I think the confusion in this discussion comes from the clash of two cultures and some misunderstandings. e164.arpa is not a "normal" domain like .com/.net. It is more like a sponsored domain. In .com the domain name holder is the owner of his domain. In E.164 there is NEVER an ownership. Nobody OWNS an E.164 number (maybe the ITU). E.164 numbers are assigned and the subscriber has the right-to-use according to certain rules he has to obey. The associated domain in e164.arpa is linked 1:1 to this right-to-use of the E.164 number. If he is loosing this right to use, he is also loosing the right-to-use of the e164.arpa domain. On the other hand, he is the ONLY ONE who has this right-to-use, e.g. there is no first- come, first serve, etc. There is another difference (which I try to formulate here as a non-laywer). A normal domain name holder in .com/.net and also the ccTLDs has a direct contract with the Registry and the whole thing has in most cases only two "tiers" (+ 1: the root) In e164.arpa this is more complicated (and this seems also be part of the current discussion) - there are more registries. 1. there is the root (ICANN and the DoC) 2. there is arpa (+ the IAB) 3. there is e164.arpa (+ RIPE and ITU-T) 3a. there is the group of countries (e.g. in CC+1) 4. there is the CC-level (the NRA and the "tier1" Registry) 5. there are the Registrars, the validation entities and the telcos 6. there is the end-user This is a legal nightmare and a land of milk and honey for lawyers ;-) BTW, I am wondering that especially people from the US are not caring so much about and wondering that somebody wants sound legal constructs? Richard
-----Original Message----- From: enum-wg-admin@ripe.net [mailto:enum-wg-admin@ripe.net] On Behalf Of Jim Reid Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 12:48 PM To: Thilo Salmon Cc: enum-wg@ripe.net Subject: Re: [enum-wg] ITU: debate over User-ENUM administration
"Thilo" == Thilo Salmon <salmon@sipgate.de> writes:
Thilo> I read that as "yes, it is a mapping", but "no, it is not Thilo> (necessarily) an assignment". With few exceptions E.164 Thilo> numbers have already been assigned and the e164.arpa domain Thilo> merely functions as a directory.
First of all Thilo, DNS is NOT a directory. Please don't confuse it with one. Secondly, an entry under e164.arpa *is* an assignment. The only way to get a number entered in the public tree is if (a) the country code has been delegated; (b) the registry for that country code delegates the number concerned. If that doesn't constitute an assignment, I don't know what does. Of course, whether that E.164 number has been assigned by the regulator or a telco is another matter.