Hm... Internic is raking in "millions" with registration fees, but the root name server operators are getting ZERO.
In dollars, yes. I run a root name server because even with all of its warts, I rather _like_ the Internet and I want it to continue to exist. What I get from running a root name server, other than a chance to hack BIND to work better on root name servers, is the satisfaction and safety of knowing that at least one root name server is run _correctly_. Which is not to say that it's the only correctly run server, but you get the point.
Yet, the real service that you are registering for, is root name service, not the WHOISS database, (root name service is even debateable, since most of the domains are in .com, but the same machines serve .com as ., so its moot.)
If I were a root name server opeartor, that could cause major havok, if I decided too, I would be asking Network Solutions, aka internic.NET., where my cut is.
If all the root name servers, decided for just 1% of that fee, or the'd drop "internic.net" out of the root zone files, they could probably get away with it.
It would also solve the whole issue of resrouces to support root DNS.
InterNIC is buying a pair of machines to replace my root name server; ISC's budget could not sustain another 128MB hit in the same fiscal year. InterNIC's offer of equipment support went out to all the root servers, not just mine. I don't think the root server operators have any gripes. We generally do what we do out of, um, well, love for the net in some form or another. It's nice that InterNIC is buying us hardware but we'd find a way to do it even without.