IP: ICAAN't seem to do anything right:: Good Morning Silicon Valley Thu Nov 16 12:00:12 EST 2000

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>ICAAN't seem to do anything right: The Internet Corporation for Assigned 
>Names and Numbers (ICANN) has been meeting throughout this week in the 
>hopes of approving the first new generic top-level Internet domains since 
>the advent of .com, .net and .org more than a decade ago. The agency is 
><http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,40211,00.html>expected to 
>announce today just which new top level domains it plans to approve. Many 
>are convinced it will add fewer than 10 of the 44 that have been proposed, 
>which include .kids, .travel, .web. Regardless of what sort of 
>announcement is made today, one thing is certain: it's likely to be a 
>contentious one. Indeed, on Tuesday of this week two members of the House 
>of Representatives -- Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Lois Capps, D-Calif. -- 
><http://www.newsbytes.com/news/00/158218.html>asked the Commerce 
>Department to delay its implementation of new generic TLDs until after the 
>government reviewed the level of competition in the domain registration 
>sector and in particular VeriSign Registry Services' (formerly Network 
>Solutions -- the agency that long held a monopoly over the domain 
>registration market) position in it. Markey and Capps described ICANN's 
>decision to move ahead with the approval of new domains as one that 
>appears "to be at odds with the fundamental rationale for which the 
>Commerce Department granted ICANN authority over these matters, namely, 
>that ICANN would move the Internet domain-name system away from its 
>monopolistic antecedents and would effectively implement the goal of 
>ensuring competition in the domain-name marketplace. Their missive 
>concluded with a caustic assessment of ICAAN's review process and the ill 
>will and frustration it might foster in the public. "In addition, ICANN's 
>own independent expert analysis of the potential new TLDs was not made 
>available for timely public review and comment...Such a closed process 
>leads to public frustration, speculation about motives and allegations 
>that ICANN's decisions are arbitrary or will stifle any serious 
>competition to NSI."