Bob Morris wrote:

...

I agree that it might, but I don't think it necessarily has to. Again, I point to IP addresses and DNS. They are obviously harmonized, but aren't locked up in administrative layers (or are they???)

Yes, they are, big time. Both have a hierarchy of organizational administrative control ending at IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, http://www.iana.org/. If an individual proposes to put a machine onto the internet, they receive permission, an IP address, and a dns name from the appropriate local authority managing the network to which they will physically connect. Often that permission and issuance is done by software on a network host on that network (usually a DHCP, dynamic host control protocol, server. In turn, the network administrators will have received permissions from the next administration up the chain to issue a specific block of IP addresses, or specific form of names.

I think the active phrase is "locked up". My point is that the system works -- right? Or does it only "work" because the en-users are so well insulated from the administrative process? Would IP work more effectively if it wasn't harmonized on a global scale, in a centralized sort of way? Rich