IP: DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NOTICE ON DNS

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 11:36:43 -0400
To: farber () linc cis upenn edu (David Farber)
From: tice () mnsinc com (Tice F. Deyoung)


Dave,


   Please pass this notice on to the IP list.  The notice and the Press
Release can be found on the NTIA home page at:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/new.html.


Thanx,
Tice




[The filing date of this Notice is July 1, 1997 and the publication date in
the Federal Register is July 2, 1997.]


Billing Code 3510-60


DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


[Docket No. 970613137-7137-01]


Request for Comments on the Registration and Administration of Internet
Domain Names


AGENCY: Department of Commerce.


ACTION: Notice; request for public comment.


SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce requests comments on the current and
future system(s)
for the registration of Internet domain names. The Department invites the
public to submit written
comments in paper or electronic form.(1)


DATES: Comments must be received by August 18, 1997.


ADDRESSES: Mail written comments to Patrice Washington, Office of Public
Affairs, National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Room 4898, 14th
St. and
Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for
electronic access and filing addresses and further information on
submitting comments.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paula Bruening, NTIA, (202) 482-1816.


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:


Electronic Access and Filing Addresses


The address for comments submitted in electronic form is dns () ntia doc gov.
Comments submitted
in electronic form should be in WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, or ASCII
format. Detailed
information about electronic filing is available on the NTIA website,
http://www.ntia.doc.gov.


Further Information on Submitting Comments


Submit written comments in paper or electronic form at the above addresses.
Paper submissions
should include three paper copies and a version on diskette in the formats
specified above. To assist
reviewers, comments should be numbered and organized in response to
questions in accordance
with the five sections of this notice (Appropriate Principles,
General/Organizational Framework
Issues, Creation of New gTLDs, Policies for Registries, and Trademark
Issues). Commenters
should address each section on a separate page and should indicate at the
beginning of their
submission to which questions they are responding.


Background


The rapid growth in the use of the Internet has led to increasing public
concern about the current
Internet domain name registration systems. According to Internet Monthly
Report, registration of
domain names within a few top-level domains (.com, .net, .org) has
increased from approximately
400 per month in 1993 to as many as 70,000 per month in 1996, the
overwhelming majority in the
.com category. The enormous growth and commercialization of the Internet
has raised numerous
questions about current domain name registration systems. In addition, the
present system will
likely undergo modification when the National Science Foundation's
cooperative agreement (NSF
agreement) with Network Solutions Inc. to register and administer
second-level domains for three
top-level domains expires in 1998. Resolution of these issues will also
affect the future operation of
the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the Global Information
Infrastructure (GII).


The United States Government played a central role in the initial
development, deployment, and
operation of domain name registration systems, and through the NSF
agreement as well as Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) agreement(s) continues to play a
role. In recent
years, however, Internet expansion has been driven primarily by the private
sector. The Internet has
operated by consensus rather than by government regulation. Many believe
that the Internet's
decentralized structure accounts at least in part for its rapid growth.


The Government has supported the privatization and commercialization of the
Internet through
actions such as the transition from the NSFNET backbone to commercial
backbones. The
Government supports continued private sector leadership for the Internet
and believes that the
transition to private sector control should continue. The stability of the
Internet depends on a fully
interconnected and interoperable domain name system that must be preserved
during any transition.


Various private sector groups have proposed systems for allocating and
managing generic top level
domains (gTLDs). The Government is studying the proposals and the
underlying issues to
determine what role, if any, it should play. The Government has not
endorsed any plan at this time
but believes that it is very important to reach consensus on these policy
issues as soon as possible.


The United States Government seeks the views of the public regarding these
proposals and broader
policy issues as well. Specifically, the Government seeks information on
the following issues:


A. Appropriate Principles


The Government seeks comment on the principles by which it should evaluate
proposals for the
registration and administration of Internet domain names. Are the following
principles appropriate?
Are they complete? If not, how should they be revised? How might such
principles best be
fostered?


a. Competition in and expansion of the domain name registration system
should be encouraged.
Conflicting domains, systems, and registries should not be permitted to
jeopardize the
interoperation of the Internet, however. The addressing scheme should not
prevent any user from
connecting to any other site.


b. The private sector, with input from governments, should develop stable,
consensus-based
self-governing mechanisms for domain name registration and management that
adequately defines
responsibilities and maintains accountability.


c. These self-governance mechanisms should recognize the inherently global
nature of the Internet
and be able to evolve as necessary over time.


d. The overall framework for accommodating competition should be open,
robust, efficient, and
fair.


e. The overall policy framework as well as name allocation and management
mechanisms should
promote prompt, fair, and efficient resolution of conflicts, including
conflicts over proprietary
rights.


f. A framework should be adopted as quickly as prudent consideration of
these issues permits.


B. General/Organizational Framework Issues


1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of current domain name
registration systems?


2. How might current domain name systems be improved?


3. By what entity, entities, or types of entities should current domain
name systems be
administered? What should the makeup of such an entity be?


4. Are there decision-making processes that can serve as models for
deciding on domain name
registration systems (e.g., network numbering plan, standard-setting
processes, spectrum
allocation)? Are there private/public sector administered models or regimes
that can be used for
domain name registration (e.g., network numbering plan, standard setting
processes, or spectrum
allocation processes)? What is the proper role of national or international
governmental/non-governmental organizations, if any, in national and
international domain name
registration systems?


5. Should generic top level domains (gTLDs), (e.g., .com), be retired from
circulation? Should
geographic or country codes (e.g., .US) be required? If so, what should
happen to the .com
registry? Are gTLD management issues separable from questions about
International Standards
Organization (ISO) country code domains?


6. Are there any technological solutions to current domain name
registration issues? Are there any
issues concerning the relationship of registrars and gTLDs with root servers?


7. How can we ensure the scalability of the domain name system name and
address spaces as well
as ensure that root servers continue to interoperate and coordinate?


8. How should the transition to any new systems be accomplished?


9. Are there any other issues that should be addressed in this area?


C. Creation of New gTLDs


10. Are there technical, practical, and/or policy considerations that
constrain the total number of
different gTLDs that can be created?


11. Should additional gTLDs be created?


12. Are there technical, business, and/or policy issues about guaranteeing
the scalability of the name
space associated with increasing the number of gTLDs?


13. Are gTLD management issues separable from questions about ISO country
code domains?


14. Are there any other issues that should be addressed in this area?


D. Policies for Registries


15. Should a gTLD registrar have exclusive control over a particular gTLD?
Are there any technical
limitations on using shared registries for some or all gTLDs? Can exclusive
and non-exclusive
gTLDs coexist?


16. Should there be threshold requirements for domain name registrars, and
what responsibilities
should such registrars have? Who will determine these and how?


17. Are there technical limitations on the possible number of domain name
registrars?


18. Are there technical, business and/or policy issues about the name space
raised by increasing the
number of domain name registrars?


19. Should there be a limit on the number of different gTLDs a given
registrar can administer? Does
this depend on whether the registrar has exclusive or non-exclusive rights
to the gTLD?


20. Are there any other issues that should be addressed in this area?


E. Trademark Issues


21. What trademark rights (e.g., registered trademarks, common law
trademarks, geographic
indications, etc.), if any, should be protected on the Internet vis-a-vis
domain names?


22. Should some process of preliminary review of an application for
registration of a domain name
be required, before allocation, to determine if it conflicts with a
trademark, a trade name, a
geographic indication, etc.? If so, what standards should be used? Who
should conduct the
preliminary review? If a conflict is found, what should be done, e.g.,
domain name applicant and/or
trademark owner notified of the conflict? Automatic referral to dispute
settlement?


23. Aside from a preliminary review process, how should trademark rights be
protected on the
Internet vis-a-vis domain names? What entity(ies), if any, should resolve
disputes? Are national
courts the only appropriate forum for such disputes? Specifically, is there
a role for
national/international governmental/nongovernmental organizations?


24. How can conflicts over trademarks best be prevented? What information
resources (e.g.
databases of registered domain names, registered trademarks, trade names)
could help reduce
potential conflicts? If there should be a database(s), who should create
the database(s)? How should
such a database(s) be used?


25. Should domain name applicants be required to demonstrate that they have
a basis for requesting
a particular domain name? If so, what information should be supplied? Who
should evaluate the
information? On the basis of what criteria?


26. How would the number of different gTLDs and the number of registrars
affect the number and
cost of resolving trademark disputes?


27. Where there are valid, but conflicting trademark rights for a single
domain name, are there any
technological solutions?


28. Are there any other issues that should be addressed in this area?






William M. Daley


Secretary






1. This request for public comment is not intended to supplant or otherwise
affect the work of other
public advisory groups, established under law.