At: http://www.mercurycenter.com/asia/center/japan080198.htm
Net domains doled out by Japan `cartel'
It seems that the traditional Japanese approach to commerce; rigid cartels
that defy competition, has been extended to cyberspace. In Singapore, rules
for who can register a domain name are somewhat stricter than in the USA,
but they are nothing like what is described here for Japan. And sgNIC
charges the same price for a domain as interNIC does, but JPNIC charges 4
times as much.
Is there anyone on this list from Japan? I would be interested to hear your
views.
Below is an edited version of the article.
Barry
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Net domains doled out by Japan `cartel'
BY MICHAEL ZIELENZIGER Mercury News Tokyo Bureau
TOKYO -- snip ---
Tangent Computing Ltd., Shepherd's software distribution company, was
bounced off the World Wide Web in late July by Japanese authorities after
he switched to a U.S.-based Internet service to host his company's e-mail
accounts. It seems that a group of Japanese-based Internet providers,
operating with the approval of the government, controls who gets to play --
and how much they pay -- to get access to the World Wide Web in Japan.
``Basically, we were shut down for not using a Japanese Internet
provider,'' said Shepherd, a Canadian, who does 90 percent of his software
distribution business through the Net.
Dozens of entrepreneurs such as Israeli businessman Todd Walzer have found
they could not use their Internet addresses in Japan -- known in Internet
parlance as a ``domain names'' -- unless they also used a Japanese Internet
service provider. Japanese firms, however, are usually slower and far more
expensive than overseas providers, foreign businessmen say.
The lack of competition is a key reason that Japan, despite its reputation
for high-end technology, lags far behind the United States and other
developed economies in its use of the Internet.
Japan has only 40,000 domain names. The United States, a bit more than
twice Japan's size, boasts more than 1.2 million. Moreover, while the
United States is fourth in domain names per person, Japan ranks 21st,
according to data compiled by Michael Borrus, co-director of the Berkeley
Roundtable on International Economics in California.
-- snip ---
Bradley Bartz, an early Internet pioneer in Japan, said JPNIC is a cartel
that conspires ``to make any .jp address the most expensive domain name in
the world.'' Registering a domain name, which costs about $75 in the United
States, can cost four times as much in Japan, he said.
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Barry <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Web Design & Development - Online Marketing <http://www.ToTheWeb.com>
In a world without walls or fences, what use do we have for windows or gates?
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