Internet Governance
The 13 root servers are managed by a diversity of organisations: academic/ public institutions, commercial companies, and government institutions. Institutions managing root servers receive a root zone file proposed by IANA (ICANN) and approved by the US Government (Department of Commerce). Once the content is approved by the Department of Commerce, it is entered into the master root server operated by VeriSign under contract to the Department. The file in the master root server is then automatically replicated in all the other root servers. Thus, it is theoretically possible for the US government to introduce unilateral changes to the entire DNS. This is a source of concern to many governments. The issues Internationalisation of the control of root servers Many countries have expressed concern about the current arrangement in which the ultimate decision-making with regard to the content of root servers remains the responsibility of one country (the United States). There were various proposals in the Internet governance process, including adopting a Root Convention, which would put the international community in charge of policy supervision of the root servers or, at least, grant nation states rights over their own national domain names. New possibilities have been opened with the Affirmation of Commitments,18 which addresses the question of the institutional independence of ICANN from the US Department of Commerce, including ICANN’s future internationalisation. The IANA arrangement will be re-negotiated in 2011. Some elements of a solution-inthe-making would consist of two steps: 1
The reform of ICANN, initiated by the Affirmation of Commitments, leading to the creation of a sui generis international organisation, which would be an acceptable institutional framework for all countries.
2
The transfer of control of root servers from the US Department of Commerce to ICANN, as was initially envisaged.
Alternative root servers – feasibility and risks Creating an alternative root server is technically straightforward. The main question is how many followers an alternative server would have, or, more precisely, how many computers on the Internet would point to it, when it came to resolving domain names. Without users, any alternative DNS becomes useless. A few attempts to create an alternative DNS have been 46