Consequently I support giving the TLD operators the tools they need to make it a stable service.
yes. and how do you go from here to special address allocations? do we also need special computers? special electricity? special racks?
I also agree that DNS is part of the Internet's critical infrastructure and that TLD's are more critical than the average end user domain. That is why I am opposed to DENIC's application to change policy and impose a bureaucratic process around building anycast deployments. There is no barrier preventing DENIC and AFNIC and others from deploying global anycast to serve the domains that they host from their TLD registries. Many, many companies in Europe are happily operating hosting facilities that host all sorts of applications using a wide range of protocols including the DNS protocol that is used in DENIC's hosting service. But DENIC's customers should be asking themselves why DENIC is wasting their time in this political process to change RIPE policy instead of building their anycast infrastructure. If they don't move quickly, then someone else will build that anycast infrastructure and both DENIC and AFNIC will be reduced to being customers instead of network operators. As long as they keep running the critical DNS infrastructure I am happy. Whether they outsource the anycast network entirely or participate in building their own, it doesn't matter much. --Michael Dillon