Re: [ga] Some Wild-Card Questions

[Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@xxxxxx>]

On Tue, Sep 16, 2003 at 09:32:10AM -0400,
 Michael D. Palage <michael@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote 
 a message of 34 lines which said:

> (1) Does the use of wild-cards threaten the stability of the Internet, if so
> how (specific examples not generalization)?

"Stability" is a buzzword mostly used by ICANN to defend any
position. I prefer not to comment on it. Wildcards do affect users:
they take away his (or, more precisely, his software's) ability to act
when a typo is made (retry, fix, change his mind, etc).

> (2) Does the use of wild-cards adversely impact competition in the
> marketplace, if so how?

Yes, it does impact it. Because the registrar which is also a registry
can attract traffic to its Web site, with potential future uses. If
the registry is not a registrar, it it, IMHO, no longer an issue of
competition but there is still the issue of abuse of a monopoly which
was granted according to a given set of rules.

> (3) Can these stability/competition issues be addressed by best
> practice standards that would still permit the use of a wild card
> service by a registry operator?

I do not think so.

> (5) What protocols does the use of wild-cards violate? Specifically,
> does the use of Wild Cards violate RFC 1034, 1035, and 2182 as
> VeriSign is required to comply with these RFCs in Appendix C of its
> Registry Agreement.

2182 does not seem relevant here. Verisign violates RFC 1035 which
says that you must reply with NXDOMAIN (3) if the domain name does not
exist:

                3               Name Error - Meaningful only for
                                responses from an authoritative name
                                server, this code signifies that the
                                domain name referenced in the query does
                                not exist.

> (6) If the use of wild-cards threaten the stability of the Internet
> why did ICANN allow the incorporation of a wild card service into
> the .MUSEUM registry contract?

I do not know.

> (7) If the use of the wild-cards threaten the stability of the
> Internet, why do several ccTLD operators currently utilize this
> feature?

An important precision: no ccTLD managed in its country does it. Only
"for sale" ccTLD utilize this feature.

> (8) If the use of wild cards threaten the stability of the Internet,
> should their prohibition be enforced across gTLD and ccTLD
> registries, if so how?

I do not think that someone (who?) should prohibit it for ccTLD. For
gTLD managed by ICANN, yes, ICANN should prohibit it (it is already
prohibited for the reasons given above but it goes better when
explicitely said).