[ga] U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants master key for root DNS

[Joe Baptista <baptista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well I must say.  This is a big win for the Inclusive Name Space.  One 
more area to compete with ICANN.  The world will not tolerate this.  If 
the U.S. DHS get the keys just watch, as I have warned before, it will 
result in the further fracturing of the intranetworks as governments 
world wide setup their own roots.  This is a good thing provided there 
is a centralized body like the TLDA to support the process.

30.03.2007 13:09


   Department of Homeland and Security wants master key for DNS

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS 
<http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm>), which was created after the attacks on 
September 11, 2001 as a kind of overriding department 
<http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/28137>, wants to have the key to 
sign the DNS root zone 
<http://www.heise.de/netze/rfc/rfcs/rfc1591.shtml> solidly in the hands 
of the US government. This ultimate master key would then allow 
authorities to track DNS Security Extensions (DNSSec 
<http://www.heise.de/netze/rfc//rfcs/rfc4641.shtml>) all the way back to 
the servers that represent the name system's root zone on the Internet. 
The "key-signing key" signs the zone key, which is held by VeriSign. At 
the meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 
(ICANN <http://www.icann.org>) in Lisbon, Bernard Turcotte, president of 
the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA 
<http://www.cira.ca/>) drew everyone's attention to this proposal as a 
representative of the national top-level domain registries (ccTLDs 
<http://www.iana.org/cctld/>).

At the ICANN meeting, Turcotte said that the managers of country 
registries were concerned about this proposal. When contacted by heise 
online, Turcotte said that the national registries had informed their 
governmental representatives about the DHS's plans. A representative of 
the EU Commission said that the matter is being discussed with EU member 
states. DNSSec is seen as a necessary measure to keep the growing number 
of manipulations on the net under control. The DHS is itself sponsoring 
a campaign to support the implementation of DNSSec. Three of the 13 
operators currently work outside of the US, two of them in Europe. 
Lars-Johan Liman of the Swedish firm Autonomica, which operates the I 
root server <http://i.root-servers.org/>, pointed out 
<http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/80479> the possible political 
implications last year. Liman himself nomited ICANN as a possible 
candidate for the supervisory function.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA <http://www.iana.org>), 
which handles route management within the ICANN, could be entrusted with 
the task of keeping the keys. An ICANN/IANA solution would offer one 
benefit according to some experts: there would be no need to integrate 
yet another institution directly into operations. After all, something 
must be done quickly if there is a problem with the signature during 
operations. If the IANA retains the key, however, US authorities still 
have a political problem, for the US government still reserves the right 
<http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/61294> to oversee ICANN/IANA. If 
the keys are then handed over to ICANN/IANA, there would be even less of 
an incentive to give up this role as a monitor. As a result, the DHS's 
demands will probably only heat up the debate about US dominance 
<http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/85281> of the control of 
Internet resources. (/Monika Ermert/) (/Craig Morris/) / (jk 
<mailto:jk@xxxxxxxxxxx>/c't)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*This article's URL:*
 http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/87655

--
Joe Baptista                                www.publicroot.org
PublicRoot Consortium
----------------------------------------------------------------
The future of the Internet is Open, Transparent, Inclusive,
Representative & Accountable to the Internet community @large.
----------------------------------------------------------------
 Office: +1 (202) 517-1593
 Mobile: +1 (416) 912-6551
    Fax: +1 (509) 479-0084
Address: 963 Ford Street, Peterborough, Ontario Canada K9J 5V5

begin:vcard
fn:Joe Baptista
n:Baptista;Joe
org:PublicRoot Consortium
adr:;;963 Ford Street;Peterborough;Ontario;K9J 5V5 ;Canada
email;internet:baptista@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
title:PublicRoot Representative
tel;fax:+1 (509) 479-0084 
tel;cell:+1 (416) 912-6551
x-mozilla-html:FALSE
url:http://www.publicroot.org
version:2.1
end:vcard