Part 0: Read This First | Part 1: Undersea Cable Empire | Part 2: Satellite Sovereignty | PART 3: THE DNS DICTATORSHIP | Part 4: Payment Rails | Part 5: The Cloud Is Someone's Computer | Part 6: Credential Wars
Part 3: The DNS Dictatorship
13 Root Servers Control the Internet's Phonebook—10 Are US-Controlled
You type "google.com" into your browser. Within milliseconds, you're connected. You probably think the internet "just works"—that domain names like google.com, amazon.com, wikipedia.org are universal constants, like the laws of physics. They're not. They exist because 13 root servers—physical computers located in specific buildings, operated by specific organizations—say they exist. These 13 servers are the authoritative source for the entire Domain Name System, the phonebook that translates human-readable names into machine-readable IP addresses. Without DNS, the internet becomes unusable. The DNS dictatorship is facing its first serious challenge. And if it fractures, the "World Wide Web" becomes regional networks that can't talk to each other. Welcome to the splinternet.
What DNS Actually Is
Most people have never heard of DNS. But you use it every time you use the internet. When you type google.com, your computer asks: "What's the IP address for google.com?" A series of lookups happens, starting with root servers, moving through TLD servers, ending with Google's nameservers. This takes 20-50 milliseconds. Every web page, app, and service depends on DNS working.
The root servers are the starting point for queries that aren't cached. They're the authoritative source for which TLDs exist. If root servers say a TLD doesn't exist, it doesn't—at least not on the global internet. This makes root servers the most powerful chokepoint in internet infrastructure.
The 13 Root Servers
There are exactly 13 root servers, labeled A through M. This is a technical constraint from the early internet. But here's the critical detail: 10 of the 13 are operated by US-based organizations or under US jurisdiction.
US-OPERATED (10 of 13):
A - Verisign (Virginia)
B - USC ISI (California)
C - Cogent (Virginia)
D - U Maryland (Maryland)
E - NASA (California)
F - ISC (California)
G - US DoD (Ohio)
H - US Army (Maryland)
J - Verisign (Virginia)
L - ICANN (California)
NON-US (3 of 13):
I - Netnod (Sweden)
K - RIPE NCC (Netherlands)
M - WIDE (Japan)
The system is distributed globally via anycast,
but authoritative operators are overwhelmingly US-based.
ICANN: Illusion of International Governance
ICANN presents itself as international but is a California nonprofit subject to US law. It maintains the root zone file, approves new TLDs, and coordinates DNS. Countries like Russia and China argue ICANN remains under US influence. Evidence: ICANN complied with US sanctions refusing domains for Syria, Iran, North Korea.
Alternative Roots: The Splinternet Infrastructure
Russia, China, and Iran are building alternative DNS systems.
Russia: 2019 Sovereign Internet Law created alternative roots, national resolvers. Can operate disconnected from global DNS.
China: Snowman Project deployed 25 root servers (vs. traditional 13), including 4 in China. Great Firewall filters all DNS. Can diverge from ICANN root anytime.
Iran: National Information Network operates domestic DNS. Tested full disconnection during 2019 protests.
The technical capability for DNS fragmentation exists. The political will is growing.
Dig Command: Open terminal, type: dig google.com
See the DNS lookup process. Try: dig @a.root-servers.net com
Query A-root directly for .com TLD info.
Root Zone Database: iana.org/domains/root/db
Official list of all ICANN-recognized TLDs.
Try querying domains not in ICANN root (like .bitcoin).
Your resolver won't find them—they don't exist in the authoritative root.
VERISIGN (.COM MONOPOLY):
Revenue: $1.5+ billion/year
Profit margin: 65%
Registry fee: $9.59 per .com domain
170M .com domains = $1.6B/year revenue
Operating costs: ~$200M
Profit: ~$1.4B for serving a text file
ICANN:
Budget: $150M/year
Revenue: Domain fees, new TLD applications
DNS control equals economic control.
Verisign's .com monopoly prints money.
The ITU assigns country codes (+1 US, +44 UK, +86 China).
Centralized authority, like DNS roots.
During Cold War, USSR argued Western bias.
But no country built alternative phone systems—
global interoperability was too valuable.
DNS is different: fragmentation is technically feasible.
You CAN operate a separate internet.
The consensus is cracking.
TRIGGER: Geopolitical crisis. US law requires ICANN to remove .ru, .cn, .ir from global root as sanctions.
WEEK 1: ICANN complies. Millions of sites unreachable. Russia/China activate alternative roots. Russian users can't reach .com, Western users can't reach .ru.
MONTH 1: Two incompatible DNS systems. ICANN root (West), Alternative root (Russia/China/Iran).
MONTH 3: Businesses must register in both. Email breaks across systems. VPN usage explodes.
YEAR 1: Three internet zones: Western (ICANN), Sino-Russian (Alternative), Neutral (trying to bridge).
YEAR 5: Young people never experience unified internet. Reunification becomes impossible. The internet as global commons is dead.
This infrastructure already exists.
Only question: what triggers the split?
Conclusion
DNS reveals the most fundamental truth: naming is power. If you control what names exist and what they point to, you control what's reachable.
For three decades, the world accepted US-dominated governance. That consensus is eroding. Russia built alternative roots. China built Snowman Project. Iran operates national DNS.
The splinternet isn't distant. It's being built now, one alternative root at a time.
The internet feels distributed. But DNS is centralized, US-dominated, and increasingly contested. When that foundation cracks, the World Wide Web becomes regional networks that can't talk to each other.
The phonebook is power. And the world is writing multiple phonebooks.
Next: Part 4 - Payment Rails (SWIFT vs. CIPS—who controls how money moves?)
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