Discuss: A campaign for zone file access in 2015?

Nominet currently refuse to release the zone files citing, amongst other things, privacy, the belief that it's "their IP" and to deter undesirable activities. Conversely Versign have made the .com and .net zone files available for well over a decade. ICANN actually mandate zone file release for gTLDs.

http://www.nominet.org.uk/sites/default/files/Lord Macdonald Report final.pdf - see page 34 for detailed information about Nominet's view on releasing the zone file. Zone files are mentioned from Section 8 onwards.

http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/ch...s/zone-file-information/index.xhtml?loc=en_US - Verisign zone file access

Is it finally time to campaign for Nominet to make access to zone files available and, if so, under what sort of circumstances and to whom?

 

Doesn't it belong to the .UK Registry NOT nominet ?

Aren't nominet just the people managing the registry ?

I mean if I set a bank to manage a trust fund for my kids, the money doens't belong to the bank, or have I misunderstood the relationship here ?

Is it possible for nominet to be replaced ? Should the government decide, was their placement meant to be permanent ?

 

That's Nominet, a private company.

Yes but there isn't a licence. It's theirs unless they do something really stupid.

There were laws put in place which allows the Gov to step in and takeover under certain conditions to do with national infrastructure but otherwise it isn't put out to tender like the national lottery, for example.

 

For a layman such as myself, could you give a brief explanation of what a zone file is and why it would be good for it to be public

Thanks

 

I thought about it but hoped the links I provided would be detailed enough.

A large file containing all the active domain names (i.e. ones with at least one name server) in the zone (e.g. in the .com zone). A further file also contains those that aren't active. Available for download daily.

The links should hopefully detail how the zone files can be used. One other use would be to make accurate drop lists.


(from iPhone)

 

Interesting idea to lobby for zone file access but unless there is a discernible advantage to Nominet to do this I can't seem them being too keen to open up zone file access.

Ultimately, I think Nominet would look at it in the sense that why would they want to make it easier for drop catchers by giving them zone file access? By giving out access, I'm pretty certain it would see a massive increase in the number of drop catchers and as a consequence would require an increase in registry server resources one would assume.

Also, in my opinion Nominet quite like the differentiation that it gives their registry by not giving out access. Makes them the people's champion for privacy, reducing the opportunity of getting domain lists for spam, blah blah...

 

The first document I linked to gives plenty of information about the benefits of releasing the zone file. Incidentally some very senior people at Nominet are not opposed to the idea of publishing complete drop lists. It's probable that the lists currently being produced by domainview et al are pretty comprehensive anyway (they'd certainly contain all the best names) so I doubt that we'd see any sizeable increase in drop catchers just because an absolutely complete drop list was published. Those interested can already buy lists which are pretty comprehensive.

Zone file publication would certainly reduce traffic to ns1.nic.uk and unnecessary DACing.

Other advantages are listed within both links. There's brand protection, statistical analysis and crime prevention in there too. Please take a look. section 8 in the first document onwards.


(from iPad - K)

 

I'll definately have a look at those links when I get a mo

Very good point about the brand protection angle. I guess the argument you can make is whether giving full access to the likes of MarkMonitor et al so they can check out for infringing trade/service marks very quickly and with a high strike rate is something that will offset the harvesting of the entire register for potentially unscrupulous stuff that will inevitably lead to increased email spam to regular folk.

Registries have been historically quite stringent about giving out zone file access to people, so you would hope that bad actors wouldn't get hold of regular copies but in reality it's going to happen no matter how stringent the access contracts are.

I take your point that some of the drop lists out there will be pretty decent but there won't be one that is both 100% accurate and totally up to date. Gaining zone file access will guarantee this list accuracy. So for that reason I think you can make a strong business case for entering the UK drop catching scene which will attract the likes of some of the big US players. Drop catching in the UK would move from the playground into the boardroom. Be careful what you wish for

 

In respect of the fear of harvesting, I believe that anyone wanting to do that today wouldn't find it particularly difficult to do. All one would need to do is to dig the entire .com zone file, after changing ".com" to ".co.uk" against ns1.nic.uk to get a very (but not completely) comprehensive list of all .co.uk domain names currently active in the .co.uk zone. This presumes that for the majority of .co.uk, the matching .com is registered as well. Once one had that list, it's WHOIS and DAC queries to get associated contacted details which would have to be done even if the .co.uk zone file itself was made available by Nominet. The actual task of digging 115m domain names against ns1.nic.uk isn't difficult and Nominet can't do anything to prevent it.

ICANN do mandate that zone access is made available for all gTLDs. Not all ccTLDs make them available. The first link I provided includes details about which do and don't, from a number of years ago.

Zone file access would ensure absolute completeness and reduce traffic on ns1.nic.uk. There are already anti avoidance measures in place for DAC and other access limits. These might need an overhaul as well but is that a terrible thing?

Many people I know already wouldn't have a problem if Nominet decided to auction drops anyway. They've already allowed accredited registrars to takeover domain names in some circumstances.