While Congress continues to consider the merits of so-called Net neutrality, an even more soporific but vital Internet legal issue looms, with ramifications for every business online and every user of the World Wide Web: What is the purpose of the database that contains information on every domain name registrant?
This question is being quietly debated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) -- the Net's keeper of the all-important addressing system -- which is meeting June 26-30 in Marrakech, Morocco.
Today, cybersquatters have rebranded themselves as "domainers," says Doug Isenberg, the author of the article over at CNet News. more»
A dispute over the cost of Internet domain names has spilled over onto Capitol Hill, where allegations of monopolization and unreasonable price hikes surfaced in a congressional hearing on Wednesday.
The dispute arises out of a lawsuit settlement reached on March 1 in which the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) gave VeriSign the right to raise fees on .com domains by 7 percent annually. The settlement, approved by ICANN's board by a 9-5 vote, ended a legal spat that started with VeriSign's controversial move to take control of all unassigned .com and .net domain names in 2003. Those guaranteed price hikes struck some members of the House of Representatives' Small Business Committee as unreasonable. more»
Although ICANN rejected the proposal to create a ".xxx" domain for porn sites, the domain's chief sponsor, ICM Registry Inc., is appealing the decision and began taking reservations from adult sites this week.
Stuart Lawley, ICM's chairman, said the company already has hired the staff and built the system, and taking reservations now would mean a quicker rollout should the appeal succeed. ...Lawley acknowledged the ICANN appeal could be tough because the review panel is dominated by board members who had voted against the proposal. But "we've got deep pockets," he said. "We're very determined." more»
The intention to give ICANN a sole-source contract, disclosed on a federal government contracting Web site Thursday, reflects the Commerce Department's belief that the group, based in Marina del Rey, Calif., is the only entity capable of the unglamorous but necessary responsibility of managing the Internet's basic plumbing.
"We continue to believe ICANN is uniquely qualified to perform the services," said Ranjit de Silva, a spokesman for the department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The decision may revive international debate about the Commerce Department's role overseeing ICANN's work. more»
The company behind the failed .xxx domain proposal says it spent nearly $3m before ICANN rejected the bid -- a move that the company believes was the result of pressure from Washington.
He expressed his frustration at ICANN: "We've spent nearly six years and 3 million dollars on this. We have followed the rules and have been told that we've got through at various stages. The fact that this happened leaves a sour taste," he said. ICM Registry is now considering its next move. "There are a variety of routes for us to go down and we are considering all our options," said Lawley. more»
ICANN unanimously approved the creation of the new .Tel Top Level Domain (TLD) and awarded the contract to Telnic Limited.
"The .Tel domain offers the first genuinely different use of domains since .com was first created. It will provide seamless integration of existing methods of communication with emerging technologies like Voice over IP (VoIP). This places the .Tel domain at the core of the next phase of Internet development," said Khashayar Mahdavi, CEO of Telnic. more»
The Internet governing body's decision to reject a new .xxx Internet domain for porn sites is a clear case of U.S. political interference in the Web's governance, the European Commission said on Thursday.
...The EU executive said the decision underscored the need to make ICANN independent quickly, following unsuccessful demands last year by a group of countries including the EU to make ICANN fully independent. more»
Faced with opposition from conservative groups and some pornography Web sites, the Internet's key oversight agency voted Wednesday to reject a proposal to create a red-light district on the Internet.
The decision from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers reverses its preliminary approval last June to create a ".xxx" domain name for voluntary use by the adult entertainment industry. Paul Twomey, ICANN'S chief executive, said the decision largely came down to whether by creating an "xxx" domain ICANN might be put in a position of having to enforce all of the world's laws governing pornography.
He said board members were aware of the controversy but "the heart of the decision today was not driven by a political consideration." more»
Internet experts have warned that China is "manipulating" the domain name system in an attempt to censor its citizens' access to the web.
A high-level report prepared for by ICANN warns "politically motivated" domain name authorities could set up alternate root systems to filter out unwanted internet content. Report co-author and Melbourne IT chief technology officer Bruce Tonkin said China's attempts to use the domain name system to restrict access to content was a serious threat. more»
Amid brewing controversies, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' 25th International meeting officially opened on Monday in Wellington, New Zealand. The meeting, which runs through March 31, brings together members from the technical community, business and government to discuss the management and future of the Internet.
But some members of ICANN have made it clear that they don't like the way the organization is conducting business, saying that ICANN is more concerned about wooing big business and government than serving ordinary Internet users. more»
This is a debate that will make plenty of money for Washington lobbyists for years to come.
But there is less talk about another infrastructure issue that could also have a major effect on the Internet. This issue is whether the .com domain name will remain reliable and secure. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that manages the technical aspects of the Internet, has decided to allow the cost of .com domain names to increase by a little less than $2 over the next five years. The additional funds will allow more investment in managing and protecting the .com domain. more»
Nineteen internet companies, including Network Solutions, have asked ICANN's Board of Directors to reconsider a controversial agreement giving VeriSign control of the .com top-level domain until 2012.
Domain name registrar GoDaddy has also petitioned the US Department of Commerce, which has yet to approve the agreement, asking that the deal be sent back to the ICANN Board. more»
The Internet's key oversight agency has outlined a plan for testing domain names entirely in non-English characters, bringing closer to reality a change highly sought by Asian and Arabic Internet users.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers announced a tentative timetable Tuesday that calls for tests to begin in the second half of the year. The tests would help ensure that introducing non-English suffixes wouldn't wreck a global addressing system that millions of Internet users rely upon every day. more»
ICANN will start the trial testing of internationalized domain names (IDN) in the Top-Level Domain (TLD) system, in the third quarter of 2006, Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN, told Interfax in an interview Tuesday. Once IDN domain names are implemented Internet sites will able to have domain names in foreign languages, and foreign character sets -- such as Chinese.
"The preparation for the testing is already underway, and it will be a testing on the top of the root," said Twomey. "We are presently moving to introduce the IDNs of TLD, and are much closer to the end for the answer." But the exact date for the launch of the IDN is not yet available. more»
ICANN board members met this week about the revised deal with VeriSign for control of the .com registry. The revised deal would end all pending litigation between ICANN and VeriSign, as well as allow VeriSign to raise domain prices and continue to manage the registry for "near perpetuity." ..."ICANN's next regular meeting is at the end of March in New Zealand, and it seems incredulous that they wouldn't use that already-fixed date for a public meeting as the next legitimate time to discuss this." more»
