ICANN report: DNS runs on FOSS

Date:
Wed, 29 Oct 2025 17:05:17 +0000

Description:
ICANN's Security and
Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) has announced a report on " the critical role of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
within the Domain Name System (DNS) ". The report is aimed at
policymakers and examines recent cybersecurity regulations in the US,
UK, and EU as they apply to FOSS in the DNS system; it includes
findings and guidelines " to strengthen the FOSS ecosystem that is
critical to the secure and stable operation of the Internet ". From
the report's summary: This ecosystem depends on a global network of maintainers and
contributors who are often unpaid volunteers. While many are unpaid
volunteers, the DNS space is unique in also relying on a handful of
long-lived maintenance organizations. This creates a model based on
community collaboration rather than the commercial contracts that
define a traditional software supply chain, which introduces unique
risks related to financial sustainability for the maintenance
organizations and maintainer burnout for volunteers. These unique characteristics mean that regulatory frameworks
designed for proprietary software may not be well-suited for FOSS and
therefore could have severe unintended consequences to the stability
of critical Internet infrastructure. Thanks to SSAC member Maarten Aertsen
for the tip.

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Link to news story:
https://lwn.net/Articles/1044064/


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