Domain Debate Highlights Net's Growing Pains

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August 31, 1998 (5:19 PM EDT)

Domain Debate Highlights Net's Growing Pains

By John Borland,

A group of would-be Internet founding fathers and mothers say they are close to creating the Net's first governing body.

But there are still bumps ahead. At stake is control of Net domain-name policy with millions of dollars in trademark issues, domain-name opportunities, and other issues hanging in the balance. The debate is exposing bitter partisan divisions, with vocal members of several camps vying to leave a final imprint on the new system.

The outlines for a privatized Net domain-name system, based on public input and private-sector management, were contained in a U.S. government white paper last June. The new system will be headed by a non-profit corporation, which will serve as the Net's policy-making body. But the details for creating this body were left to the Internet community at large, with a mandate to come to a consensus decision by the end of September.

It hasn't been easy. The past few months have served as a roving constitutional convention, with one contentious forum after another at international meetings, on websites, and on e-mail lists.

Under the banner of a group called the International Forum on the White Paper, a loose coalition of activists, Web entrepreneurs, and Net administrators has been trying to reach consensus on the details of self-governance. A series of meetings has brought agreement on many basic principles, with a final vote scheduled later this month.

But some members of this group say their work is being undermined by the people who now run the Net's technical structure, led by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) director Jon Postel.

Postel is widely viewed as the single most influential voice in Internet domain-name issues. His organization has put out a series of proposed drafts for the creation of the Net's new governing body. The most recent version, released last week, called for the community to put aside their disputes and move the process ahead.

"This [process] requires compromise, and it also means that only a small number of the most contentious issues ... will (or could) be resolved at this time," Postel wrote in a message accompanying his proposal. "It is now time to stand up and be counted, so we can finish this phase of what has become a long road to progress."

But many of the IFWP members say Postel's draft, which is supported by much of the Net's technical community, does not represent compromise at all.

"IANA's documents do not conform with the White Paper's mandate of accountability, transparency, and openness," said Mikki Barry, executive director of the Domain Name Rights Coalition, a group lobbying for Net free-speech rights. "They also do not reflect the consensus points of the IFWP."

"If the technical community really wants the governments of the world to leave them alone, they have to have a system that allows for broad accountability."
-- Jay Fenello
Iperdome

According to Barry and other critics, Postel's proposal creates a governing board that is not accountable enough to the rest of the Internet community. The IANA draft would create a "top-down" system, unable to take account of the Internet's diverse community of interest groups, they said.

"If the technical community really wants the governments of the world to leave them alone, they have to have a system that allows for broad accountability," said Jay Fenello, president of domain name company Iperdome, and an active participant in the IFWP process.

The critics say they are confident the IANA will have to take account of their positions, however. The U.S. government has consistently said it wants genuine consensus, Fenello said.

"Their message has been pretty much the same," Fenello said. "The minority positions can not be ignored. They don't want a bunch of disenfranchised players complaining about the results."

A final IFWP meeting has been scheduled for Sept. 13 and Sept. 14, with the results to be put to an open conference and Netwide vote on Sept. 19.