The Internet runs on free and open source software and so does the DNS
icann.orgReport: The Domain Name System Runs on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) [pdf] https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/security-and-stability-ad...
Report: The Domain Name System Runs on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) [pdf] https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/security-and-stability-ad...
It's interesting that there is a generation of developers now who seem to believe that the Internet is an achievement of pure commercial, market dynamics and are surprised to learn about ARPANET and its early development within academia (we were taught this history in the first year of university). If the foundations of the Internet (particularly the protocol suites) had not been open, government-funded and not-for-profit, we would probably have a number of competing closed platforms instead of a single Internet, with paid services to perform protocol translations between them.
We would have had telcos (or satellite TVs) creating and competing on siloed services and eventually some big company would buy a telco to have access to their customers. Some multinational telcos would provide the same services around the world but most countries would have a wall at the border.
So true. I find another prove that altruist collaboration wins any other model although users may not perceived as such or there is no interest spreading these facts.
Altruist? DARPA is a military agency, ARPANET was a prototype network designed to survive a nuclear strike. I think the grandparent comment's point is that the innovation was government-funded and made available openly; none of which depends on the slightest on its being altruist.
The resilience of ARPANET was influenced by CYCLADES, which was developed in French Academia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CYCLADES
> The CYCLADES network was the first to make the hosts responsible for the reliable delivery of data, rather than this being a centralized service of the network itself. Datagrams were exchanged on the network using transport protocols that do not guarantee reliable delivery, but only attempt best-effort [..] The experience with these concepts led to the design of key features of the Internet Protocol in the ARPANET project
Keeping with the theme of the thread, CYCLADES was destroyed because of greed:
> Data transmission was a state monopoly in France at the time, and IRIA needed a special dispensation to run the CYCLADES network. The PTT did not agree to funding by the government of a competitor to their Transpac network, and insisted that the permission and funding be rescinded. By 1981, Cyclades was forced to shut down.
And don't forget about this awesome report, Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure - by Nadia Asparouhova. https://www.fordfoundation.org/learning/library/research-rep... - great research into what goes into OSS.
Too often unpaid too. Certainly taken for granted and exploited by the corporations. We should have more copyleft than permissive software.
https://zedshaw.com/blog/2022-02-05-the-beggar-barons/
For what I remember, most of the DNS root servers used to run Bind9 exclusively. I'm glad to see that this is now more diverse with NSD and Knot also being used (see table 4 in the report).
Nothing against Bind9, but it is almost exclusively maintained by the ISC, so the DNS's future used to depend heavily on the ISC getting the funding needed to continue operating.
Not to mention how much better it is for standards/protocols/standarization to have multiple implementations of the same protocol in real-world usage so we can nail down the protocol in all situations. Bind9 almost ended up being "DNS" itself, which would have been bad overall, and instead we're seeing more diversity which means we'll be able to make better use of the specifications.
Imagine a scenario where you want to start gardening. Go to gardening clubs and you'll find a lot of free information there and people to guide you. Public libraries exist if you want to join a book club and start reading. Again free. Agriculture, irrigation, building homes, woodworking, stitching clothes, etc. everything essential has been free to learn and do.
Apply this to the internet and essentials are FOSS. Linux, DNS and maybe RISCV someday will mean you can build computers and internet on essentials that are free to learn and use.
In the same analogy, doesn't that mean that vendor-locked software like iOS or ChromeOS would be akin to vendor-locked seeds from Monsanto?
Bayer these days and yes, avoid like the plague for nothing good will come of it.
Raspberry Pi's obviously trying to make this a reality.
Learning to self-host and get off cloud services might be one of the most personally freeing feelings I've had in a long time.
Rent-seeking is obviously growing out of control and one of the most powerful ways to combat it is personal ownership (if possible).
Land for garden in my town costs like 1000 eur per square meter. Gardening clubs are full of old dudes, who want to have a sex with me. Public libraries are homeless shelters now. If I actually plant some vegetables (in pots or front yard), it will be full of dog/cat excrements the next day!
You are living in imaginary land, nothing is free in todays society!
We should tax cloudflare, aws etc. for using public infrastructure
I don't understand your sentiment against Cloudflare here.
Cloudflare also delivers a rather large portion of said public infrastructure free of charge. They also released a few of their own projects as FOSS, and regularly contribute.
Granted, the centralisation part worries me too, but it feels like a bit of a cheap shot against CF just because they are a large player.
We do tax them, my dude.
Just maybe not enough.
Perhaps it doesn't even matter anymore, but I'm not yet past the point where it's disheartening every time I click on a link and it's clear that it came out of an LLM. Hopefully this doesn't extend to the actual report.
>In the cloud, hyperscale computing platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Amazon Web Services all operate significant resolver infrastructure to support their services. At least four of the biggest hyperscalers rely on FOSS for DNS resolving, while others have built proprietary solutions based on FOSS DNS libraries.
This is surprising. I would have expected them to have custom needs with so many customers that using an off the shelf service would be sufficient.
It's all cURL.
But the infrastructure is highly centralized and only certain chosen entities can operate gTLDs and certificate authorities. It's extremely misleading to call it 'free software'. Why can't there be multiple competing systems. There should be a push for Blockchain-based alternatives. I still don't understand why projects like Unstoppable Domains aren't getting more traction. The idea of a domain name that you actually own is appealing.
There can be and are multiple competing systems. There are alternative dns roots, opennic.org for example, and entirely separate protocols like ipfs and i2p with their own methods of mapping names to numbers.
You can go make your entire own alternative DNS system, with your own governance and policy. Free as you like. You just have to convince people to resolve against you.
I think that permanent identifiers might be helpful, which could include a timestamp and other stuff. This can be combined with web of trust, that it can then be verified in this way.
I think you may be applying a very weird definition of "free software", even compared to the usual gratis vs libre axis.
Also, I really don't think controlling a domain name NFT in a system that's mostly computers you neither own nor control constitutes "more ownership" than the IRL law and contract bound rental world we currently live in. Especially if all the requirements and outcomes (payments for control resulting in land grabs of valuable names) are the same as our current system.
They just run one root. You can run a different root. E.g. Some people run an ENS bridge.