[dns-wg] IANA proposal for changing TLD delegations

>>>>> "Brad" == Brad Knowles <brad.knowles at skynet.be> writes:

    >> http://www.iana.org/procedures/delegation-data.html.

    Brad> 	I read the proposal on the web page.  Except for their
    Brad> complete lack of discussion of things like IPv6, DNSSEC,
    Brad> etc..., I don't see anything specifically and obviously
    Brad> wrong with what they've got.  Everything seems, more or
    Brad> less, fairly reasonable.

    Brad> 	Do you have some specific comments/views on the
    Brad> proposal?  If so, could/would you be willing to share them
    Brad> with us?

Well the section "IANA Procedures for Removing Problematic Delegation
Data" suggests to me that IANA may unilaterally decide to change the
delegation of a TLD without the consent of the TLD operator. And it's
not at all clear what circumstances and criteria would prevail for
IANA to justify taking that action. Not that this practice can ever be
justified IMO. IANA can't possibly know what the best or correct name
servers for some TLD will be. By definition only the TLD operator can
decide that. I'm rather surprised that nobody seems to think this is
part of the proposal could be more than a little controversial.

And if IANA starts changing the root zone whenever it feels like doing
so -- OK I exaggerate for effect -- that sets a very dangerous
precedent. When it comes to the root zone, IANA must only act as the
registry. It must always be someone/something else that decides what
goes in the root zone. Of course this doesn't preclude IANA from
checking delegations and making recommendations about changes. But
there must be a seperate role that has the responsibility of
instructing IANA to make changes to the root zone. IANA must not have
that authority itself.

Perhaps this section of the proposal is just badly written? However I
fear it's badly thought out instead.