Rich Graves <llurch@networking.stanford.edu> said: RG> On Thu, 2 Nov 1995 anonymous-remailer@shell.portal.com wrote:
But control of Internet domain name registration means the ability to remove troublesome-or outspoken-computer systems from the network. Po- tentially, this control also confers the power to insinuate "phantom" domains into the network-for surveillance purposes, for example-or for real-time, automatic censorship.
RG> Anyone capable of sending this message should have known that this RG> was complete BS. Is it? This is the _one_ thing in the article (is that term giving it too much legitimacy?) that I whought was barely true. Whoever controls the root level DNS servers effectively controls the Internet. I postulated a couple of months ago about how the US Govt might attempt to censor the rest of the world: "Remove lurid.porno.site.other-country from your DNS system within 72 hours or we will remove references to your DNS servers from the root level servers.". (I also speculated that if the US Govt tried doing this, that an 'underground' DNS system would form almost immediately.)
Furthermore, anecdotal evidence gathered by this author suggests that actual "truth control" is taking place on the 'net now. E-mail messages with controversial contents-including the details of the SAIC takover of domain names-have consistently disappeared as they travel across the net- work.
RG> And now we have PROOF! For THIS VERY MESSAGE, sent to THIS VERY LIST RG> only EIGHT HOURS AGO was MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED! Hide the women RG> and children! At least, it was allegedly lost. If I were wanting to hype it, I'd just _claim_ that it was lost. Sten -- #include <disclaimer.h> /* Sten Drescher */ To get my PGP public key, send me email with your public key and Subject: PGP key exchange Key fingerprint = 90 5F 1D FD A6 7C 84 5E A9 D3 90 16 B2 44 C4 F3