There is no alternative to a binding and central root server system administrated by ICANN. This concise statement from a paper of ICANN president Stuart Lynn finds the German registry DENIC in full agreement. "A consistent system is the basis of the Internet. Without an organisation that manages centrally the important technical resource and supports consistent parameters and protocols in association with the Internet community, a global Internet cannot work", says Sabine Dolderer after a meeting of the DENIC board. "ICANN was founded to take over exactly that responsibility. DENIC supports ICANN in this, because consistent rules are the precondition for world-wide communication."

This is especially true for the Domain Name System (DNS), which implements the connection between domain names and the numerical computer addresses. The DNS is built hierarchically und therefore requires a single, central top level: the so-called root server. All valid Top Level Domains (like .com or .de) are listed there, as well as the computer addresses of the respective registries, which manage them. "It is technically not possible to run an Internet for large user groups without a central organisation, which responsibly manages these entries. And this organisation is ICANN", Dolderer explains.

"Global accessibility, stability, uniqueness and reliability of the DNS were the preconditions for the evolvement of the Internet to the universal communication and information medium that it is today. DENIC will, in the interest of all Internet users, support ICANN's work in this area to the best of its ability", Dolderer continues.

Without a central administration massive problems can arise with DNS usage:  For the request for a certain domain name different computers on the Internet would be returned as targets, depending on which root server serves the request.

If the respective Top Level Domain were not listed in the accessed root server, the request would not return.

For the many Internet users, who do not have the technical knowledge to configure their DNS resolver, unpredictable results to their DNS queries would ensue.

Depending on the configuration of the computer, that forwards a request from the sender to the recipient, or on the information about the DNS in its cache, the results of queries could be falsified or changed. The effect would be that e.g. e-mails were forwarded to the wrong recipient or other web pages than the requested ones would be displayed.

"Internet users want clarity, transparency and security, especially considering e-commerce or e-mail communication. This can only be achieved through a non-ambigous and trustworthy DNS root system", says Sabine Dolder in closing.