I don't know if they are related, but anytime you have folks working on working systems there is a chance for error. At least two large telco internet providers appear to have corrupted one or more of their DNS name servers today. E-mail to the affected providers resulted in no response in one case, and directions to use a different name in the other case. Information from third-parties indicates both were configuration errors. No word if this was because they were loading a new version of BIND or they just corrupted their data files conincedently.