I call for the immediate re-evaluation of Network Solutions contract and a
further hastening of the creation of an infrastructure of competitive
registrars. Each moment we delay in doing so only furthers Network Solutions
iron grip on the market, causing irreparable damage to competition.
What is most egregous about this recent action is that by bundling further
services in e-commerce, web, and e-mail hosting, with their existing domain
name registration services, Network Solutions seeks to leverage its current
market monopoly position unfairly against those providing the same services
but lacking government-sanctioned control of the market. This is why
unchecked monopolies are so dangerous.
Futhermore, Network Solutions seeks to butress its shaky future market
position by taking acts today contrived to confuse the consumer into believing
it *is* the Internic. As such, this recent highjacking of the Internic is
nothing but simple theft, since I - and every other U.S. taxpayer - paid for
the creation of Internic's brand value, now held hostage.
It is plain to me that we must act quickly to quell this rape of the market.
If we do not, we sanction Network Solution's further market entrenchment; one
built so firmly and rigidly into the existing infrastructure as to effectively
destroy any possibility for real competition.
This is yet another of the dangers I spoke of in 1993, at the 26th IETF
meeting in Colombus, Ohio, when Internic was formed and Network Solutions was
handed this power by our government.
--
Robert Raisch, Internet Hired Gun <http://www.raisch.com>
First snow, then silence-This thousand dollar screen-dies so beautifully.
