Shawn
-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Doom [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 7:31 AM
To: CF-Community
Subject: Re: Threat to the Internet
It sounds like, but isn't from one of my favorite Rancid songs.
--benD
Shawn Regan wrote:
> It was only a matter of time!
>
>
> "They did it once they can do it again. The world is run by business men"
>
>
> Name that punk band!
>
>
> Shawn Regan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sandy Clark [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 2:59 PM
> To: CF-Community
> Subject: Threat to the Internet
>
> Comments?
>
> http://www.msnbc.com/news/104404.asp
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/104404.asp>
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/104404.asp>
>
> Domain names and the threat to the Net
>
> A tale of intrigue, double-dealing and global power struggles
>
> WASHINGTON - This is a tale that has all the intrigue, double-dealing and
> global power struggles of a spy novel. But the plot line is real, with
> nothing less then the fate of the Internet community hanging in the
balance.
>
> Call it the "Domain Name" factor.
> It starts with a group of self-appointed technocrats, a kind of Internet
> cabal, which operates with no authority of law or formal governance, which
> has simply rushed in to fill the power vacuum on the Internet, which has,
> since inception, operated in a spirit of consensus and community.
> Not since the OPEC oil cartel of 1970s have so few held so many in
> economic bondage. The Internet cabal holds no less power over the global
> economic infrastructure we call cyberspace.
> This cabal intends to control how and when new domain names will
be
> added to the current list of .com, .org, .edu, .gov and .mil, and who gets
> the rights to act as a registry of those domain names.
>
> THE MEMO
> The group operates from a document, known as the Generic Top Level
> Domain Memorandum of Understanding, produced by 11 self-appointed
> participants in closed-door meetings in Geneva.
> The group set up a U.N.-style international tribunal that operates
> under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union, which
has
> headquarters in Geneva. The group steadfastly contends that the process
has
> been "open" from the beginning and that such a document is needed to
ensure
> fair competition and stability for the registration of domain names and
the
> Internet.
> But the group has garnered no consensus in the Internet community.
> During a two-day meeting on the issue of domain name registry held in
> Washington last week, the veneer of openness and cooperation being spun by
> the cabal began to be stripped away.
> "Make no mistake, this process is not about technology, it is all
> about power," said Jay Fenello, president of Iperdome, a small company
that
> is vying to compete in the domain name registry business.
>
> THE INTRIGUE
> This whole mess started as a result of the troubles Network
Solutions
> Inc. had in its role as the sole administer of so-called "Top Level
Domain"
> names, those ending in .com, .edu, .org, etc. NSI operates as a
> government-subsidized monopoly under a contract set to expire next year.
> Anticipating the end of that monopoly, two influential groups
> decided that some plan had to be put in motion to guide the Internet going
> forward. Those two groups are the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, or
> IANA, and the Internet Society, known as ISOC.
> The IANA operates under a loose charter from the U.S. government
to
> act as kind of administrator for handing out the blocs of numbers that are
> tied to each formal domain name, such as MSNBC.COM, which are used by
"root
> servers" to determine what message goes where. The ISOC is a non-profit,
> scientific, educational and charitable entity, incorporated in 1992 in
> Washington.
>
> FUTURE OF THE INTERNET
> These two groups put together the Internet International Ad Hoc
> Committee, which hunkered down for eight weeks with members of the ITU and
> World Intellectual Property Organization and hammered out the memo of
> understanding, a document that essentially sets up a global governance
> scheme for the future of the Internet.
> That document spawned other organizations, such as the Policy
> Oversight Committee, which is intended to oversee policies outlined in the
> memo. Members of the oversight committee were chosen from those who
drafted
> the document. It then fell to the ITU to circulate the memo for signatures
> from its members, which are comprised of sovereign states.
> To date, the memo has garnered more than more than 150
signatories.
> However, those signatories come with a huge caveat: not a single
government,
> save Albania, has signed on.
> This process has drawn the ire of virtually everyone outside the
> small cabal of organizations that had a hand in drafting the document. The
> memo, "although without the stature of a treaty because it can be signed
by
> parties other than sovereign states, is clearly an intergovernmental
> agreement that possesses significant binding force and effect . as public
> international law," writes Tony Rutkowski, former executive director of
> ISOC.
> Remember, IANA and ISOC have absolutely no formal authority to
> proceed with this process - they just decided to "do it." Indeed, when ITU
> called a meeting of signatories and potential signatories of the memo in
> Geneva earlier this year, Secretary of State Madeline Albright sent a
secret
> cable, which was leaked to the Internet, to the U.S. mission in Geneva,
> upbraiding the ITU secretary general for calling such a meeting "without
> authorization of the member governments." She instructed U.S. diplomats to
> "cover" the meeting, but with lower-level staff, so as to not give the
> appearance of U.S. support of the memo.
>
> DOUBLE-DEALING?
> At the domain-name meeting in Washington, participants generally
> acknowledged that there are no technical obstacles keeping an unlimited
> number of top-level domain names from being created. This would allow the
> creation of domain names like .sex, .web, .biz, .XYZ and so on. Indeed, an
> additional seven domain names have been proposed by the Internet cabal,
but
> no more. The reason for limiting the number of top domains is simply to
> appease the legal divisions of major international corporations; these
> companies don't want to have to register their trademarks across
potentially
>
> hundreds of domain names.
> Well, screw the suits. There are courts established for protecting
> trademarks. Policing trademarks is a cost of doing business in the analog
> world; it should be no different in cyberspace. Artificially limiting the
> number of domain names, when there is no technological reason to do so, is
> yet another attempt by the Internet cabal to enforce its control over the
> Net.
> As part of that control, the cabal has set up what it calls the
> Council of Registrars, which will operate under Swiss law. Companies are
> encouraged to submit applications to become an official registrar of
domain
> names under the council. Only companies accepted by the council will be
> allowed to compete in the open market to register new domain names, as
> approved by the memo. Small catch: In order to be "approved" companies
must
> first sign onto the memo and pony up $10,000.
> To take care of trademark disputes, the council will have an
appeals
>
> tribunal known as the "administrative domain name challenge panel."
> This is seen as a threat to intellectual property and trademarks
by
> Andrew L. Sernovitz, president of the Interactive Media Association and
> founder of the Open Internet Congress, a group dedicated to thwarting the
> efforts of the Internet cabal.
> The panels "conduct their work in Geneva or via online
discussions,"
>
> Sernovitz says in a document on his group's web site. "You will have no
> right to a face-to-face defense against your challenger, he says.
> Further, "During the challenge period, your Internet address can
be
> suspended," Sernovitz says. "If you lose a case . you will have lost your
> rights forever. There is no appeals process and there is no one to sue."
>
> THE POWER GRAB
> The cabal is moving this process forward on a fast track, claiming
> that action must be taken quickly to keep the Internet from folding in on
> itself. This hurry-up stance goes against the entire culture of the
Internet
>
> and is yet another reason why critics claim the memo is simply a power
grab.
> The moves by this cabal are set on a train wreck course with the
> U.S. government. Currently a government interagency working group is
asking
> the Internet community for suggestions on how to handle the domain name
> issue. On July 2, the Commerce Department put a notice in the Federal
> Register seeking comments on how to proceed with the issue. "The
Government
> has not endorsed any plan at this time but believes that it is very
> important to reach consensus on these policy issues as soon as possible,"
> the notice says.
>
> HANGING IN THE BALANCE
> In discussions with dozens of people ranging from industry to
> government officials, a theme I keep hearing is that this structure of
> global governance for the Internet won't stop at domain names. "The
> governance models that we choose today for the Internet will be the ones
> that are placed on society in the next century," a U.S. government
official
> told me, in what he admittedly called a "messianic" remark. "Sometimes
this
> thought keeps me up at night."
> I won't go that far, but I do know that setting up a global body
> that operates on the U.N. model will sound the death knell for an open and
> thriving spirit of innovation and cooperation that has driven the Internet
> to date. Such a governing body, emboldened by a successful domain name
coup,
>
> isn't likely to stop there. They will take on other issues, such as
content
> and marketing, in a kind of cyberspace governing mission creep.
> Let's hope that enough people respond to the Commerce Department's
> notice in time for the government to step up and stop the Internet cabal
> before it puts its plan into action.
>
> Meeks out ...
>
> _____
>
>
_____
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