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IP: Network Solutions hit with suit from C/Net
From: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 20:02:32 -0500
Network Solutions hit with suit By Margie Wylie March 20, 1997, 3:45 p.m. PT <Picture: Just In>Network Solutions has been accused of violating antitrust laws through its exclusive sale of commercial Internet domain names. PGP Media this morning filed a suit in a New York court alleging that the partially government-funded Network Solutions has conspired with several other Internet groups to set up artificial barriers to competition in the selling of Internet domain names and maintain monopoly control of the market. The International Ad Hoc Committee, the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) and its director, Jon Postel, the Internet Society (ISOC), and unnamed "control persons" are named as "nonparty coconspirators" in the complaint. According to the complaint, which has not yet been formally served on Network Solutions, the company is using its historical control of Internet "root servers" to preclude competition in domain name service. Root servers are computers that act like switchboard operators, matching up familiar network names, like "cnet.com" with the location of that Net resource, like a Web site, email server, or gopher server. At issue is a small database file, the "config file," that resides on these 11 root servers scattered across the world. The first step in "resolving" a domain name system address, the config file acts something like a directory of area codes. It contains a listing of every officially sanctioned top-level domain, the usually three-letter suffix on a domain name. Network Solutions issues names in seven top-level domains, including ".com," ".net," and ".gov." A top-level domain not listed in the official root servers is virtually unreachable. By refusing to list top-level domains other than its own, Network Solutions keeps out competition, the complaint alleges. PGP Media's own domain naming service, called name.space, can't operate on the Internet without access to the config file on the Internet's official root servers. The company is asking that the court force Network Solutions to list name.space's top-level domains, such as ".camera," in the official root servers in addition to minimum damages of $1 million. "The same as AT&T was forced to give MCI access to its phone wires, Network Solutions should be forced to give us access to the config file," said Michael J. Donovan, the attorney representing PGP Media in the case. "It's property my clients need access to in order to compete. We can't recreate this; to do so would mean we have to recreate the Internet." PGP Media asserts that despite Network Solutions's InterNIC agreement, an exclusive cooperative agreement and grant with the National Science Foundation, the company has no authority to limit or control the growth of the domain naming system. Network Solutions has said in the past that it does not control the root servers but that the IANA does. Donovan, however, said that Network Solutions, not IANA, is the responsible party because it was granted the exclusive contract for domain service from the government. "We've been through every document we can find and nowhere is IANA named as a government contractor," he said. The complaint also said PGP Media reserved the right to challenge the 1995 change to the original National Science Foundation agreement that allowed Network Solutions to start charging $100 fees for two-year name registrations on grounds of price-fixing and restraint of trade, though the current suit does not address the agreement. The IANA was sued earlier this month by Image Online Design. The company accused IANA of reneging on a deal to grant it a new ".web" registry. Network Solutions officials were unavailable for comment.
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- IP: Network Solutions hit with suit from C/Net David Farber (Mar 20)