Crash Course: The Potential Problem of "Name Collision" [telecom]

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Crash Course: The Potential Problem of "Name Collision" and What ICANN is Doing About It

by Robert Butler, CommLawBlog, March 10, 2014

Measures proposed to reduce risk of misrouting private email messages out onto the public Internet

As ICANN moves closer to authorizing a host of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), concern has been expressed about the possible impact that at least some of those new gTLDs could have on at least some corporate network operators and Internet users. While ICANN believes it unlikely that significant numbers of such operators/users will be affected, it is proceeding cautiously.

The potential problem? "Name collision".

What is "name collision"? In ICANN's words,

A name collision occurs when an attempt to resolve a name that is used in a private name space (e.g., under a non-delegated Top Level Domain, or a short, unqualified name) results in a [Domain Name System (DNS)] query to the public DNS.

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Neal McLain