Master of your Domain

March 9, 1998

There's a couple of points here. Most of them about the silliness that's currently happenning with domain names, trademarks, copyright, and corporate control freaks who think they can own words.

Computer people like to name things. There's a little bit of the Wizard and God in all of us, seeking to define somethings true name. We don't just weld boxes into a LAN and then walk away, there's the mind-asking soul-serarching process of coming up with a naming scheme. Usually it takes just as long.

I've named machines after breakfast cereals (ricebubble, cocopop, fruitloop [my machine]) stars, (alpha.centauri, beta.centauri, andromeda) Doctor Who, rivers, and more. Star Trek ship names and characters are popular. Buckaroo named machines after the marines in Aliens, (Hicks, Vasquez) characters from Hyperion (Hoyt, Kassad, Silneus [a printer], but never Shrike). Managers can't understand the urge, but it's there in every tech.

There are networks out there with machines named Coke, Pepsi, DrPepper, Jolt... and that's where the problems begin. Because they're trademarked names, owned by companies with lawyers. And, up until now, those companies had never heard the term 'Online Branding'. But now they have.

I'm in favor of copyright, in general terms. It's just the specifics that annoy me. The idea of protecting the author is all fine and cool, but authors generally sign over their rights to publishing companies. And as far as I can tell, 'Trademarks' are a matter of selling people illusions. We drink Coke more for the image than the taste, though we don't like to think of it that way. Take the image away, and you've got what? Sweet fizzy water. The 'Coke' brand image is everything.

Ever since commercial interests moved into the Internet, there's been nothing but trouble. It's exactly like settlers moving into the great frontier.. where previously there was naught but eye-bendingly beautiful views of majestic mountians, wild untamed brooks, and native splendor, now there's a million little white box houses, each inhabitant bickering with their neighbor about where the fence goes. 'Mine!' they say, like they could own the earth.

Actually, there's a flaw in the above analogy. The frontiersmen opened up the land. Hackers actually create it. Any attempt to 'own' the net is ultimately doomed because there's not a finite amount of it. With every new machine and person, it gets bigger. And bigger. See? It just did it again. Companies will become dismayed with the rivers of money they pour into 'aquiring digital rights' only to find there's more to aquire the next week. In fact, the more they buy, the more will suddenly appear, as others see 'opportunities'. The laws of supply and demand don't work anymore when there's infinite supply.

But we have strayed from the main point. In the near future, will Coca Cola(TM) start going after domain administrators that name machines after softdrinks? They own www.coke.com. Is coke.intra.company.com any different? Remember, any time lots of money is involved, common sense goes out the window. And legal action is expensive to fight.

Speaking of lots of money, the US Government 'White Paper' on the DNS system has just been released. It essentially says 'We don't know, you work it out.' and half the people appluaude it, half deride it. This all misses some fundamental points.

First, there are no actual problems with the DNS system that the white paper attemps to fix! The whole business is about the fact that Network Solutions has collected millions of $100 DNS registrations. You do the math. Anytime that much money is involved, all kinds of people do whatever they can to get a piece of it. In this case, they've cried that network solutions has an illegal monopoly. Well, they're not. There is nothing to stop anyone else from setting up a new DNS system. In fact, it's trivial to create a new domain, and begin selling sub-domains out of it. If they really want to take business away from NSI, then let them build a better DNS! (God knows there are enough technical problems with this one) But of course, no-one in the system actually wants to do anything technical, they just want a slice of the registration fees. It's just business. They don't even care if DNS still works afterward.

What they don't understand is that the DNS system has a limited life, and the current revenue stream is entirely dependant on the technical structure. As soon as this changes, the whole 'business model' crumbles. Remember, what everyone's fighting over is the right to charge money to put entries into a database. It's just stupid.

Especially because no-one really uses DNS names that much anyway. How many times do you type in a URL as opposed to clicking on a link? And when you do, is it easier to type www.linxtechnologies.com or 192.168.10.1? Remember, all DNS does is turn names into numbers. The idea was that names are easier to remember. Well, no-one remembers the names either. So, what's the point? Let's just go back to using IP numbers, grit our teeth with the coming of IPv6, and forget this whole DNS thing.

Yes, of course the previous paragraph was sarcastic and unrealistic. :-) But hopefully it puts things in perspective; DNS names have turned into Trademark issues, with companies willing to spend huge amounts of money because their 'image' is all they have. And other companies are willing to take that money in return for a some percieved service, so that the original companies can put www.coke.com on the bottom of every ad, and all can say: "Coke's got a URL. Well, that means everything is all right then."

Not even close.