Dean;
You say "names". But, is it "whois names" or "domain names"?
I mean "people useful" names. Whois is a protocol for accessing the
registration of names. DNS is a a protocol for distributing Records
Wrong.
Whois protocol is a protocol for accessing the registration of
names, not specifically domain names.
DNS, domain name system, is not a protocol but the system to manage
domain names.
I've never heard of such a system.
DNS is an acronym of Domain Name System.
This acronym, used in RFC 1034 and elsewere refers to a protocol.
As is clearly stated in the second paragraph of rfc1034,
A subset of DNS functions and data types constitute an official
protocol.
DNS system includes DNS protocol but is not DNS protocol.
RFC 1034
and subsequent RFCs describe the protocol.
Yes, rfc1034 does describe the protocol and other things. So what?
You seem to think that
Verisign operations are restricted by this protocol.
No. DNS is a system, not a protocol.
Verisign operations directly related to the protocol, is, of course,
restricted by the protocol, though, which is irrelevent.
The fact still remains that DNS entries do not necessarilly imply
registration, and that the DNS protocol cannot be used to make registry
queries.
Domain registry is a part of DNS system and is of no importance
as long as proper names are returned for DNS queries.
Masataka Ohta