IP: Net name registrars contest ICANN fees: Clips 1/18/2002

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Net name registrars contest ICANN fees
> By Gwendolyn Mariano
> Staff Writer, CNET News.com
> January 17, 2002, 4:30 PM PT
> http://news.com.com/2100-1023-817911.html
>
> A fight has broken out between a key Net standards body and Web address
> administrators in Europe.
>
> European domain name registries including Nominet, which runs the popular .uk
> address system, are refusing to pay fees to the Internet Corporation for
> Assigned Names and Numbers, saying the group has not done enough to guarantee
> the stability of the servers that link domains.
>
> "We don't know what (ICANN) is there for," said Nominet Managing Director
> William Black, who is also chairman of the general assembly for the Council of
> European National Top-Level Domain Registries (CENTR), an association of
> European registries.
>
> The fight over fees marks the latest battle for ICANN, which has been bruised
> recently in its attempts to expand the number of domain name suffixes.
>
> Last year, ICANN adopted seven top-level domains--.museum, .biz, .info, .aero,
> .name, .coop and .pro--and chose a handful of companies to administer them.
> But
> the new addresses have become caught in a web of setbacks, including launch
> delays and legal tangles.
>
> Black said CENTR is primarily concerned about the stability of the database
> that lies behind the Net's 13 root servers. The servers act as a Yellow Pages
> for the Internet, showing one domain how to reach addresses in another domain.
> Without root servers, Net surfers would be unable to reach Web sites.
> Separate companies and their employees operate root servers and maintain a
> database of domains in conjunction with them. The Internet Software
> Consortium,
> an open-source development group that operates one of the 13 root servers,
> said
> its root server answers more than 272 million queries per day.
> Black said the European registries are asking ICANN to establish standards
> aimed at ensuring root server reliability and to sign contracts with the
> servers' operators. Since some root server operators are volunteers, the
> registries want to ensure the systems continue to operate even if the
> volunteers decide to give up their positions.
>
> "Why shouldn't ICANN be prepared to enter into some sort of service
> agreement?"
> he asked.
>
> ICANN, however, said the stability of root servers can only be achieved
> through
> a cooperative effort by many organizations, not through a single body.
> "Contracts by which some of the operating organizations try to avoid their
> responsibility by shifting it to other participants would be
> counterproductive," ICANN wrote in an e-mail, pointing out that the root
> servers have operated without interruption for over 15 years.
>
> "Like any part of a complex system, such as the Internet, the root name
> servers
> are subject to continual (and constantly changing) threats," ICANN added. "The
> continuing participation of the various organizations...is the best way to
> respond to these continuing threats."
>
> It is unclear how much money is at stake or whether it would have a
> significant
> effect on ICANN's operation. The organization did not respond to e-mail
> questions about its finances.
>
> ICANN has run into financial difficulties before in its short history and
> recently sought to expand its budget.

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