IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - January/February 2024 - 6

Bits vs. Electrons
It is nice that I can havec as a domain name.
Because the DNS only allowed ASCII strings,
Punycoded
was invented to represent it as
https://xn-fiq22j2k1a.xn-j6w193g. That is not
very friendly and adds complication without
providing the benefit of persistence. Instead,
we can use a Forever URL behind.3 We lack
the tooling to make Punycode work transparently-we
have to work with the xn (Punycode)
names directly.
When we localize a web page we do not
change theURLs-so theideaofencoding the
local language in the URL does not even help
us! Using 3Yz1Klp with tooling is a better
approach, with the benefit of never having to
expire.
Treating the DNS as a directory is problematic
and, more to the point, unnecessary. We
have better ways giving people the ability to find
what they want.
TOOLING
Today we have the
tooling to make it easy
to work with colors in
CSS. Youdonot have
to think about what
#fb837f means-you
can just point to the
popup in Visual Studio
Code.
The same approach can
work for Forever URLs and
other objects.
Sites that offer web hosting for less technical
users can seamlessly embed support in their sitebuilding
tools. In a sense, it is like pointing to a cell
in a spreadsheet and not thinking about a name.
You had point to " that " site, and it would translate
it into the appropriate URL. We see some of this
when using Facebook or Twitter, andwhenwe type
@, we get prompted with possibilities. Internally,
those strings link the abstract user identifiers.
Initially, there would be limited demand for
such tooling. As people begin to use Forever
URLs, they will drive a virtuous cycle. The more
people use the URLs, the more demand for even
c
d
[Online]. Available: http://frankston.com/
[Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punycode
SUSTAINABILITY
The cost of storing an identifier forever is
essentially zero. A small one-time fee would
cover the lifetime cost of the few bytes necessary
to store the information. Additional services,
such as maintaining a zone file,e could have
a fee.
There would also be a market in providing
innovative directory services, taking into
account human factors as with trademarks. This
would create stakeholders in the new landscape.
USING GUIDS
The world is held together by Globally
Unique Identifiersf(GUIDs). These are just bit
strings without any inherent meaning. Because
they are long and random, they can be treated
as unique without central coordination.
Nonsemantic links are fundamental and allow
you to change your name without losing the connection
to your medical benefits. If anything, the
surprise is that this is not used for the DNS, so we
would not have to worry about which " House of
Pizza " is the real one. You had look up the name in
your local directory. That is why search engines
use location information to provide the answer
when you ask for the name of the businesses.
Storing the identifiers in the DNS has another
benefit-asserting ownership. Because the
addresses are persistent, there is no need to
consult the DNS to see if the identifier has been
used. A security certificate using the GUID would
remain valid forever. That is important for
embedding certificates in devices.
A full discussion of the power of such identifiers
is beyond the scope of this article. What is
surprising is that the DNS is the exception to
standard practice. Without effective tooling, it
may have been difficult to work with GUIDs in
the past.
As our world becomes increasingly defined
by software, GUIDs enable us to link devices,
documents, contacts, and so much more
e
f
A zone file contains records for a branch of the DNS.
Also called UUIDs for Universally Unique Identifiers.
better tooling. As the tooling improves, we will see
a transition from traditional URLs to Forever ones.
6
IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine
https://xn--fiq22j2k1a.xn--j6w193g http://frankston.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punycode
IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - January/February 2024

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