Web addresses are a series of unique numbers, known as IP addresses. When you type in a domain name, the DNS allows your service provider to find the site you've asked for. In practice, most requests are routed without going all the way back up the tree, because most service providers keep running records. Until now there has been no problem because there has been no overlap between names. Atlantic Root claims that up to 5 per cent of Internet users have access to the alternate system, either because their ISP supports it or because they have made technical changes on their own machines.
Identical names are the real problem.
The chance is very small, but it is real. This uncertainty is one of NeuLevel's objections to any recognition of alternate services. And it's not something that the average Internet user thinks they should have to deal with. Gallegos' point is that she was there first, while most Internet authorities decry alternate spaces as being against the technical principles that support the integrity of the Web as a single, unified network. All Rights Reserved.