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Comment by ur-whale | Hacker News Reader

One more reason why DNS must as quickly as possible be migrated to a decentralized blockchain.

I'd say DNS is the poster-child example of why - in spite of all the naysayers - blockchain is a desperately needed technology.

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DNS is already a decentralized database, much more efficient than a blockchain. A blockchain only works for time series data.

I think the original (down-voted) poster meant that DNS should be decentralized to something more than 13 servers, from which any government can decide to seize a domain. A decentralized DNS system would improve free speech, and it would help with due process when it comes to the involvement of law enforcement.

There are 13 well known logical servers (~1000 physical) but they all synchronize the root zone from ICANN just as anybody can https://www.internic.net/zones/root.zone

If it's authentication of authoritative response data you're looking for then that's what https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System_Security_Ex... is for.

you are exactly right and this is the reason that DNS will eventually move to the blockchain. As with money and bitcoin, the internet isn't truly free until this happens

It amazes me that anyone with any awareness of how much Bitcoin has been lost or stolen (to name just one issue) can demonstrate this kind of magical thinking.

It's all been lost by third parties, though. Any idiot can make a pretty webpage advertising BitCoinBank and all the best thieves in the world can try to break in.

> It's all been lost by third parties, though.

Sadly, no. In addition to the hive of scum and villainy that are Bitcoin exchanges and other ecosystem players, there are a thousand stories of first-party losses. https://www.wired.com/story/wired-lost-bitcoin/

I didn't consider user error because if we apply that objectively we'd have to say that standard fiat currencies don't work because people routinely lose cash to loss, theft, fire, flood, etc.

My point with bitcoin is that bitcoin itself works as advertised. But like gold, directly working with bitcoin requires a good deal of specialist knowledge.

That's why, as with any medium of exchange, you need an infrastructure to manage funds and enable transactions, and the crypto-monkeys are trying to replicate systems that developed over centuries.

They had namecoin for ages now.. but you need a browser extension to visit .bit domains in the browser

First I was like: what a stupid idea, silly blockchain guys. But than I thought: a decentral ledger is not much different from the original DNS idea.

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