The internet has changed and evolved ever since it's ancestors first came to life in the late 1960's. Some technology fades away and is forgotten; other aspects continue but are overlaid, like geological sediments, so that they are now longer visible but are still present under the surface.
The Domain Name System — both the technology of DNS and the deployed naming hierarchy we all use — are among those aspects of the internet that, although they feel solid and immutable, are slowly changing underneath our feet.
Act I: In Which DNS Fades to Translucent Grey
Internet Domain Names had a good twenty-year run from the early days of the World Wide Web (1995) through 2015.
Some people made a lot of money through domain name speculation. Others made money by wallpapering Google Ad Sense advertisements over vacuous websites. And a busload of attorneys made a good living chasing down shysters trying to make a buck off of the trademarks of others.
And through its perceived control of domain name policy, ICANN grew into a ever-bloating, money absorbing bureaucracy worthy of Jonathan Swift.
But things are changing. The days of domain names as the center of internet policy and internet governance are ending. Domain name speculation will slowly become a quaint shadow of its former self.
What is driving these changes?
It is not that the Domain Name System (DNS) is becoming less important as a technical way of mapping structured names into various forms of records, most often records containing IP addresses.
Nor is the Domain Name System used less then heretofore.
Nor are the knights of intellectual property becoming any less enthusiastic about challenging every domain name that they feel does not pay adequate homage to the trademarks they are protecting.
And national governments continue to believe that domain names are the holy grail of levers they can use to impose their views of right and proper behavior onto the internet.
All of that remains. And it will remain.
What is happening to DNS is more subtle: Domain names are slowly becoming invisible.
Read more: Circleid
The Domain Name System — both the technology of DNS and the deployed naming hierarchy we all use — are among those aspects of the internet that, although they feel solid and immutable, are slowly changing underneath our feet.
Act I: In Which DNS Fades to Translucent Grey
Internet Domain Names had a good twenty-year run from the early days of the World Wide Web (1995) through 2015.
Some people made a lot of money through domain name speculation. Others made money by wallpapering Google Ad Sense advertisements over vacuous websites. And a busload of attorneys made a good living chasing down shysters trying to make a buck off of the trademarks of others.
And through its perceived control of domain name policy, ICANN grew into a ever-bloating, money absorbing bureaucracy worthy of Jonathan Swift.
But things are changing. The days of domain names as the center of internet policy and internet governance are ending. Domain name speculation will slowly become a quaint shadow of its former self.
What is driving these changes?
It is not that the Domain Name System (DNS) is becoming less important as a technical way of mapping structured names into various forms of records, most often records containing IP addresses.
Nor is the Domain Name System used less then heretofore.
Nor are the knights of intellectual property becoming any less enthusiastic about challenging every domain name that they feel does not pay adequate homage to the trademarks they are protecting.
And national governments continue to believe that domain names are the holy grail of levers they can use to impose their views of right and proper behavior onto the internet.
All of that remains. And it will remain.
What is happening to DNS is more subtle: Domain names are slowly becoming invisible.
Read more: Circleid
