you'll see the system ns.bergen.org is Authoritative for that 
domain...although you may want to do a 'dig bergen.com' for comparison :-)

>Question3)
>surely I'm breaking copyright or trademark laws here? whats to stop me being 
>sued? for that matter, whats to stop vexatious litigation? and what about the 
>name brokers? do they have legal responsibilities? and if I run DNS server on 
>my network am I then a name provider for myself and have to worry about 
>litigation?
>  
>
This is  a grey area (surprise), with both the Trademark owners as well 
as the 'little people' winning in various cases.  AFAIK, I haven't seen 
anyone go to court over the hostname portion of their site- remember, 
'the Net as we know it' has now almost been reduced to simply 
ftp.domain.TLD and www.domain.TLD at this point, with 'the world at 
large' rarely using hostnames other than ftp or www.  Also, see:
http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/help/legal-info.jhtml
and
http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/help/domain-magistrate.jhtml
for some info on domain disputes, or Google for 'domain disputes'

>Question4)
>or to put it another way, what is the relationship between trademark control 
>institutions and name brokers?
>  
>

See above, it's still being figured out ;-)

Scott