| Michael van Eeden on Fri, 21 Feb 97 20:01 MET |
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| nettime: Web Review--Will the Domain Name Game Remain the Same? |
http://webreview.com/97/02/21/feature/index2.html > > [Feature Story] > > [Will the Domain Name Game Remain the Same?] > > by What's in a domain name? > John Gilles > Well, for starters, a combination > of confusion and consternation, as > rival groups battle over the > lucrative right to register names > while domain owners wait and > watch. > > The conflict came to a head this > month when the International Ad > Hoc Committee of the Internet > Society floated a proposal to > create seven new top-level domain > names and open up the registration > process to 28 new registrars. It > is being challenged. > > Internet Assigned The move came after the Internet > Numbers Authority Assigned Names Authority, which > (IANA) doesn't necessarily have any > A clearinghouse authority in this area, proposed a > for Internet similar plan that was subsequently > protocol shot down by critics. The earlier > parameters, run plan was dinged for not dealing > by the University with possible international > of Southern trademark disputes, a lack of > California's public input and its source -- > engineering since the IANA is a US > school. organization, out of the > University of Southern California. > > It's not that the critics don't > agree that a change needs to be > made. Demand for domain names is > beginning to outstrip supply, and > trademark disputes are beginning > to mount. Everybody is > acknowledging that there must be > some life after .com. But getting > there is the problem. > > [First, A Little History] > As most amateur Net historians > already know, the Internet was > born when researchers for the > Defense Advanced Research Projects > Agency devised a way to > communicate with each other > through a computer network. > > National Science > Foundation (NSF) Over time, other academics joined > Once administered the network, and -- we're > the Internet, now compressing history a little here > funds network -- eventually the World Wide Web > research. evolved as a subset of the > Internet, leading to the > Internet commercial explosion we have > Engineering Task today. The National Science > Force (IETF) Foundation took over some of the > Engineers who Pentagon's leadership > write Internet responsibilities, before handing > standards. those off to private organizations > (mostly telcos and regional > service providers) in Spring 1994. > > InterNIC Internet communication relies on > Assigns domain the the Domain Name System (DNS), > names. which converts recognizable names > like "www.webreview.com" to a > numerical IP address like > "208.201.239.35." First proposed > by D.L. Mills of Comsat > Laboratories in 1981, the actual > top-level domains in use today > (sych as .com, .net, and .org) > were adopted in 1984. InterNIC > keeps a registry of the domain > names, while IANA keeps a database > of the IP addresses. > > Later, new top-level domains to > indicate geographical location, > based on internationally > recognized country codes, were > included, such as .ca for Canada > and .us for the United States of > America. Domain name registrations > outside the U.S. are typically > handled by national or regional > registries and may include > subdomains not presently used in > the US. > > In most countries, the country > code is always part of the domain > name, and the failure of most U.S. > companies to use them is perceived > as simply American arrogance. > However, there is no doubting the > international appeal of a Uniform > Resource Locator (URL) that ends > in ".com." Indeed, there are now > somewhere in the neighborhood of > 500,000 URLs ending in .com, and > it's becoming obvious that the > number of useful words and phrases > is quickly running out. > > [Who's Behind the Plan?] > To address the problem of too few > addresses, the Internet Society > formed the 11-member IAHC with the > charge to expand the DNS. The IAHC > plan would preserve the current > six top level domains and add > seven new ones, including .store, > .firm and .nom. > > Current and Proposed Domains > The > Old The New > > .gov government .firm firms > > .edu education .web Web-related content > and activities > > .com commercial .rec recreational, such > as games > > .mil military .info information or > research services > > .org non-profit .nom personal Web pages > organizations > > .net networking providers .store retail sites > > international treaty > .int organizations and .arts cultural content > Internet databases providers > > Internet Society Composed of resepresentatives from > (ISOC) Internet, telecommunication and > A nongovernmental legal standards groups such as the > group of International Telecommunications > companies and Union and the World Intellectual > agencies Property Organization, the IAHC > fostering global was convened five months ago, but > growth of the all its members were already very > Internet, familiar with the DNS issue. > formerly part of > the Corporation Since both the Internet Society > for National and the Internet Assigned Numbers > Research Authority are the main bodies that > Initiatives. need to approve the plan, and they > have already indicated their > Internet support, the plan seems to be a > Architecture foregone conclusion. But don't > Board (IAB) count on it, because there are > Technical some opponents gearing up to > advisors to the battle the proposal, and they may > Internet Society. find substantial support abroad. > > [InterNIC, Meet AlterNIC] > AlterNIC When Eugene Kashpureff calls > An alternative himself the Internet's "foremost > domain name revolutionary," he is only > system. half-joking. As the founder and > owner of AlterNIC (the alternative > domain-name system), Kashpureff > and his allies are fighting tooth > and nail to keep the IAHC proposal > from coming to pass. > > "I'm the alternative to the U.S. > government controlling the > Internet," Kashpureff claims. > "While the world is pretty > thankful for the gift of the > Internet, the U.S. still holds a > stranglehold on this international > asset." > > Kashpureff opposes the IAHC > proposal on both political and > technical grounds. First, he says > the planning process was secretive > and undemocratic. "The IAHC forgot > to invite a few people to the > table, like the Electronic > Frontier Foundation and the > Computer Professionals for Social > Responsibility," he says. To him, > that means there isn't consensus > on the DNS issue: "It's still a > wide-open playing field." > > On technical grounds, Kashpureff > objects to the IAHC plan because > he says it depends on "vaporware" > to administer the shared > registries. "There are 28 > different groups sharing seven > top-level domains with code that > doesn't exist yet," he says. > Despite that, he has applied to > make AlterNIC one of the new > registries. > > In addition, Kashpureff said he > doesn't much like the IAHC plan > for settling trademark disputes, > which calls for a 60-day > publication period in which a > trademark holder to challenge a > new domain name. "The registry > should not be in the business of > settling trademark disputes," he > says. > Network Solutions Under his plan, there would be as > Incorporated many as 20,000 top-level domains, > (NSI) such as .zine or .web, operated by > Owned by SAIC, individual registrars. Large > holds contract to companies could own their own > run InterNIC and top-level domain, such as .coke or > has a .wired.. Trademark disputes would > near-monopoly on be handled in court, not by the > most generic domain-name registrar. And control > domain name of the Internet would be > registrations decentralized. > through 1998. > [Busting the NSI Monopoly] > If Kashpureff's claims about U.S. > government control of the Internet > seem paranoid, then consider the > sole registrar of the current > top-level domains, Network > Solutions, Inc. of Herndon, > Virginia. > > "Domain Name Fees As Web Review first reported in > Benefit Defense 1995, NSI is owned by Scientific > Contractors" Applications International Corp., > by Stephen Pizzo which has board members with ties > Sept. 29, 1995 to the U.S. intelligence > community. NSI charges $100 for a > Federal two-year license on a domain name, > Networking and registers 80,000 to 100,000 > Council (FNC) domain names a month. Competition > Includes members would likely cause the fee to drop > from 17 US if 28 new competitors were allowed > agencies that use into this exclusive marketplace. > the Net, > including NASA [Can Someone Steal Your Domain?] > and Dept. of Assuming the IAHC plan passes and > Energy. seven new domain names come > online, what does that mean for > current domain-name holders? > Should you change your top-level > domain from .com to, say, .firm? > If you already own a domain name > ending in .com, can someone come > along and take yourname.web or > yourname.firm? Like everything on > the Internet, answers are not > readily apparent. > > Domain-name holders would have to > make some decisions. Retail Web > sites may want to switch from .com > to .store, or they may want to > keep both domains and pay the > extra fee every year. Large > companies may erect domain-name > fences to keep others away from > their trademarks, such as > ford.com, ford.store, ford.firm > and so on. > > Alternatively, a domain-holder may > wish to keep the currently held > name and simply challenge every > new application that seems to > tread on its trademark turf. This, > however, might require undue > vigilance on the part of the > domain-name holder. > > Neither option sounds appealing, > which is why small entities should > just stick to the top-level domain > that best suits its identity, and > leave the other domains to others. > So for instance, your consulting > company might be smith.com, but an > unrelated Internet service > provider could be smith.web. If it > sounds confusing to the Web user, > it could be. With five existing > domains and seven new ones on the > way, there could be a dozen > different permutations of a given > name. > > [What's in *.store] > If the IAHC's plan is accepted by > both the Internet Society and the > Internet Assigned Numbers > Authority, new domain names could > be in place quickly, possibly as > soon as this summer. However, the > timetable is hard to figure > because IAHC has still not issued > its final legal guidelines, nor > has it released a milestone > calendar. > > In addition, opponents have > promised to fight the plan with > legal action, if necessary. A > group of auto dealers in Southern > California say they already own > the rights to the .web domain, and > have promised to sue to protect > them. > > With obstacles like that to > hurdle, we can expect some delays > along the way to the Brave New > World Wide Web. So hold onto your > .com, and start thinking about > whether you're really a .firm or a > .store. > > ----------------------------------- > > Would you pay additional fees to > license multiple domain names? > Send us email. > > [Web Review Contents] > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Web Review copyright © 1997 Songline Studios, Inc. > Web Techniques and Web Design and Development copyright © 1997 Miller > Freeman, Inc. > ALL RIGHTS RESERVED -- Michael van Eeden (mieg@factory.org) -- * distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission * <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, * collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets * more info: majordomo@is.in-berlin.de and "info nettime" in the msg body * URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@is.in-berlin.de