name.space on Tue, 7 Apr 1998 08:43:20 +0200 (MET DST) |
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<nettime> Name.Space.Charter: Establishing Policy for Equitable Global Nameservice Through Practice |
On the Name.Space Charter By Paul Garrin A lot has been said in the sometimes heated discussions on the issue of Domain Name Service, but amidst the noise and disinformation, Name.Space has stood strong in its commitment to Independence, Free Expression, Privacy, Technical Development and Implementation, and Responsible Practice. Many of the views and policies of Name.Space have been echoed in the positions of groups such as the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) and the Domain Name Rights Coalition (DNRC) as well as in the writings of Professor Milton Mueller in his paper on Domain Names as Free Expression. While others have devoted time to writing proposals, Name.Space has concentrated on writing CODE and putting its theories and Policies into practice in running and evolving its service for more than 18 months, since August, 1996, pre-dating the formation of the IAHC; Name.Space was the first to introduce a fully automated registration system with user controled portable address management, and the first to advocate an open and shared toplevel namespace, and the first to develop and implement the technology to enable realtime synchronization of internet name database enabling a coordinated "." and a a shared toplevel namespace through its project SINDI. Name.Space has greatly contributed to the dynamic to shape the direction of the imminent changes to the Global Namespace through technical development and implementation, and through its historic legal action to break the Network Solutions monopoly. Such pressure on NSI along with the investigations into NSI/SAIC by the US Department of Justice, precipitated by the pgMedia/Name.Space Antitrust lawsuit, and the Hearings before the US House Subcommittee on Science, has guaranteed that the future implementation of sharing the "com" "org" and "net" databases equally, by all registries, will soon become a reality (as announced at the House hearings on September 25, 1997). It is essential to find a common ground to break the NSI monopoly and establish an independent and global solution to Network Solutions. The following Name.Space.Charter is a good place to begin. Name.Space.Charter: Establishing Policy for Equitable Global Nameservice Through Practice and Technical Innovation NAME.SPACE.CHARTER The toplevel global internet namespace is a virtual public space. With this charter, and in accordance with the People's Communication Charter a fair structure for Self Governance of the Global Internet Namespace will be established. No single Government, Corporation, Organization, Group, Individual or otherwise shall make any exclusive claim to any individual zone in the toplevel and generic second.level, or other generic namespace whose exclusive ownership would by its nature harm the public interest. Names are registered on a first come, first served basis. The party requesting registration of a name is responsible that, to her/his knowledge, their use of a given name does not violate trademark or other statutes. Registering a domain name does not confer any legal rights to that name and any disputes between parties over the rights to use a particular name are to be settled between the contending parties using normal legal methods. The generic toplevel namespace is public domain and registries managing the global toplevel namespace agree to make peering and datasharing agreements to insure the smooth interoperability of global nameservice, and to insure a stable and fault-tolerant infrastructure. Operation of parallel namespaces in intranets, virtual private networks, etc. shall be held not to interfere with the Global Internet Namespace by creating conflicting, redundant or non-unique namespaces which conflict with established global addresses, and will be bound to the Responsible Practice Policy as agreed to by registries, and as set forth in this document. Private ownership and branding of toplevel domains is not appropriate on the global internet and should be reserved for use in non-global, private intranets and virtual private nets. In no case should an entry in the toplevel namespace ever be redundant or in conflict with any other global toplevel namespace. Freedom of Expression, being a fundamental right, is encouraged in the use of the Global Internet Namespace. The right to express oneself in the creation of an internet.name is guaranteed by the the First Amendment to the US Constitution and the People's Communication Charter. The registration of a name to any group, organization, government, individual, or otherwise constitutes the intent to put the name into service as a functional and reliable internet address which answers to an active host on the internet. Mass registrations should be arranged for legitimate purposes and not as a means of trademark hijacking, hoarding and speculation, or as overly-zealous and aggressive multi-zone registrations under the pretext of "trademark protection". Legitimate purposes, as defined in this document pertain to the registration and implementation of an internet namespace to identify an individual, idea, product, corporate identity, content of any nature, or otherwise, that the registrant has rights to such namespace as defined through use and practice, and in accordance with all agreements pertaining to global trade, and that the namespace will be put into active service as an accessable site on the internet providing content and/or services to the Global Public. All Registrants rights to Privacy and Free Expression are guaranteed and all Registries are committed to strict non-disclosure rules in accordance to the First and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution. All information related to registrant's identity, address, and all other identifying and contact information will be kept confidential and private unless otherwise specified by the registrant. Information will not be disclosed to any Goverenment, its agents, or to any individual without proper procedures as determined by the laws set forth in the US Constitution. The Root.Zone, the "." (Dot) or Root Directory of the Global Internet Namespace is an Essential Facility which makes it imperitive that any toplevel namespace be included in the List of Servers contained in the Root.Zone, or "." file in order for that toplevel namespace to be recognized globally by all hosts on the Internet. No proposed toplevel namespace shall be refused inclusion into the Root.Zone, or "." file as long as it will benefit and serve the public interest, and provided that the registry or network manage the namespace in accordance to Responsible Practice Policies outlined in the agreements between individual registries and networks, and in accordance with the provisions set forth in this document, in the People's Communication Charter, and in accordance with the laws of the United States of America and of the State of New York,* without respect to its conflict of law rules. Registries who manage the Global Toplevel Namespace of the Internet do so in the interest of the global public, whether as for-profit business, or as a not-for-profit, and must provide service of the highest reliability at reasonable costs. Reasonable fees is defined as revenue sufficient to fund the operation and staff of facilities so as to insure the stability of the network, at the lowest possible rates to the public. Provisions of free or highly discounted registration services are available for qualifying educational, non-profit, non-commercial groups or organizations who are unabale to pay the registration fees or otherwise demonstrate need. More information and links to Name.Space political and legal actions toward the equitable reform of the Global Namespace and the dismantling of the Network Solutions monopoly: - Summary of Meeting Between pgMedia, Inc./Name.Space and NTIA, Washington, DC March 13, 1998 http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/130dftmail/pgMedia.htm _ Statement of pgMedia/Name.Space on the NTIA Green Paper, March 23, 1998 http://name.space.xs2.net/comment - Statement To Subcommitee on Science, September 30, 1997 http://name.space.xs2.net/statement - Petition To The US Department of Commerce, August, 1997 http://petition.name.space.xs2.net/ - pgMedia, Inc./Name.Space vs. Network Solutions, Inc., National Science Foundation http://name.space.xs2.net/law *the reference to the "...Laws of the State of New York" pertains specifically to pgMedia, Inc./Name.Space, a registered Corporation in the State of New York. --- # 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@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl