[IFWP] Communications-related Headlines for (fwd)

[Planet Communications Computing Facility]

COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for AUGUST 26, 1999

INTERNET GOVERNANCE
         Can Anyone Organize the Internet? Yes, ICANN. (WSJ)
         Internet Group Says Individuals Will Have to Wait (NYT)

INTERNET GOVERNANCE

CAN ANYONE ORGANIZE THE INTERNET? YES, ICANN.
Issue: Internet
[OP-ED] ICANN held its third board meeting, which wraps up today in Santiago,
Chile. Ester Dyson wrote of the agenda of this meeting by stating that ICANN
was set up to make the protocols of the Internet work. She said ICANN is
making decisions concerning "policies for the allocation of domain names in
the .com, .net and org 'top level' domains -- for now, the most popular
ones. Our challenge is to find some consensus on where to draw the line
between 'abusive' registrations, in which someone is stealing the value
created by someone else's trademark -- and cases where someone in good faith
has registered a name that may be someone else's trademark." Dyson continued
by saying that the Internet originally grew by market rules but that it
cannot continue for two reasons. First, she said, "the old system is no
longer working so smoothly. Like it or not, governments around the world --
not just the U.S. -- want to see someone 'in charge'." Secondly she stated,
"Moving from monopoly to an open market is a complicated process, as
experience in the telephone market has taught. In the long run, the market
will work, but making the transition requires oversight." Dyson said that
there may be other alternatives to the trademark/domain name issue in the
future -- so that people are not battling over the few names ending with
.com. "In addition to .com, .net and .org, do we want .store,
.air for airlines or .fin for financial institutions?" she asked. "That
would provide
some competition for .com, and competition is the best market regulator."
Dyson ended by saying, "Icann's challenge is to help that happen
smoothly -- and not to get so wedded to fixing the current system that it
can't recognize the value of something better."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, A18, AUTHOR: Esther Dyson is the president of
Edventure Holdings and interim chairman of Icann]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB935619569495464879.htm)

INTERNET GROUP SAYS INDIVIDUALS WILL HAVE TO WAIT
Issue: Internet
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Internet's
new governing body, has again rejected request to create a membership group
that would represent individual Internet domain name owners. ICANN has
plans to adopt a policy for resolving domain name disputes at its board
meeting, which is being held at the University of Chile this week. Critics
say that the proposal on the table, which was written without input from an
official voice of individual Internet user and non-commercial interests,
favors major trademark holders over individuals and small businesses.
"Given that individuals are the single largest group of Internet users, it
is remarkable that substantive issues that speak directly to the rights of
domain name holders are being resolved with neither individuals nor
non-commercial users being represented," wrote Mikki Barry of the Domain
Name Rights Coalition.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Jeri Clausing]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/cyber/articles/26domain.html)