[discuss] Real world Impact of multiple roots

[Dr. Ben Fuller]

All,

Thanks for the replies. The answers seem to confirm my suspicion that an Internet with two or more roots will have major impacts to business and society. Will have to think about this some more.

My apologies for the unclear question and the misspelling of the "Another Internet with another _root_"

I am not trying to figure out how a two root Internet works, rather to examine the impacts, which of course means understanding how a two root Internet works. :-) For example, Namibian tourist operators depend on the Internet to make bookings, transfer money, make flight reservations, order supplies, etc. So if Namibia switched over to an Internet with another root, and a tour operator had connections with travel agents, banks, airlines, suppliers in countries connected to the Internet with the original root, communication could be a problem. Disruptions in communication will impact businesses. Some businesses may not be able to wait a few months, or whatever it takes for the two systems to talk effectively to each other, and go out of business. Some businesses may have to set up their own links to both 'Internets' so they can function and pass on the added cost. I think we need an appreciation of these costs to an economy when we enter into Internet Governance discussions. This would be for the social scientists like me or better yet some good economists.

Another area of potential cost will be with the companies that run the networks; ISPs, telecoms, cable operators, etc. How would they deal with two roots on an Internet? Would they need additional equipment, upgraded equipment, software? If so what would the costs be here? Some of the technical people could provide answers.

A couple people mentioned a problem if both roots allowed the same domain names. Clearly if the two roots did not cooperate there would be lots of problems. Could you imagine two Googles? One being the Google we know and the other selling used cars or something. A lot of people could be very unhappy. 

Anyway these are the kinds of things that might be worth looking into. 

Ben

On Jan 27, 2014, at 1:35 PM, Jorge Amodio <jmamodio at gmail.com> wrote:

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Dr. Ben Fuller
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