[dns-operations] renesys blog: Identity Theft Hits the Root Name Servers

[David Conrad]

Ed,

On May 20, 2008, at 5:58 AM, Edward Lewis wrote:
>> http://www.renesys.com/blog/2008/05/identity_theft_hits_the_root_n_1.shtml
>> http://blog.icann.org/?p=309
>> http://www.communitydns.eu/Old-L.html
> What I question is "how is this identity theft?"

If I agree with credit bureaus, my credit card company, the  
government, etc. to put one of my credit cards in a drawer, I would  
consider it identity theft if I found out somebody else was using that  
credit card number without my knowledge.  Particularly when people  
keep calling me up and ask why I lied about putting my card in a drawer.

The association of the root server address 198.32.64.12 has for all  
intents and purposes always been with ICANN as operator of L.ROOT- 
SERVERS.NET.  On May 2, it became apparent that that association  
changed to be EP.NET, LLC., CommunityDNS, and/or DIYIXIAN.COM without  
notification, discussion, or even awareness of ICANN.  Historically,  
when a root server was renumbered, the use of the old address was  
discontinued.  That was the intent and publicly agreed upon plan in  
this case.  However, in this particular case, the address wasn't  
discontinued but instead was reassigned to a third party under a  
private agreement without the knowledge of the original user.

While I personally wouldn't have called it identity theft, I can  
understand the PoV.

Regards,
-drc