Originally invented in 1983, the domain name system (DNS) has come a long way in the last quarter of a century. From humble beginnings as a loosely controlled system regulated by universities and dedicated individuals who maintained simple text files of the data relating to a domain space, the DNS has developed into a massive global addressing system on which the Internet depends to route web users and email to the right place at the right time.

What is a domain name?

All computers on the Internet have a numeric “address”, for example, the address for the computer on which my company (Demys) maintains its web page is 216.92.29.216. While you could type that into your web browser and arrive at the right place it’s really not very memorable and it wouldn’t look particularly good on our business cards. This is where the DNS comes in – it translates a memorable name, like demys.com, into the numbers that computers understand. Emails are routed in a similar way.

Quickly realising that we would need more than one type of domain name, the fathers of the Internet created a number of generic top level domains. These are .com, .net, .org and so on and were generally intended to divide up all web sites into broad categories such as .com for commercial sites, although this has never been strictly enforced. In addition, approximately 240 two-letter country codes were also created including .de for Germany, .se for Sweden, .uk for United Kingdom and so forth.

The operation of each domain space was then distributed to an appropriate body in each country to administer and develop rules to oversee how their space would run technically, as well as defining how it would resolve the inevitable conflicts or difficulties between registrants. The .uk space was handed over to a small group of individuals called the “UK Naming Committee” who introduced the .co.uk and .org.uk second level domains along with a raft of other technical specifications. When they could no longer deal with the number of requests for .uk domains they were receiving, they formed the Oxford-based non-profit company Nominet in 1996, which continues to this day to administer the .uk space with the help of 115 staff and now generates a turnover of £14m per annum.

Trouble ahead

The continuing boom of the Internet and its increasing importance to commerce – especially the use of email as a communication tool – inevitably led to conflicts. Problems ranging from companies with competing legitimate interests to the same domain and speculators snapping up domains before a company could register their own name led to development of administrative procedures designed to resolve these issues. These include the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), introduced in 1999, and the Nominet Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) introduced in 2000.

Designed to allow disputes to be resolved without recourse to the courts (and the terrible problems with jurisdiction inherent in a global system like the Internet) systems such as the UDRP and DRS have helped control the Internet.

Dispute systems are still being developed and honed (Nominet are currently reviewing their DRS) to take account of new developments within the Internet. Some country spaces are finally developing their own dispute procedures or borrowing and adapting existing systems, such as the UDRP, to suit their own needs.

The future of the domain name space

So what should we expect to see in the domain name space in the coming years?

New top level domains are a major issue and in recent years we’ve seen the introduction of new spaces such as .mobi (eg votescotland.mobi) designed specifically for mobile-device enabled websites. Backed by Nokia and Microsoft, among others, the new domain has proven to be quite popular. In addition, .eu, introduced last year for EU member states, got off to a flying start, competing with major country code domains, like .uk and .de, in terms of registrations within a few months of its launch. Actual use of the .eu domains (rather than just registrations by domain speculators) is still relatively low, but is expected to increase as the space gains greater visibility by every day Internet users throughout Europe.

While .mobi and .eu are perhaps starting to bloom, other new top level domains such as .coop (for cooperatives e.g. smile.coop, the Internet division of the Co-op bank) and .pro (for professionals such as lawyers) have proven to be the white elephants of the Internet space with low take up and low recognition among web users. It remains to be seen what the Internet community will make of the new top level domains like .asia which is slated to be released later this year.

Possibly the most interesting development of the domain name space will be the eventual introduction of Telephone Number Mapping, more commonly know as ENUM. At its simplest ENUM will map phone numbers onto the DNS system, allowing users to dial a telephone through a domain name. So, if you wanted to call Demys’ office you would simply dial demys.com into your mobile phone and this would be translated automatically into our phone number 0131 2260660 by the DNS and your call would be connected. As phone numbers are very similar to computer addresses there is a natural fit between the two systems.

Given its similarities to the DNS, existing Internet authorities are very keen to run the new ENUM databases. Earlier this year the .uk naming authority Nominet held an EGM to change its memorandum of association to allow it to bid to become the UK registry for ENUM services when it finally arrives.

Conclusion

While it may be argued that the worst excesses of the Wild West days of the Internet have passed, it is very clear that the domain name space is still pushing at the frontiers of technology. How the law will adapt to these new challenges remains to be seen but it will certainly be an interesting space to watch over the next few years.

Tim Brown is Operations Director at Demys Limited, specialists in Internet intellectual property management.

Email T.Brown@demys.com.