I think the problem with doing that is that the root servers hold a
> database of top level domain servers. It doesn't change rapidly, but
> it does change. Unless you could get a feed of the official file > from IANA, ...
It's easy to get a feed of the root zone. Fill out a form from Verisign, fax it back, and you too can FTP a copy from their server whenever you want. BTDTGTZF
If you wanted to run your own root with a copy of the same data, you could. But there's no point, since the real roots work just fine.
R's,
John
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But although the 'real roots' work just fine, as you note, someone starting their own competing root server could bypass all the silly requirements of things like ICANN couldn't he? In addition to copying all the data now in use, he could also start his own domains, could he not? He could start a domain for example called '.abracadabra' or whatever name and it would not be subject to any rules but his own. Or am I missing something here? Maybe he would then sell re-direction and aliases from his '.domain' and point them to the existing .com and .net as '.tf' does now. PAT]