[ih] History of Naming on The Internet - is it still relevant?

[Patrik Fältström]

On 21 Jul 2025, at 16:08, Andrew Sullivan via Internet-history wrote:

> So, to bring this remark back to something to do with history, _why_ did this perceived need arise?

I find the whole discussion about "naming" has to do with primarily two different questions which are mixed up:

- Identifier / location split (or mix)

- Who decides the lifetime of a "name"

Regarding lifetime, I think (influenced by a few discussions with Tim Berners Lee about lifetime of URLs) the most important thing with domain names is that the holder of a domain name can decide what the lifetime of a domain name is, because that is the key thing to a decision about the lifetime of a URL.

That has for me been a key goal during the years when looking at policies for domain names in ICANN and protocol design in the IETF (epp primarily, but also DNS), the domain holder must be the entity that controls a domain name, and we must minimise the risk of external events that can terminate a domain name.

Because it boils down to the lifetime of a functioning URL.

Patrik
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