Responsible Integration and New Use Cases of DNS Domain Names

[swapsheth]

Session description

Domain names have long been used as identifiers in applications. In the early days of the Domain Name
System (DNS), domain names were associated with Teletype Network hosts, File Transfer Protocol servers,
and email services. Later, they were adopted for web browsing.

Over the last several years, many novel use cases have emerged that utilize domain names. One such use
case is allowing a user to verify control of a domain name, e.g., to show a verified badge on a profile as is
seen with GitHub organizations. Another use case is as a social media handle, e.g., as performed in Bluesky.
Blockchains and other decentralized applications are yet another use case, e.g., where a domain name may
serve as a reference to a digital wallet address as seen in the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) or in various
proposed Decentralized Identifiers (DID) methods.

We propose naming the process of integrating and maintaining a domain name into an application a DNS
integration. These integrations have benefits, such as allowing users to keep a consistent identifier across
their website, email, and new application use cases. Another benefit is portability, as users can opt into or
out of integrations, e.g., by changing what DNS records are associated with their domain name.

This session will raise awareness of DNS integrations, the challenges they face, and facilitate discussions
around how such challenges may be addressed. We will also highlight our IETF draft for DNS integrations and
seek feedback from the community on additional topics to consider in this or future standards related work.

Session goal

Raise awareness of DNS integrations and seek feedback for active standards work on providing guidance to applications that want to provide a DNS integration

Additional session chairs (Optional)

No response

Who can attend

Anyone may attend (Default)

IRC channel (Optional)

#dns-use-cases

Other sessions where we should avoid scheduling conflicts (Optional)

No response

Instructions for meeting planners (Optional)

No response

Agenda for the meeting.

The agenda will be two parts.
Part one will be a presentation to provide background context that:

• Walks through examples of DNS integrations and their use cases (social, digital wallets, identity, etc.)
• Explores why applications have chosen to provide DNS integrations
• Provides measurement results showing challenges that select DNS integrations face
• Promotes awareness of our IETF draft for DNS integrations and the topics it currently covers

Part two will be a discussion among participants about DNS integrations and what additional topics or
concepts should be covered in the current IETF draft or future standards work, including at the W3C.

Links to calendar

• 2024-09-25, 11:15 - 12:15

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