• @[email protected]
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    910 hours ago

    How do we make domains more democratic? It seems so backwards that massive corporations and groups of massive corporations are the only bodies that get to decide things like this that aren’t literally states.

    • @[email protected]
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      48 hours ago

      ICANN isn’t really a massive organisation, it’s a technocratic non-profit with a buttload of advisory committees, including one for end users. The rules surrounding ccTLDs were tightened after Russia didn’t sunset .su, so they tried to take politics out of it, make it a wholly rules-based thing, but now it figures that the rule everyone wants to have is “decide on a case-by-case basis”.

      There’s also been various initiatives regarding reform of internet governance over the decades but in the end noone can agree on what would be better so ICANN keeps on chugging on.

      You know what would bring a quick end to this? If Mauritius doesn’t incorporate those islands into itself, letting them stay an autonomous territory. From British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritian Indian Ocean Territory.

        • @[email protected]
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          10 hours ago

          .gov (.gov.us) is used in the US to distinguish between commercial sites and sites run by state, federal, and local government institutions. It helps cut down on fraud. There are a few fucked up government sites in some states that use.com because ICANN isn’t doing their fucking job.

          There’s also .mil for military sites. And .net for internet service providers. These were the original oldie domains. I’m not opppsed to adding .blog to the list, but I despise all of these confusing random cash grab domains that ICANN approves these days. “.social” is really just an org, and “.biz” is really just a com.

      • @[email protected]
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        210 hours ago

        Not opposed to that, but I’m more concerned with being able to get one at low cost, would need at least .net to kinda expand the pool.

    • @[email protected]
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      310 hours ago

      You could create your own DNS server with its own routes and registrars.

      If you got enough people to use your DNS network you could create your own registrars and your own rules.

      Users would need to switch to your DNS, but otherwise there isn’t anything about how the Internet works that requires you to use the big dog DNS

          • @[email protected]
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            38 hours ago

            Yes, it is rather backwards for a handful of companies to own entire blocks of IP addresses just because. The infrastructure was massively funded by public dollars, it should be publicly owned.

            • @[email protected]
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              -18 hours ago

              A fair point indeed, but that’s not how it is. Public dollars were funneled one-way into private infra, in many cases.

              • @[email protected]
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                48 hours ago

                but that’s not how it is

                Doesn’t mean it can’t be that way, though, One way nationalization also exists.

                • @[email protected]
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                  11 hour ago

                  The world runs on contacts, and those dollars were spent around the globe. There are examples of what you say, with mali considering reclaiming ml. Nationalization can have a chilling effect on industry, but depending on your affiliations this isn’t really an issue

    • @[email protected]
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      08 hours ago

      Make a p2p parallel system, cryptography-based. You subscribe to a root identity, and you fetch (via something, it can be NOSTR, it can be anything) its messages, which describe the current state of the domain list.

      If you don’t like that particular name provider, you may choose some other.

      There may even be some voting protocol from among few different providers, on whether to accept a name change. Then you may use a few of them simultaneously.

      Easy. The hard thing is to write the software (I have Aspergers, ADHD, social anxiety, chronic cold and house pests, don’t bother me, and I’m also stupid) and to make people use it.

      Something between Usenet, Fidonet and Freenet, LOL.