06:25 PM ET 10/02/98
Private sector group submits Internet name plan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of the founders of the Internet
Friday presented the Clinton administration with a consensus
plan to privatize management of the global network's critical
addressing system.
Jon Postel, who heads the government contractor that
currently runs the system telling computers where to route all
Internet traffic, said the plan had been hashed out by many
groups and companies to meet the administration's requirements
for phasing out U.S. management of the global network.
``These documents reflect the consensus judgment of the
global Internet community,'' Postel wrote in a letter to
Commerce Secretary William Daley obtained by Reuters.
In June, the administration asked the private sector to
reach agreement on a plan to run the addressing system. The end
of U.S. management reflected the Internet's transition from a
government-sponsored research project to a lively international
medium for commerce and communications.
The Commerce Department is expected to take comments for a
short period and then decide whether to accept the plan,
possibly with some changes. Commerce officials were not
available for comment Friday.
Under the plan submitted Friday, the addressing system would
be overseen by a new non-profit corporation based in California.
The corporation would have broad authority to reform the system,
including creating new Internet top-level domains, the two- or
three-letter suffixes at the end of every Net address, such as
''.com'' and ``.edu''.
``This organization will be unique in the world -- a
non-governmental organization with significant responsibilities
for administering what is becoming an important global
resource,'' Postel wrote.
The plan proposed that the new corporation will be run by a
board of 19 people. The board will be chosen by an initial group
of nine people, including members from Europe and Asia.
U.S. members include popular technology consultant and
author Esther Dyson and Frank Fitzsimmons, senior vice president
at Dun & Bradstreet Corp.
Other members who have agreed to serve include Gregory Crew,
chairman of Australian Communications Industry Forum Ltd.; Hans
Kraaijenbrink, chairman of the Association of European Public
Telecommunications Network Operators; and Linda S. Wilson,
president of Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Mass.
On Wednesday, the Clinton administration announced it was
still negotiating with the other major contractor overseeing the
addressing system, Network Solutions Inc. Officials expect to
reach an agreement with the Herndon, Va., company by Oct. 7.
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