From: sean@sdg.dra.com
Newsgroups: comp.security.misc
Subject: Re: Pleasure.com mystery solved.
Date: 29 Jul 92 19:02:42 CDT
Organization: Data Research Associates, St. Louis MO

In article <1992Jul29.215824.16932@anomaly.sbs.risc.net>, kd1hz@anomaly.sbs.risc.net (Michael P. Deignan (KD1HZ)) writes:
> atkinson@itd.nrl.navy.mil (Randall Atkinson) writes:
> 
>>  The DDn Network Information Center is the ONLY official organisation
>>that can grant or delegate responsibility for domain names.
> 
> Do you have the law which deligates them this authority?
> 
> No? I thought so.
> 
> The NIC is a clearinghouse, which is generally accepted amoung sites to be
> "the center" for registering a domain. There is no force-of-law behind this,
> however.


Force of law (as in jail)?  Nope.  If that were true quite a few MILNET
host administrators would be in jail by now.

But the requirement, in a place that calls their requirements "Requests for
Comments," is fairly explicit.  If you want a domain under "COM" on the
Internet you have to go to the NIC.  The COM domain of the Internet may be
spun off with its own naming authority some time in the future, but not yet.
Registering under/using the COM domain has nothing to do with using a
commercial network provider on the Internet.

Of course now that the IAB has been absorbed in to the Internet Society, they
don't have the aura of authority of the DARPA or DCA anymore.  So how "official"
their policy statements are remains to be seen.



From RFC 920

  >                          Domain Requirements
  >
  >
  >Status of this Memo
  >
  >   This memo is a policy statement on the requirements of establishing a
  >   new domain in the ARPA-Internet and the DARPA research community.
  >   This is an official policy statement of the IAB and the DARPA.
  >   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

  [...]

  >General Requirements on a Domain
  >
  >   There are several requirements that must be met to establish a
  >   domain.  In general, it must be responsibly managed.  There must be a
  >   responsible person to serve as an authoritative coordinator for
  >   domain related questions.  There must be a robust domain name lookup
  >   service, it must be of at least a minimum size, and the domain must
  >   be registered with the central domain administrator (the Network
  >   Information Center (NIC) Domain Registrar).


From RFC 1032

  >                      DOMAIN ADMINISTRATORS GUIDE
  >
  >
  >STATUS OF THIS MEMO
  >
  >   This memo describes procedures for registering a domain with the
  >   Network Information Center (NIC) of Defense Data Network (DDN), and
  >   offers guidelines on the establishment and administration of a domain
  >   in accordance with the requirements specified in RFC-920.  It is
  >   intended for use by domain administrators.  This memo should be used
  >   in conjunction with RFC-920, which is an official policy statement of
  >   the Internet Activities Board (IAB) and the Defense Advanced Research
  >   Projects Agency (DARPA).  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

  [...]

  >   The NIC is designated by the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) to
  >   provide registry services for the domain-naming system on the DDN and
  >   DARPA portions of the Internet.
  >
  >   As registrar of top-level and second-level domains, as well as
  >   administrator of the root domain name servers on behalf of DARPA and
  >   DDN, the NIC is responsible for maintaining the root server zone
  >   files and their binary equivalents.  In addition, the NIC is
  >   responsible for administering the top-level domains of "ARPA," "COM,"
  >   "EDU," "ORG," "GOV," and "MIL" on behalf of DCA and DARPA until it
  >   becomes feasible for other appropriate organizations to assume those
  >   responsibilities.


-- 
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Domain: sean@sdg.dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100
Newsgroups: comp.security.misc