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Master Of Your Domain
ICANN has been in the news quite a bit recently. Although new TLD's have been in the works for more than five years now, ICANN has given in to the lobbying of its patron mega-corps and stated that no new TLD's would be created unless trademark holders got first dibs on them. So much for a personal TLD exempt from trademark considerations... ICANN is currently pushing its At-Large Membership, which everyone should join, even though the system has been carefully rigged so that the public cannot make meaningful changes in the composition of ICANN's Board. All these and more will be discussed in their Cairo meeting, which will be Webcast starting 2 a.m. EST on March 8.
We have the power and the technical expertise to free ourselves, so why not do it?
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
What I'm about to say is heretical, so it'll surely be moderated into oblivion. Oh, well. People have a right to hear the truth anyway, even if they don't like how it sounds.
Yes, we all know the government created the Net. Fine, I'm glad. But so what? If the Internet had not been "exploited" and "taken over" by businesses, it would still be a useless boondoggle. I'm sorry, but there's no justification for spending tax dollars to provide scientific researchers and college undergraduates with alt.flame. As it turns out, the Net could grow into a lot more than that, and we have far-sighted civil servants like Larry Taylor at ARPA in the 1960's (and many others since that time) to thank for keeping it alive until it could pay for itself.
But now it can pay for itself. This boom we're in may have been planted by ARPA, but it was watered and cared for by businesses, and big ones at that. It's them we have to thank for the fact that the Internet is not a useless parasitic drain on public funds. They didn't create the Net, but without them we wouldn't want the Net.
So should they now get special consideration? Should we pause just for a moment and question our compulsion to bite the hand that feeds us? All those who work for a living, raise your hands. Thank you.
Trademark holders go first. You can register www.microsoft.goatse.cx afterwards.
Unless the domain names allow for the type of detail necessary to distinguish between trademark uses -- is this domain for a company that sells detergent or operating systems? -- it will continue to completely undermine the very notion that trademarks are assigned for specific uses and don't automatically remove normal words from everyday language. Nevermind complications from considering multiple languages
What is to be done about various international trademark disputes? In some countries, "aspirin" is a trademark owned by Bayer Aspirin, but not in the US where it's considered the generic name for acetylsalicylic acid. Is it just that US policy will continue to dictate how the internet functions on a global basis?
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
The globalization of the economy vai the net is going to create a huge trademark furball. Until recently, someone in Italy and someone in Ventura, California didn't have to worry if their product names were similar. Those two product markets were so distinct that it didn't matter. As we break down the barriers between markets through the net, conflicts that didn't used to exist are going to crop up. For example, let's say there is a small company in Vermont selling a product locally under a given name. There is a company in Texas selling something else under the same or a similar name. Both companies have been using the name for 30 years. Both start selling over the net, creating confusion. Now what happens? Obviously, the same can happen with two large companies from different countries. Trademark law was not really designed to handle these situations in an elegant manner.
1. If the Internet had not been "exploited" and "taken over" by businesses, it would still be a useless boondoggle.
Really? And all the scientific dialog, the ability for university research programs to communicate quickly and effectively - do I even need to go on? - a "useless boondoggle?" Hm. I expect the creation of alt.flame was probably one of the points at which people realized the 'Net had a lot more potential than simply exchanging research data.
2. They didn't create the Net, but without them we wouldn't want the Net.
You are so wrong. We could still be using it to develop open source software, host useless web pages, and pour nice hot bowls of grits down your pants. Come on, now.
3. Here's an interesting question: if I decide that I want to name the street I'm developing something like "Apple Street," should Apple be able to stop me? No. Because while Apple(TM) may be a trademark, apple (or even Apple) is not. Isn't that roughly analagous to this situation? Think about the implications of businesses with plain-language names getting involved here. There are many. There are also many businesses names that are common last names. What if mister Slim buys Slim.ert before the diet company does? is there a problem with that?
nope.
[|]
"Am I the only one who notices a double standard?"
.co.uk domain. If you're not a multinational company, you sure don't get .com. If you're merely American, you belong in .us. Is this really so hard to understand?
Not at all. ISTR a few years ago when ".to" came out that it caused a little stink... all this "come.to" cutesyism stuff.
Frankly I'm pretty sick of seeing things like "www.m8motorwaymaintenance.co.uk" on the backend of lorries, for two reasons. If I wanted a hostname stuck on my butt, I'd stick a hostname on my butt. If I wanted to point people at my website, I'd at least have the decency to make it a valid URL (see RFC1738). Secondly, the name itself it merely cute, not descriptive.
I'm all for country + a few other TLDs and whatever-the-InterNIC-calls-itself-today enforcing it strictly. If you're not a UK-based seller of things, you don't get a
~Tim
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Rushing on down to the circle of the turn
Of course, one asks how do internation rules come into play. For that, we need to force the use of country codes, then have each country decide the usage of the TLD within that country code. If you are looking for megacorp.com, the browser should be smart enough to start at www.megacorp.com.us if you are in the States, or www.megacorp.co.uk if in britian or so on. Thus, the *true* TLDs are the country codes, then each country can set it's own restrictions, so that the definition of a US non-profit organization does not play into how the UK might decide who gets org.uk domains.
But it all falls down to teaching the public and businesses that those TLDs *are* important in distiquishing between commercial and non-commercial interests. Commercial companies should have absolutely no reason to grab an .org name, and should be prevented from doing so. Thus, trademark dilution due to domain names in a unappropriate TLD become null and void; the TLD indicates that the word is not associated with the commercial business. (Mind you, if the content on the page is libel, that's something different).
Alas, the days when URLs were meant to be invisible to the non-proficent user are long gone.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
The problem was more in how the switch from being ARPA to comercial was handled. A lot of loose ends were left up in the air and the real power went to NSI. Everytime ICAN rattled the saber they were slapped around by certain congress members. 21 Bil for NSI goes a long way.
At any account the two large issues were trademark and the incredible chunks of change a row in a database cost.
As for trademarks I echo what others have said. Although there are rules in place they arn't applied across the board. For instance, by NSI's rules etoy should have never been pulled. But the deeper issues are corporate interests VS. "the little guy".
An example is nissan.com. This domain is owned by Mr. Nissan, (who's family has held the name for almost 3000 years). Nissan Computer Corp has had a trademark since 1991 on the name. Nissan Motor corp wants the name. Although NSI rules have kept Nissan Motors from taking the name outright they can still litigate Mr. Nissan into the poor house.
No matter how you cut it money and power pervail over rightful ownership.
There is nothing magical about the existing DNS tree, except that everyone uses it. Why not establish another group of root servers in some country that doesn't give a rat's ass about US trademarks (say...China?) and create whatever TLDs we want. If we all chip in our registration fees that would otherwise go to Network Solutions, I'm sure our new "Open" DNS organization could buy the hardware / bandwith needed. OK, for interoperability, it would have to be set up to forward queries not resolved in the "new" namespace to servers linked to the "old" namespace, but that shouldn't be difficult. Load up a new root cache file and tell ICANN where they can stick their board.
Every time a DNS/ICANN related story comes up, myself and several others post relevant information about how you can get involved, how you can participate, and what you should be doing if you don't like or don't agree with the way these policies are being developed.
Now, here's another story, stating the truth of what I and others have been saying for $DEITY knows how long now.
I'll make this very simple:
IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS, GET INVOLVED AND CHANGE IT!
And that doesn't mean joining the ICANN At-Large membership. It means getting involved with the Domain name Service Organization, specifically Working Groups B and C, and working to get rid of business-centric, short-sighted policies before they're enacted. In the end, it all comes down to numbers: Right now, the corporate lawyers and the businesspeople have a stronger lobby within ICANN than the individuals and the end-users do.
Don't be fooled, you will NOT have any impact on policy from the At-Large Membership. The proper venue for activism is within the DNSO working groups.
See this page for the mailing list archives of the working groups, and instructions on how to join. It's as easy as subscribing to a mailing list.
Unless and until you actually get off your ass and do something to change things, you're just going to be pissing in the wind. Slashdot is a wonderful forum, but all of you should be voicing your concerns where they matter, in the Working Groups, instead of here.
.@.
I don't mind trademarks, and I'd even go so far as saying that Chase Manhattan has a better claim on chase.com than I do, they being a commercial entity with a trademark. They also have a better claim on chase.org than I do, simply because they registered it before I did. But their claim is no better than mine for using Chase with any future top level domain. I should not be precluded from the opportunity to register it first (and neither should they).
Or are there supposed to be restrictions on who can register these new ones (like country codes)?
--
Patrick Doyle
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
Here's the deal:
.com, .net, or .org), and have ramrodded through what is now being accepted as a legitimate proposal that would eliminate the possibility of new TLDs without this shift of cost and burden from the TM holder to the domain name registrar.
As a trademark (or other intellectual property) owner, you are required by US and International law to protect your TM/IP, or lose it. The law clearly and firmly places the burden of policing possible infringements on the TM owner.
This includes the time, effort, and cost involved.
There are existing services that charge a nominal fee to do domain name/trademark infringement searches. Some registrars have this as part of their business model (e.g., look at the links off of http://www.whois.net).
Now, ICANN, via Working Group B (which is stacked full of TM/IP lawyers), wants to shift that burden to the registrars themselves, eliminating that business model, and superceeding US and International trademark/intellectual property law!
The folks from Working Group B have even invaded Working Group C, the WG for the addition of new Top-Level Domains (such as a
In short, the TM holders don't like US and International law placing the burden and cost of protecting their marks on their shoulders, and have found a political venue in which they can get away with shifting this burden onto someone else.
And every single one of you who isn't in there fighting to prevent this is tacitly allowing this to happen.
If this becomes reality, ICANN will have effectively superceded worldwide laws and treaties.
And since the DNSO leading body, the "Names Council", and the ICANN Board of Directors is full of trademark/intellectual property owners and biased business owners, this stands a very good chance of happening. The only way to prevent this is for each and every one of you to GET INVOLVED.
.@.
Besides this, country codes only rarely give any indication of the site's purpose, which a domain name should be restricted to doing. Take, for example, my old high school's URL; I think it ran http://flinthill.ind.k12.va.us or something like that. This is a classic example of too much information in a name (Flint Hill, Independent school, K-12, Virginia, US), leading to something a lot longer than a domain name should be. A simple http://www.flinthill.edu would have been better (and isn't taken either).
This also gets around trademark issues, because it makes it quite clear when a name is being used for commercial purposes.
How does this sound to people? The problem is that the current system is too fluid; flexibility has its place but this goes too far. Obviously, more TLD's than these are needed; feel free to contribute more. Just remember that any you add should be thought out such that an entity can obviously fit into only one of these TLD's, or obviously fits into one catecory far better than the rest.
And I'll say it again...
DNS names were never meant to be seen by the general public. They were never really meant to be seen by anyone, but the process of creating a URL system over a URL system took too long and so people advertise domain names.
What we need to do is simple:
Currently the "location" field in a web browser is only vaguely useful. It's a good place to type in the web site URL when you know it, and it's a quick way to verify what domain/file you're on. But what about when it's what it is in mine right now:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00%2F03%2F07%I, a trained geek who likes to know these obscure things don't need to see that, and the average joe definitely doesn't need to see it. What if that were replaced by a set of fields that gave me my location in some kind of logical hierarchy? "Language: English, Site Type: Online Forum, Site Name: Slashdot, Site Section: Article Comment Posting"
That (from what I understand) is that they're trying to allow with URNs.
That would also mean that when you're trying to reach McDonalds Clothing you fill in McDonalds in one box, Clothing in another, and then you're done. No accidental exposure to grease-filled nutrition free "sandwiches".
If that were done it wouldn't matter who owns mcdonalds.com or ford.com. It wouldn't matter that slashdot has a .org domain and that openssh.org isn't the main OpenSSH web site.
Am I dreaming? I don't think so... All we need is a push to get rid of browsers displaying URLs and we're halfway there.