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by raldi 2786 days ago
My comment is addressed at "Same goes for DNS. You used to request the name and it was yours. No yearly fees."
2 comments

> Originally a file named HOSTS.TXT was manually maintained and made available via file sharing by Stanford Research Institute for the ARPANET membership, containing the hostnames and address of hosts as contributed for inclusion by member organizations.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)

And where do you think the money to pay the ARPANET contracts came from?
Well, in case anyone was wondering, the answer is US taxpayers: http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/ch106.x07
Sorry. Didn't catch the context.