Top-level Domain Names Research Articles

DNS-BC: Fast, Reliable and Secure Domain Name System Caching System Based on a Consortium Blockchain.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a fundamental component of the internet, responsible for resolving domain names into IP addresses. DNS servers are typically categorized into four types: recursive resolvers, root name servers, Top-Level Domain (TLD) name servers, and authoritative name servers. The latter three types of servers store actual records, while recursive resolvers do not store any real data and are only responsible for querying the other three types of servers and responding to clients. Recursive resolvers typically maintain a caching system to speed up response times, but these caching systems have the drawbacks of a low real-time performance, a poor accuracy, and many security and privacy issues. In this paper, we propose a caching system based on a consortium blockchain, namely DNS-BC, which uses the synchronization mechanism of the consortium blockchain to achieve a high real-time performance, uses the immutable mechanism of the consortium blockchain and our designed credibility management system to achieve up to a 100% accuracy, and has been combined with encrypted transmission protocols to solve common security and privacy issues. At the same time, this caching system can greatly reduce the traffic that name servers need to handle, thereby protecting them from Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. To further accelerate the data transmission speed, we have designed a new encrypted DNS protocol called DNS over KCP (DoK). The DoK protocol is based on the KCP protocol, which is a fast and reliable transmission protocol, and its latency can reach one-third of that of TCP when the network environment deteriorates. In our experiments, the transmission time of this protocol is about a quarter of that of the widely used encrypted protocols DNS over TLS (DoT) and DNS over HTTPS (DoH).

Research on the Construction of High-Trust Root Zone File Based on Multi-Source Data Verification

The root zone is located at the top level of the DNS system’s hierarchical structure and serves as the entry point for all domain name resolutions. The accuracy of the root zone file determines whether domain names can be resolved correctly. To solve the problems of single-source distrust and inaccurate data in the use of root zone files, this paper utilizes multi-source root zone files to build an accurate, real-time, and highly trustworthy root zone file through the validation of data accuracy and integrity. First, we propose a weighted voting statistical verification method. We select top-level domain name records with the highest confidence from the multi-source root zone data, thereby improving data accuracy. Second, through a dynamic cyclic construction process, we achieve dynamic monitoring of root zone file version changes, effectively ensuring the real-time nature of root zone data. Finally, we adopt a DNSSEC verification mechanism to address the issue of unreliable transmission paths for actively probed root zone data, ensuring data integrity by verifying the signed top-level domain name records and their ZSK, KSK keys. In addition, through the analysis of experimental data, we find that the main reason for the inaccuracy and unreliability of the root zone file is the delay in updating and synchronizing the file. We also discover the presence of redundant KSK keys in some of the source root zone data, which led to failure in the DNSSEC validation chain. The high-trust root zone file constructed in this paper provides data support for research on the root-side resolution anomaly detection and localization application of root zone files and has wide-ranging practical value.

An experimental study for the performance assessment of the DNS server architecture on IPv6 network

In this paper, an experimental investigation is conducted to study the performance of the educational research domain name system (ER-DNS) hierarchical server network which works on internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) only, instead of the publicly available dual stack DNS root servers on the internet. There is a high probability of making the entire internet system unstable if any changes are made. Thus, we have created the experimental testbed, which functions similar to the existing live internet systems. It thus gives more flexibility to experiment and make technical and operational changes, without risking the stability and reliability of the internet system. In this paper, we have setup the entire DNS hierarchy starting from the root to the recursive servers with the top level domain (TLD) and domain authoritative name servers has been setup. This setup enables the queries to flow from the end user recursive servers to the domain authoritative server via the root as well as the TLD servers and provide the result to the end user. Query response in each of these servers were recorded to derive the response time, failure and successes to help in assessing the efficiency, behavior, functionality, stability and reliability of the ER-DNS architecture in IPv6 networks.

Performance Analysis of Root Anycast Nodes Based on Active Measurement

The root server is at the top of the domain name hierarchical structure. To improve root service performance, each root deploys anycast nodes worldwide. What is the actual service performance of these nodes after deployment? We analyze the service performance of the root anycast nodes deployed in China based on the active measurement data detected by the VPs of different ISPs in different geographical locations. From the analysis, we find that the resolution performance of the roots with anycast nodes deployed in China is higher than that of roots without deployment. However, users of different operators have significant differences in accessing the root servers, such as parsing time, hitting anycast nodes, and most anycast nodes only providing services for one operator, limiting the service scope and reducing the service performance. The analysis results can help the root management and introduction institutions master the actual service status of the root servers, which can be used to optimize the performance of the existing root anycast nodes and provide a basis for deploying new root anycast nodes in the next step. Finally, we find that 67 top-level domain names are hijacked on the resolution path based on the measured data.

ICANN mehanizmi - procena dodatnih pravnih sredstava

At incorporation with World intellectual property organization, ICANN has created administrative mechanisms to solve contested domain names and other rights related to the use of trademarks in Cyberspace. In this context, this mechanism called UDRP was limited to general top-level domain names because at the early beginning of the world wide web, the conflicts were basically surrounded by domain names chains such as .com, .org.net with high trade value. On top of that, and because the increasing demand in the domain names industry was huge, ICANN seeks to pump new domain names chains into the market to encounter such an increasing demand for domain names. Accordingly, this step has increased the conflict while the UDRP mechanism was limited to solving the conflicts over top-level domain names. In this connection, ACANN had to find another mechanism to solve other conflict-related with the new gTLD. This article tries to shed light on these remedies and their effectiveness in solving such conflicts.

Operation mechanism for ensuring the stable migration of top-level domain name resolution hosting services with DNSSEC

Operation mechanism for ensuring the stable migration of top-level domain name resolution hosting services with DNSSEC

A Study in Anxiety of the Dark

A Study in Anxiety of the Dark

DNS based Measurement and Analysis of IPv6 Domain Name Support

At present, the IPv4 addresses has been fully allocated, and the worldwide deployment of IPv6 addresses is accelerating due to its advantages. In order to investigate current development of IPv6, the IPv6 addresses of domain names are firstly resolved by DNS servers, and the obtained IPv6 addresses data, mainly including the geographic location statistics of IPv6, the proportion of southeast coastal cities, the comprehensive statistics of top-level domain names, etc., can be used to analyze the domain name supported by IPv6. The analysis of the measurement results has great guiding significance for further understanding the future development and application of IPv6.

The Managing Lawmaker in Cyberspace: A New Power Model

This paper is about the of The Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers (ICANN). It examines how this was created, augmented, strengthened, and reigned in. ICANN poses a puzzle. It is essentially an unregulated and undemocratic monopoly. Yet, ICANN's exercise of has been fairly contained. Since ICANN is a monopoly, what prevents it from taking a far more high-handed and extensive ruling posture? Even though at first blush my analogy is counterintuitive, I analogize ICANN to a managing lawmakers of market infrastructures, such as the New York Stock Exchange, while recognizing their differences. Unlike the Exchange, ICANN has close affinity to a political unit as well. The emergence of ICANN, its staying power, and the limitations on the exercise of its power, can be partly explained by an analogy to the economic theory of contestable markets. The theory deals with price. I equate price to power. High prices denote a high level of power. Low prices denote a lower level of power. In essence the theory suggests that under certain conditions a monopolist would charge low prices as if it operated in a competitive market. That is because higher prices will bring less efficient competitors into the market until prices fall and they will exit. This theory highlights a special balance of and its restraining effect. I believe that a similar idea helps understand ICANN's environment The paper notes that ICANN exercises power in default. All the strong constituents seem to have agreed not to claim exclusive control over the Internet infrastructure. The paper discusses the bases for ICANN's continuous power: its constitutional documents, and contracts, which have become part of its constitution, and its role as mediator among Internet large stakeholders. ICANN has augmented its by a stable and able management, and arguably maintained and strengthened its following by doing its share to support the stability of the Internet. ICANN's rising is demonstrated by the controversies concerning the country code Top Level Domain names (ccTLDs). The paper concludes that ICANN's is still being shaped. It could emerge along a market model, as a central catalyst for consensus building among parties with different interests. Alternatively, ICANN could also move towards a more regulatory model of consensus-based decision making. These decisions may then constitute precedents and mature into rules. Or ICANN can combine the two models to form a more structured market and more flexible regulatory body. The market model is likely to make experiment in the development of more than one root easier than the regulatory model. As the telephone experience has shown, the time may come for a multi-root cooperative Internet structure. Or we may face a technology that is today a mere twinkle in someone's eye.

The regulation of abusive activity and content: a study of registries’ terms of service

This paper studies the role of domain registries in relation to unlawful or unwanted use of a domain name or the underlying website content. It is an empirical and conceptual contribution to the online content regulation debate, with specific focus on European country code top-level (ccTLD) domain name registries. An analysis of the terms of service of 30 European ccTLD registries shows that one third of the registries contain some use-related provision, which corresponds to approximately 47% of registered domains. The analysis also turns towards examples of notice-and-takedown mechanisms, the emergence of proactive screening and the practice of data validation. Based on the analysis, it calls for more clarity and transparency regarding domain registries’ role in content- or use-related takedowns.

Brief of Trademark Scholars As Amici Curiae in Support of Neither Party

Amici take no position on whether BOOKING.COM is generic, but write to encourage the Court to be cautious in resolving this case, which involves a generic term combined with a common top-level domain name identifier (.com). Trademark applications raise almost infinitely varied scenarios, including generic terms combined with other elements, and the top-level domain name identifier has some specific features that make it analogous to functional matter. Whatever rule the Court adopts should be highly attentive to the risks to competition of overassertion of registered marks that are largely or entirely comprised of generic elements. Because courts deciding infringement cases are often unfamiliar with the context of a trademark registration, they may miss limitations on the scope of the registered mark that the Trademark Office believed existed and, as a result, enforce broader rights than the registrants should actually have. Ordinary businesses receiving cease and desist letters are even more unlikely to have the expertise to understand the limits on a registration. This practical reality should guide the Court’s standards for registrations with generic components. Relatedly, the Court should reaffirm the basic principle that “de facto secondary meaning” does not give rise to protectability as a trademark. Courts have long distinguished between “de facto secondary meaning” and secondary meaning “to which courts will attach legal consequences.” De facto secondary meaning refers to an association between a generic term and a particular producer that is usually the result of an extended period of market dominance, whether achieved through advertising or through lack of competition. Because of the need to protect potential and future competition, a generic term cannot be appropriated as a trademark even if it has de facto secondary meaning The practical exclusivity afforded by domain name registration means that there may often be de facto secondary meaning in domain names, which can be difficult to distinguish from true trademark secondary meaning. This easily elided distinction affects how the Court should evaluate Booking.com’s survey, which purports to show secondary meaning. But the fact that de facto secondary meaning does not lead to trademark status does not mean it is irrelevant to the law. Even when a term is not protectable as a trademark, narrower unfair competition remedies may be available to prevent true passing off. When a term is generic or a product shape is functional, neither can be protected as a trademark and others may not be enjoined from competing using the term or shape.. Those competitors, however, may be required to distinguish themselves in the market by adding identifiers or otherwise differentiating their use, if the competitors’ use might deceive consumers. Thus, a rule that strongly protects competition by denying registration to generic terms does not leave consumers exposed to clever bad actors.

Legal Regulation of the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights within the EU Digital Market

The active usage of the technologies, constant exchange of information and its use demanded a clear regulation of relations within the functioning of the digital market. In the context of the implementation of the Association Agreements between Ukraine and the EU, it seems necessary to study the positive experience of regulating relations and protecting intellectual property rights within the European Union digital market. The article explores such EU secondary law acts as directives and regulations that determine the foundations and features of the functioning of EU digital market actors. In particular, it examined Directive (EU) 2019/789 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 laying down rules on the use of copyright and related rights applicable to certain online broadcasting and retransmission of broadcasting programs and amending Council Directive 93/83 EEC (2019), which regulates the principles governing the transboundary transmission of television and radio broadcasting via the satellite network; Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/2019, which amended and expended 7 existing Directives governing relevant issues, Regulation (EU) 2019/517 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the implementation and operation of the .eu top-level domain name and amending and repealing Regulation (EU) No 733/2002, and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 874/2002 (2019), which provides a number of important innovations for the .eu top-level domain name and Regulation (EU) No 2017/1128 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the cross-border movement of Internet content services in the internal market, which identifies legitimate access to portable internet-Content. Not only when they are in their own country, but also when moving within the EU. Key words: digital market; legal regulation of EU digital market functioning; .eu top-level domain name; portable internet content; cross-border transmission.

Individual internet usage and the availability of online content of local interest: A multilevel approach

This paper illustrates whether the availability of online content of local interest affects the likelihood of individuals to connect to the internet and spend more time online. While the literature demonstrates a number of factors which push or enable individuals to spend more time online, we know little about the conditions that pull or attract individuals online. Although we know that individuals use the internet to access information, we do not know whether such attraction forces are relevant at the local scale too. Gaining a better understanding of how such mechanisms work at the local scale can assist our efforts to bridge digital divides, which tend to be geographically clustered. To explore this we utilise innovative data, which contain all the archived webpages under the UK top level domain name (.uk) and we calculate the volume of internet content of local interest at the neighbourhood level using the geolocation information included in the text of these webpages. Specifically, we calculate the radius of gyration for every archived website using the different postcodes included in the archived webpages and then we create an aggregated measure at the neighbourhood level discounting websites that have less of a local focus. We merge this measure of Local Internet Content (LIC) with a large population survey, which contains information about the frequency of internet usage in the UK and estimate the effect of LIC on the likelihood of an individual being a frequent internet user. Multilevel models are employed to utilise both individual and geographical level characteristics. Our results indicate that even after controlling for the individual and geographical characteristics, which according to previous studies affect internet usage, the availability of internet content of local interest still attracts individuals online.

How hot is .brussels? Analysis of the uptake of the .brussels top-level domain name extension

The opening up of the top-level domain name market in 2012 has offered new perspectives for companies, administrations and individuals to include a geographic component within the domain name of their website. Little to no research has been carried out since then to analyse the uptake of the new top-level domain names (TLDNs). Based on the specific case of the TLDN .brussels, this article proposes an empirical study of how the opening up of the top-level domain name market actually impacts registration practices. By making use of freely available software tools such as OpenRefine and Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods, the entire corpus of the .brussels domain names (6 300) was analysed from a quantitative perspective. Based on a statistically representative sample (592 domain names), a qualitative interpretation allowed a more fine-grained analysis of how the new TLDN is being used in practice. By doing so, the article gives detailed insight into the impact of the recent changes to the rules concerning domain name registration. Through this analysis, researchers, policy makers, investors and anyone concerned about the identity of Brussels in the digital realm may have a better understanding of the state of play of the .brussels TLDN.

Language rights and international domain names

ABSTRACTThis research examines how international domain names (IDNs) have become a proxy solution to multilingualism and language rights on the internet. In 2009, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the initiation of fully internationalised top-level domain names. In this paper, I introduce the process of initiating IDNs, and map out their technological standards and solutions in the praxis of internet governance. Then, I discuss the key players and participants in the initiation of IDNs in relation to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition of 2016 and the expiring control of the U.S. government over ICANN. Finally, I discuss the relatively new language rights paradigm, which is gaining ground in cyberspace, coupled with the increasing norm of multilingualism.

Policy-Oriented Evaluation of the Expansion of Top Level Domain Name Space

This study is an attempt to estimate the essentiality of the new generic top-level domains, which were newly introduced to the domain name system according to ICANN's New gTLD Program, and to draw implications on Internet policy for both national governments and ICANN. Based on quantitative analyses, the author finds that the effect of the registration fee on the number of domain name registrations is significantly different between the generic and geographic gTLD's, and between the generic and internationalised gTLD's, thus concluding that the geographic and internationalised gTLD's have a higher degree of essentiality and that they cater to different demands of the domain name registrants. Based on the findings, the author also draws two policy implications. First, the expansion of the top-level domain name space, which ICANN has implemented over years, is considered to serve real-world user demands. Second, considering the higher degree of essentiality, the geographic gTLD's, unlike new gTLD's of other types, may well fall under some regulatory oversight in order to ensure stability and trust among the domain name registrants.

The Internet in “Their” Language: South Korea and the Internationalizing Web

Abstract For most of the World Wide Web's history, Web developers and users have been restricted to the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) to create and access websites by title/Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Over roughly the last fifteen years, an international group of hardware and software experts, coordinated in part by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has created a workaround that allows for top-level Web domain names to be writable and readable in character sets other than ASCII, including Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, and Greek. But rather than prompting a discrete switch from one dominant language (English) to many, this development has prompted increasing linguistic complexity as internationalized sites include both English and more regional/local languages to fulfill rhetorical purposes. This article extends earlier research on Web internationalization and multilingualism by focusing on South Korea, which is simultaneously highly Internet connected and highly monolingual. Genre and linguistic analysis of three websites in Korean domains reveals language contact across “content” and “functional” areas in website layouts. Analysis suggests ongoing work across computing devices as well as research using diverse methodologies.

A Marketplace of Networks: Power and Counter-Power in the Domain Name System

This paper draws on early findings from a multiple-case study analysis to consider the ways in which country code top-level domain names (ccTLDs) are embedded with specific political, economic and cultural values and the extent to which these techno-social objects go on to mediate geopolitical and economic conflicts, including political censorship, intellectual property rights enforcement and cybercrime. It suggests that a focus on power and the sociopolitical and cultural relations that both shape and are shaped by these technological objects is crucial to understanding the role of ccTLDs in the networked public sphere. To this end, the following overarching research questions inform the overall direction of this project: (1) to what extent, if any, do ccTLDs mediate geopolitical, social, and economic conflict, and in what ways? And (2) to what extent, if any, are ccTLDs mediated by geopolitical, social, and economic conflicts, and in what ways? To answer these questions the project draws on a multiple-case study design focusing on three cases, which I suggest are emblematic of the extent to which ccTLDs serve as boundary objects, mediating power and counter-power in the networked information economy. Before delving into the cases, the project begins with a historical analysis of the origins of ccTLDs and their role in early debates over Internet governance. Drawing on publicly available texts and archival materials from relevant stakeholders, this analysis seeks to provide much-needed historical context to contemporary debates over ccTLD policy and Internet governance more broadly. This is followed by early findings from a case study of Switzerland’s “ch” ccTLD and its role as the “domain of last resort” for Wikileaks. Filling a gap in the literature on the role of ccTLDs in global Internet governance debates past and present, this study suggests that notions of territorial sovereignty and local authority, often associated with ccTLDs, belie a much more complicated reality in which geographically agnostic relations are constructed along political, economic and cultural lines. To this end, the paper concludes by situating ccTLDs in the larger context of Internet governance and the politics of Internet architecture.

In ICANN We Trust: Assuring Accountable Internet Governance

This article is an abbreviated excerpt of a forthcoming scholarly article that explores various aspects of the proposed transition of the IANA Internet governance functions from U.S. oversight to full multistakeholder control in conjunction with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (“ICANN”).Since 1998, ICANN has been the organization tasked with overseeing the Domain Name System (DNS). Though it possesses contractual control over its registries and registrars (the entities responsible for managing and registering top level domains and domain names), illegal conduct is rarely ever deterred by ICANN. For instance, the organization has refused to effectively deter content piracy on the Internet, and pirated content currently constitutes nearly one-quarter of Internet traffic. ICANN has consistently claimed that its role in Internet governance is merely a technical one, and that it is not the “regulator of Internet content.” However, the impending transfer of IANA stewardship entails imbuing ICANN with an overtly government-like function that demands more than mere technical acuity. Whatever ICANN’s historical role has been, following the transition ICANN will have a dual role — one that includes the obligation to properly “steward” the DNS, as well as to technically administer it.The full forthcoming paper develops a recommendation that the post-transition ICANN be structurally designed to account for the public interest concerns of the multistakeholder community. Building on existing scholarship, as well as recommendations that have emerged from the Cross-Community Working Group on Accountability, we recommend implementation of strong due process controls within the organization in order to provide the checks and balances that would restrain the organization suitably while also allowing it to answer to the policy concerns of the multistakeholder community. Further, as a private organization without government oversight, the recognition and enforcement of contractual provisions with registries and registrars is an essential component of assuring the accountability of the organization and the achievement of multistakeholder policy goals.Historically there have been criticisms of ICANN — both in terms of the direct accountability of the board to the stakeholder community as well as in terms of its refusal to enforce its own contracts. This paper develops a theory of implementation for the organization that attempts to resolve these problems and, ideally, to give the NTIA and Congress a frame for understanding the broader needs of accountability in the new post-transition ICANN.

General Principles of Public Order and Morality and the Domain Name System: Whither Public International Law?

This article discusses the dispute settlement procedure set up by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to assess whether applied-for generic top-level domain names (gTLDs) are contrary to accepted legal norms of morality and public order that are recognised under general principles of international law. The standard of general principles of international law for morality and public order exemplifies the introduction of a legal yardstick to assess gTLDs. First, the article argues that this standard was carefully crafted to fulfil, in theory, the goals of the settlement procedure. In practice, however, it is unclear whether such general principles are apt to articulate, in a legal form, the norms of public order and morality. Second, the article demonstrates that the expert panels adopted different approaches in deciding the cases brought before them either by prioritising the protection of the users’ health online over freedom of expression or by focusing on preserving freedom of expression under the human rights paradigm. The expert panels construed their mandates differently and implicitly applied different concepts and bodies of public international law into their framing of a new area of regulation. The analysis underlines that one should be cautious when conceptualising and balancing competing interests in the domain name space, such as, on the one hand, the availability of information online and economic considerations and, on the other, the accommodation of public interest concerns in the Internet’s root zone. The article concludes by emphasising that international law is not a panacea for highly debatable policy issues in Internet governance.