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From: fair@UCBARPA.BERKELEY.EDU (Erik E. Fair)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: What domain do private machines belong in?
Message-ID: <8701070231.AA04933@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: Tue, 6-Jan-87 21:31:30 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbarpa.8701070231.AA04933
Posted: Tue Jan  6 21:31:30 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Jan-87 00:58:05 EST
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In an ideal world, I should have one name with which people can send me
mail, call me on the phone, and so on. Never changing, despite me
moving my home, or changing jobs, or traveling on vacation. I could
probably use my given name, since, as far as I know, there is only one
other "Erik Fair" and he writes a column for Hang Gliding magazine in
Los Angeles...

Sadly, this ideal world does not as yet exist; not only do I have to
have a unique login name, I have to attach that to a unique host name,
and the two names as a pair as used to get my attention. Now, if I buy
a computer (don't own one yet), why should its name change if I leave
the state of California? Or the USA? Provided I can get you all to
agree that geographic domains are a bad idea, the ideal world described
in the previous paragraph will be closer to reality.

Another thought, for those of you who are thinking of being part of the
registration authority, consider this: the registration authority,
under the geographic domain scheme, would have to keep track of the
shifting morass of people and corporate entities that we know as the
network. This compounds the existing problem, which is merely one of
keeping track of routing.

	Erik E. Fair	ucbvax!fair	fair@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu