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REPS. MARKEY AND CAPPS TEAR INTO ICANN, ASK DOC TO FREEZE TLD DECISION
Washington, DC November 16, 2000 (ICB TOLL FREE NEWS) Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass.,
and Lois
Capps, D-Calif., Tuesday asked the Commerce Department to delay its implementation
of new generic
top-level domains like .com, .org and .net until the group charged with
administering the address
system and the government review the level of competition in that field,
particularly from
dominant player VeriSign Registry Services.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is, however,
meeting in Marina del
Rey, Calif., this week specifically to devise new "g-TLDs."
In a letter sent Tuesday to Assistant Commerce Secretary Greg Rohde, head of the
National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Markey and Capps asked
Rohde to bring
his administrative power to bear to persuade ICANN not to develop new g-TLDs until
VeriSign
Registry Services (formerly Network Solutions - the one-time sole seller of names
in .com, .org
and .net) no longer retains its "hegemony" and "overwhelming dominance" in the
domain name market.
"In addition, such a decision would appear 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," Markey
and Capps also
wrote.
Markey and Capps also criticized what they called ICANN's lack of accountability
and transparency
in the domain-name process, noting that "as we understand it," new members of the
ICANN board,
"the only elected board members - are not participating in this important decision
on new TLDs."
"In addition, ICANN's own independent expert analysis of the potential new TLDs was
not made
available for timely public review and comment," Markey and Capps wrote. "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."
Markey and Capps expressed frustration at reports that ICANN may award the .web
registry to a
consortium that includes VeriSign as a member. "ICANN is apparently considering
this action in
spite of the fact that another entrepreneurial company has been successfully
operating the .web
registry for nearly five years and has applied for the .web name," they said.
The Congress members were referring to Image Online Design Inc., which has been
running .web as an
"alternative" domain for about five years. Internet users cannot access ".web"
addresses
registered by Image Online Design unless they tweak their computers to point to
IOD's "zone
servers."
The consortium to which the legislators referred is Affilias, in which VeriSign
owns a minority
stake of less than 10 percent, and cannot under the charter of the consortium gain
control of it.
Capps meanwhile wrote in late October to ICANN Interim CEO Michael Roberts, asking
for approval
for IOD - one of her constituents - to operate the .web TLD.
"If all we're going to do is come out with new TLDs and hand them back over to the
same crowd
that's doing that now, we haven't achieved much," said a senior Markey staffer.
"(VeriSign has)
added to its portfolio."
They added in their letter that decisions that ICANN makes in the next few weeks
may put
"important policy objectives at risk," namely NTIA's mission to promote "the
benefits of
technological development in the United States for all users of telecommunications
equipment and
information facilities."
Rohde only received the letter today, and has no comment at this time, said NTIA
Spokesperson
Ranjit de Silva, who added that Rohde may will make a statement in the near future.
