Most of the InternetÂ’s users rely on the Domain Name System (DNS) and navigation aids or services to find the resources they seek or to attract users to the resources they provide. Yet, although they
perform well, both the DNS and Internet navigation services face challenges arising from technological change and from institutions with a wide variety of commercial, cultural, social, and political agendas. Individually, or together, those pressures could force operational changes that would significantly reduce access to Internet-linked resources by segments of the user community, reducing the Internet's value as a global resource. This document reports the conclusions of an assessment of the current state and the future prospects of the DNS and its interactions with Internet navigation, including its uses as a means of navigation itself and as an infrastructure for navigation by other means. The full text (284 pages) is available for online reading. You can also download a 31-page executive summary in PDF. Signposts in Cyberspace: The Domain Name System and Internet Navigation | 
