Subject: NetAction Notes No. 42: ACTION ALERT
Audrie Krause (audrie@netaction.org)
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 18:57:16 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 18:57:16 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <2.2.16.19980918190049.37e78642@pop.igc.org> To: roundtable@cni.org From: Audrie Krause <audrie@netaction.org> Subject: NetAction Notes No. 42: ACTION ALERT
NetAction Notes
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Published by NetAction Issue No. 42 September 19, 1998
Repost where appropriate. Copyright and subscription info at end of message.
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In This Issue:
ACTION ALERT: Support the Public's Right to the .us Domain
Taking Back the Net
About NetAction Notes
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ACTION ALERT: Support the Public's Right to the .us Domain
* * * PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS ACTION ALERT UNTIL OCTOBER 5, 1998 * * *
Dear Friends,
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) of the Department of Commerce has asked for public comments
regarding the .us Internet domain and how it should be used. Because
this issue has important implications for noncommercial use of the
Internet, the NTIA needs to hear from you.
WHY THE .US DOMAIN ISSUE IS IMPORTANT
Right now, there are very few Internet addresses ending in .us, as
opposed to the more popular .com and .org top-level domains. The NTIA
wants to change this, but NetAction, along with the Domain Name Rights
Coalition (DNRC), is concerned about how the NTIA will structure the
governance of the .us domain space. Specifically, we want to ensure
that the proposed new .us governing body will uphold the rights of
noncommercial speech on the Internet, and to prevent the .us domain from
being restricted geographically by linking all .us domain addresses to
postal addresses.
NetAction believes that the .us domain should not be dominated by
corporate interests at the expense of private individuals, community
groups, and political organizations. If you believe as we do, you can
help preserve our rights to the .us domain by submitting comments on the
issue to NTIA before the October 5, 1998, deadline. Our colleagues in
the DNRC, who are following this issue closely, believe that the NTIA
will be more responsive to concerns about noncommercial speech aspects
of .us domain governance if they hear from numerous individuals and
organizations before the comment period ends on October 5th. For that
reason, we are urging you to submit comments, rather than inviting you
to co-sign NetAction's comments.
HOW YOU CAN HELP ENSURE NONCOMMERCIAL ACCESS TO THE .US DOMAIN
Comments are being accepted by email, and to make participation easy
we are circulating the draft of NetAction's comments. (See below.) You
are welcome to use our comments as a sample in drafting your own, or
simply substitute your organization's name and submit the comments we
have drafted on behalf of your organization.
The e-mail address to send comments to is: <usdomain@ntia.doc.gov>.
If you prefer to submit comments on paper, you will need to include
a computer disk with a copy of your comments in ASCII, WordPerfect, or
Microsoft Word (indicating the version of WP or Word) and mail the
comments and disk to:
Karen Rose
Office of International Affairs, NTIA
Room 4701, U.S. Department of Commerce
14th and Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
WHERE TO FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE .US DOMAIN ISSUE
The full text of the request for comments can be found at:
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/usrfc/dotusrfc.htm>, and a
more detailed explanation of NetAction and DNRC's position on the issue
is located on DNRC's web site at: <http://www.domain-name.org/usdomain.html>.
The questions to which NetAction's comments respond are as follows:
3. Specifically, should special-purpose second-level domains be created
under .us? What are the benefits and costs of creating particular
special-purpose domains (e.g., industry-specific, credentialing,
zoning)? How should such domains be created and administered? Are
there reasons to map names and other addressing and identification
systems (e.g., postal addresses, telephone numbers, longitude and
latitude, uniform resource numbers or others) into .us?
5. How should conflicting proposals and claims to manage or use .us
subdomains be resolved? Who should have responsibility for coordinating
policy for .us over the long term? What public oversight, if any, should
be provided?
6. What rules and procedures should be used to minimize conflicts
between trademarks and domain names under .us? Should this problem be
treated differently at international, national, state, and local levels?
Should special privileges be accorded to famous trademarks, such as a
right to register directly under .us or a procedure to pre-empt the use
of the trademark in a range of subdomains?
WHERE TO GET ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ALERT
NetAction thanks Mitch Stoltz for researching and drafting this
alert and our comments. Please direct questions and/or comments about
the .us domain issue to Mitch at: <mitch@netaction.org>.
* * * DRAFT OF NETACTION'S COMMENTS * * *
The following is a draft of the comments NetAction will submit to
the NTIA. Use this as a sample or simply substitute your organization's
name (or your name if you submit comments as an individual) and send the
comments by email to: <usdomain@ntia.doc.gov>.
Karen Rose
Office of International Affairs, NTIA
Room 4701, U.S. Department of Commerce
14th and Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
Email: usdomain@ntia.doc.gov
Comments on the Enhancement of the .us Domain Space, in response to the
Request for Public Comment (Docket No. 980212036-8172-03).
Dear Ms. Rose,
The .us top level domain (TLD) provides the United States with a
golden opportunity to alleviate overcrowding in the .com and .org
domains, to experiment with new forms of Internet governance, and to
present an example to the world of how the American values of free
speech and open communication go hand-in-hand with the Internet. NTIA
has taken the first crucial step by recognizing the value of the .us
domain in promoting these goals. However, we feel that certain issues
involving policy guidance of this domain, and the potential conflict of
commercial speech versus other types of speech, need to be addressed
more strongly by NTIA.
In response to question (5) of NTIA's ".us Request for Comments," we
believe that the policy issues surrounding the .us domain should be
handled by a U.S. Internet Council, a forum where the U.S. Internet
community can negotiate policy for the .us domain under the jurisdiction
of U.S. law. The existence of such a body would not conflict with the
current trend of internationalizing Internet governance. On the
contrary, it would ensure that the U.S.-specific TLD, .us, is maintained
according to U.S. law and U.S. values of free speech, without the need
for accountability to foreign governments. This domain could then serve
as an example to the world of fair, democratic Internet governance.
The existence of the Internet Council would facilitate the
separation of policy and technical administration of domain names.
This is clearly a necessity, since the policy-making body must be held
open to participation by and be accountable to the U.S. Internet user
community and the U.S. Government and legal system, while the technical
overseers of the domain name system should be free of these
responsibilities.
We believe that the .us domain should be organized initially into
a small number of second-level domains (SLD's) based on the type of
content to be organized under each. (Question 3) SLD's can be created
for commercial content, personal content such as individual home pages,
and for political speech. The current geographical system, which
assigns SLD's to states and localities, does not make sense to a modern,
mobile, location-independent Internet company or organization, and it
violates the Internet's "location-independent" philosophy. Mapping
addresses in .us to postal addresses or phone numbers does not make
sense for the same reasons -- there is no value to associating an
Internet address with a specific locality.
Finally, we believe that noncommercial and commercial speech should
be given equal protection in the .us domain, as addressed in question
(6), and that trademark owners not be given any special precedence in
obtaining a domain name. Law and court cases have established that
simply registering a domain name does not constitute use of a trademark.
Thus, companies should not be able to pre-empt the registration of a
domain name similar to their corporate trademarks, especially not in the
personal and political SLD's we propose. Since the Internet was first
created as a tool for communication and collaboration, not for buying
and selling, any policy which protects the right of commerce over
freedom of expression violates the spirit under which the Internet has
achieved its phenomenal success. The first-come, first-served system of
assigning domain names which exists currently has been an important
factor in this success by allowing a very fast turnaround for domain
name registrations. To replace this system with something resembling
the lengthy registration, review, public notice, and opposition process
which registered trademarks require would be unmeasurably damaging to
the Internet's viability as a medium of speech.
In order to maintain the values which are key to the Internet's
growth, and to set an example to the world Internet community, we ask
that NTIA make a high priority of the following policy recommendations
put forth by the Domain Name Rights Coalition:
a) That the protection of free speech be a primary policy goal for those
overseeing the .us domain.
b) That "No Internet policy will prevent individuals or businesses from
using their full imagination and creativity to create and label
products, services and content for the Internet, just as they do in
traditional channels of communication and commerce."
c) That policies for the .us domain "will affirmatively and expressly
set out protections for free speech and open communication, as well as
protections for intellectual property rights in the digital
environment."
d) That these policies "will protect and promote the development of new
Internet products and services by entrepreneurs and small businesses, as
well as the ongoing marketing and sale of products and services by
long-established companies."
(Source: <http://www.domain-name.org/usdomain.html>.)
The proposed expansion of domain names under the .us TLD cannot help
but alleviate overcrowding on the generic TLD's like .com and .org.
However, we have an opportunity to achieve other goals with this
transformation: a strengthened protection of the rights of free speech
and entrepreneurship which our country stands for.
Sincerely,
Audrie Krause
Executive Director
audrie@netaction.org
NetAction
601 Van Ness Ave., #631
San Francisco, CA 94102
http://www.netaction.org/
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Taking Back the Net
Private control of the domain name registration process impacts
important Internet issues, including free speech and public access.
The closed nature of ongoing discussions about domain name governance
poses a threat to these principles. Internet users can learn more about
the situation at an Open Forum on Domain Names and Internet Governance
which is scheduled to take place Wednesday, September 23, 1998 from
7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The event, entitled "Taking Back the Net: Freedom of Speech and Freedom
of Choice Online," will be netcast, live from the Great Hall of the
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City.
Internet participants will have an opportunity to submit comments,
questions and criticism to the panel during the discussion. (For those
in New York, the Great Hall is located in the Foundation Building, 7th
Street at Third Avenue, in Manhattan.)
See <http://www.iciiu.net/> for information on how to participate in the
netcast, and for background on the International Congress of Independent
Internet Users (ICIIU).
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Copyright 1998 by NetAction/The Tides Center. All rights reserved.
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