rfc2146.txt

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RFC 2146         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names          May 1997


         Q.  How can two entities have the same name registered?  How
      does this apply to NIH.GOV, FDA.GOV, and CDC.GOV, all of which are
      large components of DHHS/PHS?  NCIFCRF.GOV is a component of NIH.
      Does it have to change?  I don't understand how a distinction is
      made if some are grand-fathered and some are not.

        A. US-STATE.GOV and STATE.GOV for example.  The problem is
      actually one entity with two names.  NIH.GOV and FDA.GOV represent
      separate entities (albeit within DHHS).  If there were an NIH.GOV
      and an NIH-EAST.GOV for example, NIH would have to eliminate one
      of them (probably moving NIH-EAST.GOV to EAST.NIH.GOV).



         Q.  How much is the taxpayer being asked to spend to alter tens
      of thousands of existing computer and telecommunications systems
      to support this RFC?

         A. In August 1995 less that half-a-dozen duplicate DNS names at
      the FIPS 95-1 level needed to be changed.  Given the fact that
      this will be accomplished over three years, the costs should be
      minimal.

   CROSS-AGENCY COLLABORATIONS


         Q.  An organization maintains a domain name that represents a
      cross-agency community, IC.GOV, which represents members of the
      intelligence community.  As a cross-agency collaborative effort,
      does the domain have to be re-registered?

      A.  The policy states that "Cross-agency collaborative
      organizations (e.g., "Federal Networking Council", "Information
      Infrastructure Task Force") are eligible for registration under
      .GOV upon presentation of the chartering document and are the only
      non-listed (in either FIPS 95-1 or the US Government Manual)
      organizations eligible for registration under .GOV."  "IC.GOV"
      however, is grand-fathered since it is an existing domain.
      Nevertheless, it would be appropriate to provide a copy of the
      chartering document to the FNC for the record.  This would ease
      future changes to the IC.GOV domain if necessary.










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RFC 2146         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names          May 1997


   FUTURE .GOV REGISTRATIONS


        Q.Top level domains are roughly equivalent to cabinet-level
      agencies identified in FIPS 95-1.  What will happen if non-FIPS
      95-1 entities apply for the ".GOV" registration in the future?

        A.  The registrar will use this RFC as guidance and will not
      grant the ".GOV" to any new entity which is not listed in the FIPS
      95-1 or the US Government Manual or which has not been granted an
      exception status by the FNC Executive Committee.



         Q.  Suppose NIH were moved to a new Dept. of Science?  Would
      our domain name have to be changed?

         A.  NIH.GOV is grand-fathered under the existing policy and
      would not change.  The "Department of Science" under its own
      policies may require you to re-register though.

   FNC INTENT

         Q.  It is unclear how this will policy will facilitate access
      by the public to our information, especially since most of the
      public doesn't know our organizational structure or that CDC is
      part of DHHS/PHS.

         A. The policy attempts to avoid confusion as an increasing
      number of entities register under the ".GOV" domain and to
      transfer authority and responsibility for domain name space to the
      appropriate agencies and away from a centralized authority.  For
      facilitating access, various tools and capabilities are coming
      into use on the Internet all the time.  Most of these tools
      provide a fairly strong search capability which should obviate
      most concerns of finding resources based on domain names.















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RFC 2146         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names          May 1997


         Q.  Section 1D of this document unfairly constrains the
      organizations within the .GOV domain in stark contrast to Section
      1F that grants .MIL domain organizations full freedom to operate
      sub-domains in any manner chosen.

         A.  The Federal Networking Council has jurisdiction over the
      .GOV domain names; .MIL domain names fall within the jurisdiction
      of the Department of Defense.  The .MIL domain has had a written
      policy delimiting which DOD agencies get registered directly under
      .MIL since about 1987 when the DNS first started to come into use.
      Individual agencies under the .MIL domain (e.g., AF.MIL/US Air
      Force) are responsible for setting policy within their domains and
      for registrations within those domains.  This is exactly
      equivalent to the .GOV domain - an individual agency (e.g.,
      Treasury.GOV/Dept of Treasury) may and should set policy for sub-
      registrations within their domain.



         Q.  Section 1B identifies several law enforcement agencies as
      being "autonomous" for the purposes of domain registration.  What
      is the selection criteria for an "autonomous law enforcement"
      agency?  For instance, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is
      responsible for law enforcement as is the Bureau of Alcohol,
      Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).

        A.  The selection criteria for "law enforcement agency" is based
      on primary mission.  A case could be made for either or both of
      these being law enforcement agencies, although the IRS' primary
      mission is tax revenue collection and has few armed officers
      relative to its size.  An "autonomous" agency is one with mission
      and role distinct and (possibly) separate from its containing
      department.  Unfortunately, FIPS 95-1 does not do a good job of
      identifying "autonomous" entities.  In the event of problems with
      registration, ask the registrar to get a ruling from the
      registration authority.

   ROUTING QUESTIONS

        Q.  How will Domain Name Service resolution on the Internet
      work?  Instead of a root DNS server returning the address of
      CDC.GOV and immediately directing inquires to our DNS servers,
      will the root server return a DNS pointer to DHHS, then DHHS will
      resolve to PHS, then a fourth DNS query to get to CDC?  This will
      add unnecessary traffic to the Net.  (example is the host
      CDC.PHS.DHHS.GOV)





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RFC 2146         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names          May 1997


         A.  The answer is based on how you (personally and agency wide)
      configure your servers.  First, most servers cache previous
      answers - they may have to ask once, but generally remember the
      answer if they need it again. Information directly under .GOV will
      be fairly long-lived which substantially reduces the requirement
      to query .GOV server.  Secondly, multiple levels of the DNS tree
      MAY reside on the same server.  In the above example the
      information for DHHS.GOV, PHS.DHHS.GOV and CDC.PHS.DHHS.GOV could
      all reside on the same server.  Assuming the  location of the
      DHHS.GOV server was not cached, it would require two queries.
      Further queries would cache the location of this server and the
      servers associated with the domains it serves.  Lastly, the
      individual agencies may structure their domains as they please.
      CDC could reside directly under DHHS.GOV as CDC.DHHS.GOV subject
      to HHS's own policies.



   USING DNS FOR ADVERTISING SERVICES

         Q.  How can agencies utilize domain names for public service
      announcements such as regulatory information, health services,
      etc.?

        A.  The use of Domain Names for "advertising" is not encouraged,
      and there is no empirical data showing that Domain Names are
      effective for such purposes.  Moreover, while it may appear a
      reasonable assumption, we know of no evidence to show that using
      even commonly know agency, program or service names as domain
      names in fact, facilitates locating any particular program or
      service.  Indeed, we find it as reasonable to conclude that, by
      using freely available search engines, a user could locate
      responsive information before they would successfully "guess" the
      appropriate domain name. If the agency CIO deems it advisable to
      pursue "advertising via domain names," the agency should use WHOIS
      utility (e.g., whois EXAMPLE.COM or whois EXAMPLE.ORG) to
      determine if similar or conflicting names with other domains such
      as .COM or .ORG before proceeding.  Any advertising value may be
      lost if the same or similar names exist within more than one
      domain.











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RFC 2146         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names          May 1997


   PREVENTING SIMILAR NAMES IN OTHER TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS

         Q:  Our agency spent a lot of time coming up with an intuitive
      domain name and now we find out that the same name exists in .COM
      and .ORG and is confusing to our customers, they don't know if it
      is really our site or not.  How can we prevent this use of our
      domain name?

         A.  The only practical way is to register your name in all
      available domains and hold them.  We say hold (do not use) them
      for the same reasons that you don't want your site spoofed --
      customer uncertainly as to whether they are in fact at a
      government site.  The implications of Federal agencies using other
      than .GOV or FED.US is a policy matter under the statutory
      authorities of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of
      the Office of Management and Budget.  Agency  CIOs should consult
      with OMB prior to using domain names other than .GOV or .FED.US.


   THIRD-LEVEL DOMAINS:  CONTACTING THE SECOND-LEVEL DOMAIN
   ADMINISTRATOR.


         Q. I don't mind having a third-level domain registration, but
      my parent agency does not have a second level domain or does not
      provide third-level registration services.  What can I do?

        A.  In the first case, the registration authority can usually
      provide contact information for an appropriate second level
      domain.  If not, an exception may be granted by the registration
      authority.  In the second case, make sure that you contact the
      official administrative contact for the second level domain by
      using the information returned by the "whois" command, e.g. "whois
      STATE.GOV".  The domain administrators have the responsibility of
      providing third-level registration services. If an exception is
      granted because there is no appropriate second level domain, it
      will only be valid for two years after the subsequent
      establishment of an appropriate domain. After that time, the
      exception domain must register in the appropriate second-level
      domain.











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RFC 2146         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names          May 1997


         Q.  What are the implications of using a name that conflicts
      with a .COM or other top-level domain?

        A.  When requesting exceptions to this policy, applicants should
      consider the limitations of the domain naming scheme.  Many common
      words and terms are already used in .COM, the largest TLD at this
      time, and it may be ineffective to use the same name in .GOV.



   US GOVERNMENT MANUAL

         Q. How can I get the US Government Manual?

         A.  Contact Superintendent of Documents
                P.O. Box 371954
                Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954

      or see http://www.access/gpo.gov/su_docs and follow the links to
      US government information.



SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

      The integrity of the information in the DNS databases and made
   available through network protocols is not reliable in the Internet
   environment without additional cryptographic controls or secure
   lines.  Agencies with secure internal network lines may be able to
   count on the internal naming information as accurate, but users on
   the Internet cannot.  The DNS system may be enhanced by the use of
   digital signatures on the provided information; as this software
   becomes available, .GOV SLD administrators are encouraged to use it
   provide a secure binding for the information associated with DNS
   names.


Author's Address

      Federal Networking Council
      4001 N. Fairfax Drive
      Arlington, VA 22203
      Phone: [phone]
      EMail: [e-mail]
      URL:  http://www.fnc.gov






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