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domain name news and research papers - October 4
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Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/
Internet in Asia blog: sirc.blogspot.com
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China's domain name .CN tops 402,000
China's domain name ".CN" had hit 402,291 by the end
of August, according to the China Internet Network
Information Center (CNNIC).
http://atimes.com/atimes/China/FJ01Ad05.html
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040930/4/1p2ag.html
au: Fan seeks cash for players' Internet names
A MAN could face legal action after registering
internet domain names of dozens of AFL stars and
ex-players.
http://heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10931487%255E20322,00.html
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,10935479-23211,00.html
au: Labour squats Howard domains
A Conservative MP has written to the Electoral
Commission complaining about the Labour party
cyber-squatting on domain names using the name of
Michael Howard, the leader of the opposition.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/63970/labour-squats-howard-domains.html
UAE working with other countries to develop Arabic
domain names
UAEnic, the entity which oversees domain name issues
in the country, is working with counterparts in Saudi
Arabia and Qatar to develop domain names in the Arabic
language, confirmed a top official.
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm?id=134366
us: Abandoned campaign Web sites go X-rated
Do political candidates know where their cast-off
campaign Web addresses are? If they don't, they had
better check and see. The sites may have been taken
over by online pornographers.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2004-10-01-pornsites_x.htm
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002052700_pornsites03.html
us: Supreme Court to decide dispute on eminent domain
The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide when local
governments may seize people's homes and businesses
against their will to make way for projects such as
shopping malls and hotel complexes that produce more
tax revenue.
http://denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~11676~2433664,00.html
uk: Online presence for all UK schools
Some 30,000 schools in England, Scotland and Wales -
representing every standard curriculum primary and
secondary - now have their own registered '.sch.uk'
internet domain.
http://dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=3506
us: Candidates' abandoned Web sites awash in porn
Click Here If they don't, they had better check and
see. The sites may have been taken over by online
pornographers. ... Those old addresses went into a
pool where they were snatched up by a domain reseller.
That reseller is offering to sell them again for $500.
In the meantime, the addresses are parked at a porn
site. This happens to a lot of expired Web addresses,
and candidates shouldn't take it personally, said
Kieran Baker, spokesman for Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit organization
that manages the domain name system.
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20041002/topstories/3519.shtml
ICANN Publishes Initial Version of New gTLD
Implementation Strategy for Public Comment
ICANN is committed to develop and implement a
comprehensive strategy for selecting new gTLDs using
predictable, straightforward, transparent, and
objective procedures that preserve the stability and
security of the Internet. In furtherance of that goal,
ICANN staff have prepared a report, Strategy:
Introduction of New Generic Top-Level Domains. A 15
day public comment forum on this report will commence
on 1 October, and close at 17:00 PDT on 15 October.
http://icann.org/topics/gtld-strategy-area.html
Update: ICANN Preparing .NET Redelegation RFP
The current Registry Agreement between ICANN and
VeriSign, Inc. which was signed in May 2001 will
expire on June 30, 2005. The agreement provides that
ICANN, must adopt an open and transparent procedure
for designating a "successor" Registry Operator. In
June of this year the ICANN's Board adopted a
procedure for the designation of a "successor"
registry, which is currently underway. ICANN's Generic
Names Supporting Organization, has adopted
recommendations regarding criteria for ICANN in the
selection of the "successor" .NET registry operator.
http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-30sep04.htm
The Wal-Martization of E-Commerce
Widespread online commerce is not a fiction; it's a
reality at http://www.godaddy.com, the fastest growing
domain registrar in the world. CEO Bob Parsons, the
boy wonder among Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN) domain registrars, is very
aggressive and very business savvy: "if you don't have
a Web site, then obviously there is something
seriously wrong with you."
http://ecommercetimes.com/story/36919.html
Semantic Web: Funding Nascent Democracy
In March 2003, when I wrote about Afghanistan
rejoining the Internet, I was (jokingly) skeptical
that they could attract English-speaking vanity domain
seekers. The .af domain registry is now open for
business, so perhaps I can be proven wrong.
http://oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5686
US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation: ICANN Oversight and Security of
Internet Root Servers and the Domain Name System (DNS)
Communications Hearing
Members will hear testimony examining the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),
international cooperation in management and governance
of the Domain Name Syatem (DNS), and the security of
the Internet's root servers and the DNS.
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1324
Testimony of Dr. Paul Twomey before the US Senate
Committee On Commerce, Science, and Transportation
The US Senate's Subcommittee on Communications of the
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and
Transportation will hold a hearing on oversight of
ICANN and the security of the Internet's root servers
and the DNS.
http://icann.org/presentations/PaulTwomey-Testimony-30sep04.pdf
RIPE NCC Announces Selected Member for the Address
Council of the ICANN ASO
The RIPE NCC is pleased to announce the new
representative selected from the RIPE NCC service
region to serve on the ICANN ASO Address Council.
http://ripe.net/ripencc/about/regional/aso2004/elected-nominee.html
3M and Register.com Host Corporate Domain Name
Seminar; Leading Global Brand Owners Discuss Domain
Name Strategies and Internet Policies (news release)
3M and Register.com announced they will be hosting a
corporate domain name seminar for some of the world's
most valuable brands. The one-day seminar will be held
today at 3M's corporate headquarters in St. Paul,
Minnesota and will feature presentations from leading
industry experts on corporate domain name issues,
Internet policies and domain name dispute resolution.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/altavista/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040930005238&newsLang=en
DeNIC delegiert mehr Telefonnummern-Domains
Statistisch geht es bergauf mit ENUM. Um 325 Prozent
hat die Anzahl der Telefondomains in der
.9.4.e164.arpa seit März zugenommen, in absoluten
Zahlen macht das 850 Domains. Laut Stefan Dieterle,
ENUM-Projektleiter bei DeNIC, kommen nun bis zu 30
ENUM-Requests bei den DeNIC-Servern, im Vergleich zu
450 für .de-Domains. Auch über die wachsende Zahl der
Teilnehmer freut man sich beim DeNIC, das gestern zum
dritten ENUM-Tag lud und ENUM auch beim heutigen
Technischen Meeting der Mitglieder auf der Agenda hat.
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/51646
Erste vollautomatische ENUM-Domain-Registrierung
Portunity hat eine erste vollautomatische
ENUM-Domain-Registrierung vorgestellt. Mit der
Rufnummern-Validierung ist nach Ansicht von Portunity
nun eines der wichtigsten Probleme und Ziele des
ENUM-Projektes auf dem Weg zum Masseneinsatz gelöst.
http://golem.de/0409/33859.html
ENUM gewinnt an Fahrt
Im Rahmen des laufenden ENUM-Testbetriebs
veranstaltete die Registrierungsstelle DENIC am 28.
September 2004 den dritten ENUM-Tag.
http://xdial.de/news/Meldung.asp?Id=8326
http://dslteam.de/news1950.html
NRO confirma apoyo al Grupo de Trabajo de Gobierno de
Internet
El NRO (Number Resource Organization) ha comprometido
el aporte USD 50.000 para el Grupo de Trabajo de
Gobierno de Internet (WGIG).
http://www.latinoamericann.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=747&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
LACTLD se renueva...
LACTLD ha publicado su nueva versión de página web. La
nueva interfase permite tener mayor información sobre
la organización y una actualización periódica.
http://www.latinoamericann.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=746&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
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RESEARCH PAPERS
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An Economic Analysis of Domain Name Policy by KARL M.
MANHEIM and LAWRENCE B. SOLUM
The paper describes that as there are only five basic
options available for allocation of the root, this
resource allocation problem is analogous to problems
raised in the telecommunications sector, where the
Federal Communications Commission has a long history
of attempting to allocate broadcast spectrum and the
telephone number space. This experience reveals that a
case-by-case allocation on the basis of ad hoc
judgments about the public interest is doomed to
failure, and that auctions (as opposed to lotteries or
queues) provide the best mechanism for insuring that
such public-trust resources find their highest and
best use. Based on the telecommunications experience,
the best method for ICANN to allocate new Top Level
Domains would be to conduct an auction. Many auction
designs are possible. One proposal is to auction a
fixed number of new Top Level Domain slots each year.
This proposal would both expand the root resource at a
reasonable pace and insure that the slots went to
their highest and best use. Public interest Top Level
Domains could be allocated by another mechanism such
as a lottery and their costs to ICANN could be
subsidized by the proceeds of the auction.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=515183
The Case for gTLD Auctions: A Framework for Evaluating
Domain Name Policy by KARL M. MANHEIM and LAWRENCE B.
SOLUM
Abstract: We next argue for a specific set of
conclusions about gTLD policy. In particular, we
demonstrate that there is a compelling case for
allowing the market to operate in the creation of new
gTLDs. This could be accomplished through a variety of
mechanisms, including a rule of first occupation or
through an auction. Although the creation of gTLDs
should allow for the operation of market forces, it
does not follow that ICANN itself should act as a
profit-maximizer. Instead, we reason that, because
ICANN is a non-profit corporation and because it is
the trustee for a natural monopoly, ICANN ought to act
in the public interest. We conclude that ICANN should
structure the expansion of the root in a way that
insures the stability and efficiency of root service.
We offer a specific proposal for an auction of new
gTLDs, and show that this approach offers substantial
advantages over current domain name policy. Our
conclusions are reinforced by a set of comparisons
between the policy questions faced by ICANN as both a
participant in and regulator of the DNS and with
analogous policy questions faced by market
participants and regulators in other sectors of the
telecommunications system. In particular, we argue
that there are important insights to be gleaned and
lessons to be learned by comparing domain name service
with broadcasting and telephone service.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=388780
Site Finder and Internet Governance by JONATHAN
WEINBERG
Abstract: In this paper, I unpack the Site Finder
story. Site Finder was highly undesirable from a
technical standpoint; it contravened key elements of
Internet architecture. ICANN had power to force
VeriSign to withdraw it, though, only if VeriSign was
violating the terms of its registry contracts. The
arguments that Site Finder violated VeriSign's
contractual obligations are plausible, but they don't
derive their force from Site Finder's architectural or
stability consequences. The registry contracts gave
ICANN no hook to invoke those concerns; if VeriSign
was in breach, it was by happenstance. Part of the
lesson of Site Finder is that there needs to be an
effective institutional mechanism for protecting the
domain name space infrastructure from unilateral,
profit-driven change that bypasses the protections and
consensus mechanisms of the traditional Internet
standards process. Notwithstanding ICANN's flaws, it
may be better suited than any other existing
institution to protect against that threat. Yet ICANN
regulation is itself highly problematic, and so any
plan to expand its authority must be approached with
care.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=475281
Who Owns the Internet? Ownership as a Legal Basis for
American Control of the Internet by MARKUS MÜLLER
Abstract: The U.S. government's ultimate control of
the Domain Name System translates into substantial
power over the entire Internet. Other countries reject
this American dominance and would like to see control
of the Internet handed over to the UN or the ITU. The
United States could have a legal claim for control
based on ownership because the Internet is, or was at
least originally, an American "thing", which was
invented and funded by the United States. The paper
examines such an ownership idea by applying property
and intellectual property law on both the American and
the international level. The examination of ownership
is crucial because other approaches that could provide
a legal basis for special power, such as sovereignty,
face problems because U.S. sovereignty ends at its
borders and conflicts with the sovereignty of other
states that are affected by U.S. policy decisions
about the Internet.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=520682
Whither the UDRP: Autonomous, Americanized or
Cosmopolitan? by LAURENCE R. HELFER
This Essay explores these three evolutionary pathways
and the critical questions each presents for
institutions such as the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), for
national lawmakers and national courts, and for those
advocating procedural reforms of this new dispute
settlement system.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=437182
The End of the Experiment: How ICANN's Foray into
Global Internet Democracy Failed by JOHN G. PALFREY
Jr.
Three lessons emerge from this study. First, ICANN's
failure shines further light upon the need for an
overhaul of its governance structure. Second, ICANN
should clarify the way in which users can involve
themselves in the decision-making process for managing
the domain name system, arguably through the
Supporting Organization process. Third, we should look
beyond the ICANN model, which has never been the
appropriate venue for experimentation in global
decision-making, toward new ways to govern the
technical architecture of the Internet in an
increasingly networked, less clearly bordered world.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=487644
Governance in Namespaces by STEFAN BECHTOLD
The Article provides several dimensions along which
namespaces can be analyzed. From a legal and policy
perspective, it matters, for example, whether a
namespace is centralized or decentralized, whether the
namespace is controlled by a public or private entity,
and the degree to which the internal structure is
adaptive. These and other dimensions influence how
namespaces protect social values and how they allocate
knowledge, control, and responsibility. This Article
will also demonstrate that the "end-to-end argument"
was implemented on the Internet by a particular design
of a specific namespace. The taxonomic structure
developed in this Article can be useful to legal and
policy debates about the implications of various
namespaces. It may also be helpful to designers of
namespaces who consider the legal and policy
consequences of their actions.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=413681
The New, New Property by ANUPAM CHANDER
In rethinking entitlements to domain names, the
Article turns to the history of the American public
lands and the international law regimes governing
global commons spaces, such as the ocean bed, outer
space, and Antarctica. We see in each of these cases
the effort to craft a system that allocates rights to
a common or global resource paying heed to social
goals such as distributive justice, environmental
protection, and economic development. Thus far,
scholars and policy-makers have not paused to consider
any such concerns for the world of cyberspace. Drawing
upon the insights of diverse disciplines, this Article
proposes a global domain name regime that comports
with concerns for equality and distributive justice.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=418853
The Neverending ccTLD Story by PETER K. YU
This book chapter recounts the power struggle over the
control of the Domain Name System and authority to
delegate and administer ccTLDs. It traces how ccTLD
policymaking has been transformed from ad hoc,
informal coordination to international, contract-based
governance. It also discusses the various major
players in the ccTLD debate: ICANN, the Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), ccTLD managers,
national governments, the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=388980
The Accountable Net: Peer Production of Internet
Governance by DAVID R. JOHNSON, SUSAN P. CRAWFORD and
JOHN G. PALFREY Jr.
Abstract: Three problems of online life - spam,
informational privacy, and network security - lend
themselves to the peer production of governance.
Traditional sovereigns have tried and, to date, failed
to address these three problems through the ordinary
means of governance. The sovereign has a role to play
in the solution to each of the three, but not as a
monopoly and not necessarily in the first instance. A
new form of order online, brought on by private
action, is emerging in response to these problems. If
properly understood and encouraged, this emerging
order could lead to an accountable internet without an
offsetting loss of those aspects of online life that
we have found most attractive. There has been a great
deal of loose talk about the need for "internet
governance," particularly in the context most recently
of the World Summit on the Information Society, but
much less careful analysis of the question whether the
online world really does pose special problems, or
present special opportunities, for collective action.
There has been a general discussion as to whether the
internet, as a general rule, lends itself to
governance by traditional sovereigns or if something
in the net's architecture resists such forms of
control. We do not seek to re-open this debate,
acknowledging at the outset the important role that
traditional sovereigns have to play in most areas of
decision-making and enforcement on the internet.
Rather, we seek to look more closely at a series of
particularly thorny issues that have proven especially
challenging for policy makers seeking to impose
governance by states. We seek the special problems -
and corresponding opportunities - of online activity
and assess the relative merits of various options for
how to resolve them.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=529022
The end of the web as we know it?
Rumours about the collapse of the internet are greatly
exaggerated. Is the internet in imminent danger of
falling around our ears?
http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/0000000CA70A.htm
The Accountable Internet: Peer Production of Internet
Governance by David R. Johnson, Susan P. Crawford &
John G. Palfrey, Jr.
The Internet is so important to all of us that we must
act collectively to control pernicious forms of
electronic wrongdoing online. But we should keep the
fundamental architecture and values of the Internet in
mind as we do so. An increasing ability to verify that
a message comes from someone from whom we want to hear
can enhance our individual abilities to construct an
Internet that reflects and tolerates diverse values.
We should embrace that change. The risks involved in
an Internet that makes peers accountable to one
another are much lower than the risks of empowering
any centralized global authority to make connection
decisions for individuals. Someone is already in
charge of the Internet: we are.
http://www.vjolt.net/vol9/issue3/v9i3_a09-Palfrey.pdf
THE END OF THE EXPERIMENT: HOW ICANN’S FORAY INTO
GLOBAL INTERNET DEMOCRACY FAILED
We have yet to develop a compelling theory of
governance for the technical architecture of the
Internet. We ought to consider ICANN’s story in this
broader context of Internet governance, considering
the role not only of individuals but also of
corporations and governments in the process of
decision making regarding these issues of global and
common importance. I begin ICANN’s story in Section II
by briefly reviewing the history of ICANN to
illustrate how its founding principles and
organizational structure conflict to drain legitimacy
of authority from ICANN. In Section III, I argue that
a fundamental confusion about the meaning of
“openness,” combined with ICANN’s convoluted
decision-making structure, caused the experiment in
openness to fail, because users could not reasonably
believe that the board listened to their concerns.
Section IV argues that, in response to criticism
generated by the failure of the experiment in
openness, ICANN tried to achieve legitimacy through
representation. However, this too failed because it
made ICANN into a legitimacy-draining semidemocracy.
In conclusion, I point to some of the implications of
this short history for ICANN itself and for the study
of how best to govern the technical architecture of
the Internet.
http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v17/17HarvJLTech409.pdf
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(c) David Goldstein 2004
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