What's in a Name: False Assumptions about DNS Names

Status: IAB Internet Draft
Date of last update: January 2005
Authors: J. Rosenberg
Current Document: draft-ietf-dns-assumptions-01.txt
Summary: The Domain Name System (DNS) provides an essential service on the Internet, mapping structured names to a variety of data, usually IP addresses. These names appear in email addresses, URIs, and other application layer identifiers that are often rendered to human users. Because of this, there has been a strong demand to acquire names that have significance to people, through equivalence to registered trademarks, company names, types of services, and so on. A danger of this trend is that the humans and automata which consume and use these identifiers will make assumptions about the services that are or should be provided by the hosts associated with these identifiers. This document discusses this problem in more detail and makes recommendations on how it can be avoided.
Archive of older drafts:
  1. draft-iab-dns-assumptions-00.txt, November 2004.

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