[gnso-rds-pdp-wg] Why domain names are not like phone numbers (was Re: Some reg'n data I think necessary)

[Andrew Sullivan]

On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 06:32:06PM +0100, Volker Greimann wrote:
> So your argument is that as the domain name node may contain additional
> data, it should be treated completely different than a phone number or an IP
> address?

My argument is that the analogy between domain names on the one hand,
and your personal phone number or the IP that you get from your ISP
when you use DHCP on the other, is not very strong.  There are
significant dissimilarities.  The most important (as I think some of
us have already argued) are these:

    1.  A domain name is not (necessarily) an end point identifier,
    whereas a phone number and individual IP address both are.

    2.  A domain name (with the possible exception of an entry in the
    reverse tree, and even that is controversial) is optional for
    Internet connectivity, whereas neither an IP address nor a phone
    number is optional for connectivity to their respective networks.

    3.  Domain names are primarily used to offer services, more like
    IP address allocations from RIRs or phone-number block assignments
    under the number portability authorities.

So, "treated completely differently", no; but if we're going to use
analogies to inform how we ought to think about this topic we really
ought to find ones without such significant dissimilarities.  As ever
with analogies, the more dissimilarities one can find that are
relevant to the considerations at hand, the more the analogy breaks
down.  I therefore think the analogy between domain names and phone
numbers or end-user IP addresses is pretty weak.

Best regards,

A

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
ajs at anvilwalrusden.com