Published December 15, 1998
The National Science Foundation’s five year contract with InterNIC to issue computer named addresses on the Web has expired. The new Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will assume the new responsibility starting March, 1999.
Your computer Web site host is probably the address for your e-mail account, although it doesn’t have to be. Frequently folks are choosing their own named sites and registering them with InterNIC, such as <www.mybusiness.com>.
InterNIC was established in 1993, funded by the National Science Foundation, collaboratively among AT&T, General Atomics and Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI). AT&T was to manage the database, NSI the registration, and General Atomics the information.
A peer review in the second year found General Atomics substandard, and funding was discontinued. The research and education entities continued to be serviced with minimal disruptions.
Network Solutions, Inc., a for-profit Herndon, VA corporation, became the formidable government-endorsed monopoly issuing computer names to businesses wanting to be identified uniquely on the World Wide Web. Three million commercial Web addresses, to companies around the globe, have been registered by NSI since 1993.
Although the non-profit ICANN won the new charter over NSI, funding has not begun to flow. NSI continues to operate as before under directions from U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). ICANN is scrimping at a time of startup capitalization, the parent company IANA encouraging its staff to pay their own way for travel expenses.
The outcry against this government sanctioned monopoly profiting and having totalitarian decisions with the International deal-making has been heard for years. NSI doesn’t answer the charges, because it doesn’t have to.
The Internet has grown from institutions of higher education research to a commercial extravaganza worldwide. This shift of the user base is prompting an increased multinational representation. The new independent, non-profit, responsive restructuring should be good for the Internet. Fees will likely fall.
Network Solutions not only issues and maintains the list of domain names—those letters between the http://www and the .com, .net, .org or .edu—but also acts as a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP) dispensing e-mail accounts. Proponents for unrestricted competition are vociferously favorable to an open market for Internet agencies. The extremely profitable posturing of NSI’s exclusive government favored status precludes other ISPs being considered.
Domain names are registered via a standard form on the Web and electronically distributed to domain name servers across the planet. This propagation requires four days, even at light speed.
The names that people type into the URL field of the Web browser are converted into numbers (IP) that computers understand, thus completing the connection to the Web address sought.
The complete database of names, such as hallmark.com or mt.gov or msu.edu, are electronically stored for retrieval for anyone wishing to check available of their chosen computer address. The identity, location and phone numbers of the issued domain names are online at <www.internic.net>.
For only $35 per year (first two years in advance), InterNIC will register your chosen domain name, if not already taken. However, the name must be registered with a computer IP number. NCI will charge another 58% to reserve your name.
An Internet Service company must host your Web site so your pictures and text are available 24 hours a day. Choose an ISP; they will host your personal or business information. An IP number will be assigned by the service provider, and your chosen domain name will be issued from InterNIC. If you ever move your domain named Web site to another hosting service anywhere else on the Internet, the computer address will remain unchanged. InterNIC, and soon ICANN, will do the rest.
ICANN’s critical assignment of unique names, that allows the Internet to function, embraces the principle of industry self-regulation. The parent company, under U.S. Government contract, is Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
The United States government, as custodian of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, supported by National Science Foundation funding that created the Internet, is continuing this work with IANA.
The Board of ICANN will be composed of nineteen local directors, nine at-large directors, and nine supporting organizations. The directors serve one-year terms elected by membership organizations.
There has been a movement underway for some time to add new domain names. Expect more of the regional names like <mybusiness.livingston.mt.us>.
The transfer of the DNS system must preserves the stability of the Internet, attract international support of “competition and greater consumer choice, and reflect the functional and geographic diversity of the Internet and its users.” —NTIA
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Web Links:
http://www.iana.org/index2.html
http://www.icann.org/
http://www.internic.net/
http://www.networksolutions.com
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/
http://www.worldnic.com/