Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

.bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

dot-bit.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 66 posts

Re: .bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

#2

Post by ajpatel »

I don't think I'm quite sure what this is trying to do - can anyone explain? It seems they want to make a distributed DNS system based on the model of BitCoin - P2P keys that identify the nameservers for certain domains? This would avoid the regulation of SOPA.

But there's no way to be certain because I can't make heads or tails of that spec page LoL.

Re: .bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

#3

Post by chalst »

ajpatel wrote: post #2

I don't think I'm quite sure what this is trying to do - can anyone explain? It seems they want to make a distributed DNS system based on the model of BitCoin - P2P keys that identify the nameservers for certain domains? This would avoid the regulation of SOPA. But there's no way to be certain because I can't make heads or tails of that spec page LoL.

It's an iteration of an RFC for Namecoin: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2546815

I think the point of the story is not so much the details of the novel content in this RFC - I find it hard to take seriously an RFC with passages such as "I would suggest that Verisign offer [us the .bit and .nmc tlds] as a gesture of good faith so that we can profit all profit from strengthening the original intent of DNS and the potentially criminal monopoloy handed to them by the US Government" - but as pointing out that there is movement in Namecoin and asserting that Namecoin is relevant to the whole SOPA deal.

Re: .bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

#4

Post by icebraining »

I don't get why did they have to replace DNS with some kind of JSON hack which "mostly" supports the same records. There are already a bunch of alternative DNS roots[1] with their own TLDs which work fine with the existing DNS software.

[1]: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Alternative_D...

Re: .bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

#5

Post by dissident »

icebraining wrote: post #4

I don't get why did they have to replace DNS with some kind of JSON hack which "mostly" supports the same records. There are already a bunch of alternative DNS roots[1] with their own TLDs which work fine with the existing DNS software. [1]: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Alternative_D...

This isn't a replacement of existing DNS with some arbitrary JSON protocol, this is a P2P DNS called Namecoin which happens to use JSON. Arguably, the flexibility offered by JSON can allow for sophisticated technologies to emerge which can take advantage of this naming system.

It's clear from the very article of this submission that this is the case. For instance, the I2P fields are combined in a structure that best represents the resource on the I2P network. A different structure is necessary to represent a Tor or freenet resource identifier.

If Internet naming is going to be fragmented, I'd rather it not be wasted on Alternative DNS roots, which fall privy to the same fundamental problems as our current domain name system. A Namecoin system cannot be so easily censored.

Re: .bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

#6

Post by dissident »

Namecoin is already established, and although there could be better P2P naming systems, I'm happy they're trying to snag .bit. I had a similar thought just earlier this week; Namecoin could work seamlessly alongside our current naming system as long as .bit is endorced for that use.

Re: .bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

#7

Post by shahidhussain »

chalst wrote: post #3
ajpatel wrote: post #2

I don't think I'm quite sure what this is trying to do - can anyone explain? It seems they want to make a distributed DNS system based on the model of BitCoin - P2P keys that identify the nameservers for certain domains? This would avoid the regulation of SOPA. But there's no way to be certain because I can't make heads or tails of that spec page LoL.

It's an iteration of an RFC for Namecoin: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2546815 I think the point of the story is not so much the details of the novel content in this RFC - I find it hard to take seriously an RFC with passages such as "I would suggest that Verisign offer [us the .bit and .nmc tlds] as a gesture of good faith so that we can profit all profit from strengthening the original intent of DNS and the…

Next line: "I mean, I don't see any other solution to begin the fair transition into opening name services that keeps them in line with their stated goals." Perhaps a dose of pragmatism would be good at this point.

Re: .bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

#8

Post by krig »

I'd love to register a .bit domain just as an experiment/for fun, but I'm a bit wary of the methods for obtaining bitcoins that I've found.. anyone have a good tip for an exchange, or experience with obtaining bitcoins/registering a .bit domain through any other means.. Or, any other related information to share?

I also can't quite figure out if it's worth my time to set one of my computers at mining bitcoins, how long should I expect it to take me to mine enough to register a domain?

Re: .bit non-governmental domain name registrar, for the post-SOPA era

#9

Post by dissident »

krig wrote: post #8

I'd love to register a .bit domain just as an experiment/for fun, but I'm a bit wary of the methods for obtaining bitcoins that I've found.. anyone have a good tip for an exchange, or experience with obtaining bitcoins/registering a .bit domain through any other means.. Or, any other related information to share? I also can't quite figure out if it's worth my time to set one of my computers at mining bitcoins, how lo…

Namecoin is based on Bitcoin, but it uses a different block chain. Essentially, they are two different "commodities". You have to obtain namecoins in order to purchase .bit names.

However, you can purchase namecoins with bitcoins using bitcoin-namecoin exchanges like this one: https://exchange.bitparking.com/main

Also, to answer your question, mining is really ineffective for home users. I mean, if you have energy to waste on it, that's fine, but you'll find it's more economical to simply buy the bitcoins through bitcoin exchanges (Tradehill, MtGox) than it is to mine them.

Post reply on HN