Ellen and all, Ellen Rony wrote: > Chuck Gomes wrote: > > >Maybe I am not fully aware of how many end users who are > >customers of ISPs used the InterNIC site. I honestly did > >not think it was that many. > > Sheesh! NSI's pretense at naivete about the broad usefulness of the > once-and-former InterNIC site doesn't ring true. Frankly, Chuck, that dog > won't hunt, and it's apparently time for NTIA intervention regarding NSI's > usurpation of the INTERNIC site. Well frankly Ellen, we [INEGroup] including myself in this case don't agree with you evaluation nor your prescribed proposed resolution, hence my reason for chiming in here and CC'ing to the relevant parties to which you refer as well... > > > InterNIC is a byproduct of the Cooperative Agreement with the US > Government. So long as that Cooperative Agreement remains operative, the > InterNIC site should remain operative, as well. I think you are leaving out the "Transition Agreement" and amendment 11 here... > > > If NSI is unclear on its separation of its > goverment-engendered/InterNIC-identified responsibilities from those of the > corporation, how will it successfully separate its dual roles as registry > and registrar? I just put out an announcement on that score just friday, if you have been paying attention... > > > Like others, I set many InterNIC bookmarks that were only tangentially > related to registration services: > > * InterNIC News (with tips on website design, on naming strategies and > registration stats), all now "Document Not Found" > * selected RFCs, formerly under data services at http://ds.internic.net/rfc/, > now in lost in cyberspace > * InterNIC Discussion Lists, now mapped (and pared to fewer lists) to: > "Guardian: Protecting Your Domain Registration" under a networksolutions > URL > * Midterm Evaluations (which include reporting on GA and ATT), now mapped > to a networksolutions URL > * WHOIS, now "Access Forbidden", with a new networksolutions URL and a > page that is significantly less friendly and informative than before. First of all this is not completely true as that access is still available, although somewhat restricted and available through a different URL as you remotely indicate. In addition "Creation Date" has been restored, as well as being able to list out 50 hits on your whois search. There is also several independant Whois accesses that have been posted that you can also use as well and I have also indicated that a "Browser Based" Whois facility is also easily enough to implement. So your complaint here is by in large not justified... So I would suggest, that you either get that knot out of your pantyhose, or put on a new pair... > > * InterNIC FTP directory, which remains online but is a mere skeleton of > its former self when compared to the directly listings reproduced on p. 232 > of The Domain Name Handbook. > > InterNIC has always been something bigger than NSI because it has the > imprimatur of the U.S. government. Here is how the term was defined in > 1996 for The Domain Name Handbook (p. 608): > > InterNIC: A registry responsible for name assignment within the > following top level domains: .COM, .EDU, .NET, .GOV and .ORG. > InterNIC > is a collaborative DNS infrastructure project established in January > 1993 as a result of an NSF Cooperative Agreement awarding NSI the > registration services administration, ATT the database services \ > > management, and General Atomics the information services portion. > > That project is *not* defunct. The title of the Cooperative Agreement is > Network Information Services Manager(s) for NSFNET and the NREN: INTERNIC > Registration Services), which is what NSI currently provides under the > continuing Agreement and Amendments 1 - 11. > > Since the Cooperative Agreement is still in effect, the term "InterNIC" > still represents the viable portion of that agreement for registration > services. > >From Amendment 11: "Except as modified by this Amendment, the terms and > conditions of the Cooperative Agreement, as previously amended, remain > unchanged." > > The fact that NSI must provide progress reports and quarterly reports about > the "InterNIC project" to the government means that InterNIC is *not* > synonymous with NSI. > > The folding of INTERNIC.NET into NETWORKSOLUTIONS.COM also ignores this > provision of the Cooperative Agreement: > > B. An acknowledgment of NSF support must appear in any publication > of > any material, whether copyrighted or not, based upon or developed under > this project, in substantially the following terms: > > The material is based on work sponsored by the National Science > Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. NCR-9218742. The > Government has certain rights in this material. > > [presumably, since NSF function has been transferred to NTIA, this > provision would now substitute NTIA sponsorship for NSF] > > A reading from my overflowing emailbox tells me that the hue and cry over > usurpation of the InterNIC site comes from system administrators, ISPs > large and small, attorneys, list lurkers, registrars and yes, registrar > wannabees. Most of these groups are well known for their incessant whining and laziness for not preparing themselves for this transition, as ICANN has seemingly failed to do as well. > They all have legitimate uses for the WHOIS data, for other > registration services and information, and object vigorously to the > unannounced, unwarranted changes. Most of the changes we, nor I find overly intrusive. However we prepared for this eventuality. Others mileage may vary... The data that is not available from Whois is minimal and not overly intrusive or prohibitive. What you really NEED is still available, what you may WANT may not be available directly from NSI's Whois Web interface, but is still accessible through other means, as I have already indicated (See above) and have stated or commented upon several times before. As a note, I have had no fewer than 30 inquiries regarding the "Browser Implemented Whois" to date. The code is publicly available for whois itself and the implementation is fairly straight forward to execute it from as a Browser Application. This implementation is simple to use, provides much more functionality, and is very intuitive... Other Web versions are also available as well. > > > PR-wise, folding the InterNIC name into Network Solutions' site was a very > bad move. NSI's activities in the past 1.5 months suggest a company that > is running scared on the advent of true competition. Well we and I completely disagree with your point here. It seems to be a good first step from an operational point of view and a functionality standpoint as well. It does require some adjustment to what you may be use to, and could have been pre announced a bit better. > It appears to be > doing everything in its power to hoard the treasure of data that came to it > by the good fortune of a monopoly franchise. We and I don't agree here either, however it should be pointed out that the DATABASE and much of the DATA itself does belong to NSI, so they have the right to do with it as they please. > Perhaps there are few > corporate models to look to when making the transition from an open field > to a truly competitive marketplace, but NSI doesn't need to take these > steps to maintain its leadership position. It is not your or my or anyone else's decision or right to make this determination, and it is very easy for us to sit back and pontify on this subject area, as we are not in NSI's position. > > > Please don't be so quick to label the vocal response as competitive and > political posturing. Many people, myself included, are truly aggrieved by > the changes in the WHOIS reporting. And unjustifiable IMHO as well and many others as well... As stated above and in several other posts, others methods and means of using Whois are readily available. > > > Website consolidation and purported customer convenience do NOT justify > what we view as an InterNIC power grab by NSI, pure and simple. Power Grab is a bit harsh of a term to use here. Marketing and business positioning is more realistic... > > > Ellen Rony Co-author > The Domain Name Handbook http://www.domainhandbook.com > ======================== // ============================= > ISBN 0879305150 *=" ____ / +1 (415) 435-5010 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] \ ) Tiburon, CA > On the Internet, // \\ no one knows you're a dog. > > Regards, -- Jeffrey A. Williams CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng. Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC. E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Number: 972-447-1894 Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208
