.com Again?
.Com Again?
Nov 30, 2005: The .com top-level domain (TLD) is set to become the first major public battlefield in the international war for Internet naming rights as Verisign and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) are taken to task by a new lobby group.p>
In an agreement signed in October 2005, ICANN extended an agreement with Verisign that saw the latter maintain control of a 35-million name database of .com domains. The extension for renewal was pushed from 2007 to 2012. In a twist that would bring a smile to any contractor, however, it appears that the contract renewal after 2012 will be automatic. In effect this would give Verisign total domain over the Internet's major domain for eternity. The deal also enables Versign to increase the charge it requires to process registrations of .com names by 7% each year.
An organisation called the World Association of Domain Name Developers (WADND), which is based around the targeted.traffic.com company - does not appreciate this deal. In the words of the anti-trust case it filed today it alleges: "…The VeriSign/ICANN contract violates both federal and state antitrust and unfair competition laws and should be enjoined."
WADND says that the pair "have engaged in antitrust activities, including conspiracy, monopolization, illegal price fixing and monopolizing '.com' and '.net' domain name markets. The suit alleges that the two are on the verge of entering "an unlawful agreement [that] gives VeriSign a permanent monopoly over the all '.com' and '.net' internet domain name registrations."
While the contract renewal element of the deal has been seen by industry pundits as one the main attractions for the WADND suite, the other major aspect is Verisign's Site Finder service. Previously, had you gone in search of a new domain with the .com TLD and had entered an as yet non-existent name, you would have been directed to an 'error not found'. Site Finder enabled ICANN - which is the not-for-profit authority on domain names - instead to point you to Verisign directly.
As if this wasn't enough, another organisation Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CFIT) has also filed a suite against Verisign and ICANN. This suite alleges that the deal will: "erode the Internet community's role in determining policy and lead to locked-in price increases, adding $1.5 billion to the cost to consumers without economic justification."
Whether either suite has anything whatsoever to do with the 'Internet Community' per se or rather more any of the organisations' ability to make cold hard cash will surely come out in the wash. At this time, the '.au' domain is not affected by these US-based shenanigans.
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