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VeriSign To Control .com Domain Until 2012

DIY News wrote to mention a Reuters article reporting that VeriSign will control the .com domain until 2012, according to an agreement with ICANN. From the article: "The agreement settles a long-running dispute between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, and the most powerful company under its jurisdiction. The settlement comes at a time when ICANN is under attack from China, Iran and other countries that want more direct control over the domain-name system that guides traffic around the Internet."

162 comments

  1. The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Coincidence? Yeah, probably, but you should call Art Bell just in case.

    1. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by mctk · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not to mention it's the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Coincidence? Probably, but I'd still recommend that you never let go.

      --
      Paul Grosfield - the quicker picker upper.
    2. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1

      The UNIX calendar ends in 2038..;)

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    3. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by fyrie · · Score: 1

      If you can find a HAARP connection, you'd be good to go on tonight's broadcast.

    4. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by LLuthor · · Score: 2, Funny

      Perhaps the 32-bit UNIX calculator ends in 2038, but my 64-bit calculator does not end for at least 292.27 billion years - by which time I am sure even Windows will be 128-bit.

      --
      LL
    5. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by stupidfoo · · Score: 1

      I just finished my last bottle of Harp at about 1:30 AM this morning while listening to Coast to Coast.

      Is that close enough?

    6. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by LLuthor · · Score: 1

      Ooops: s/calculator/calendar/

      --
      LL
    7. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by fyrie · · Score: 1

      As long as the shadow government or a secret society is involved somehow, YES!

    8. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by ettlz · · Score: 1

      Quick, find him! Just where the hell is John fucking Titor when he's needed?!

    9. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by FST777 · · Score: 3, Funny

      40% funny, 60% insightful

      This can only happen on /.

      This indeed was funny, worthy of at least 5 point. but insightful?!? Who, dear God, are those people that consider the Maya and the Internet closely enough related to mod this up insightful...

      --
      Free beer is never free as in speech. Free speech is always free as in beer.
    10. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by DarkHelmet433 · · Score: 1

      My unix time_t goes for a few hundred million years or so, not 2038. All current 64-bit FreeBSD systems have a 64 bit time_t. libc's time suite (eg: mktime/ctime etc) all support Jan 1 1900 through a Very Long Time. We had to cut off below 1900 because we don't have timezone info for that and allowing tm_year (years after 1900) to be negative causes all sorts of interesting problems in software.

      peter@daintree[2:14pm]~-157> cat t.c
      #include
      #include
      main()
      {
                      time_t t = LONG_MAX;
                      printf("end of the world: %s", ctime(&t));
      }
      peter@daintree[2:14pm]~-158> cc -o t t.c
      peter@daintree[2:14pm]~-159> ./t
      end of the world: Sun Dec 4 07:30:07 219250468

      It was suprising how little software breaks with a 64 bit time_t.

    11. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by DarkHelmet433 · · Score: 1

      Except of course that there is an integer overflow somewhere up at the high end of the scale in the libc code. Oh we,, I guess we've got a few million years or so to figure it out.

    12. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1

      If you think BSD is going to survive 'till 219,250,468 A.D., you are sadly mistaken. Netcraft already says it's dying ;)

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    13. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by grasshoppa · · Score: 3, Informative

      A mod of funny doesn't give the author any karma, but the negative mods still take away from karma. So the mods, having learned this, will mod someone insightful or interesting when they want to mod the post funny so the author doesn't get any karma hits.

      --
      Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    14. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by DarkHelmet433 · · Score: 1

      You know, I would *LOVE* to have the problem of having to try and make this work. But somehow I really can't get excited about that, especially since we'll be having to futz with the calendar sometime "soon" to deal with the leap second issue. I really don't care that there is an integer overflow in libc when time_t hits 56 bits in FreeBSD :-)

    15. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by FST777 · · Score: 2, Funny

      allright, didn't know that :)

      but IMHO, that's still a /. problem. I don't really care about my karma (probably since I've noticed nothing important about it) but if it's that important, why should funny posts not be rewarded?

      oh well, flamebait for sure...

      --
      Free beer is never free as in speech. Free speech is always free as in beer.
    16. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by grasshoppa · · Score: 1

      but IMHO, that's still a /. problem. I don't really care about my karma (probably since I've noticed nothing important about it) but if it's that important, why should funny posts not be rewarded?

      It's a number. And like all numbers, people like to attach more importance to them then they alone are worth. More so here because these numbers are actually related, however minor, to our activities.

      For what it's worth, I agree: I think it's a flaw in the code. I think positive mods should be as significant as negative mods. So do many people, which is why they mod it as something other than funny. :)

      --
      Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    17. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you get enough downmods to get into negative karma, then you start posting at 0 (this happened to me once in 2002, IIRC), then down to -1, and I believe that if you get downmodded even further you get an autoban (though I'm not entirely sure of this).

      Slashcode used to award karma for funny mods, but the powers that be suddenly decided that to get karma "You have to be smart, not just a smart-ass." Of course, later on the same page they contradict themselves, offering "If You Can't Be Deep, Be Funny" as a tip for improving your karma, with a small note essentially saying "ignore this", but that's slashdot for you.

    18. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by FST777 · · Score: 1

      riiight, that clears up a lot!

      very well then, I won't mess with the Powers that Be, and will look into my karma. I don't think I'll change what I post though ;)

      --
      Free beer is never free as in speech. Free speech is always free as in beer.
    19. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by F34nor · · Score: 1

      No no its the sigularity! The great mountain of time! the I-Ching! ack. Thrrrpt its Bill the fucking Cat, eating out Jean Kirkpatrick (one of the founders of the vulcans.)

    20. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then they should mod underrated, which still gives karma.

    21. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by LordMyren · · Score: 1

      Silly cod, you missed the most obvious joke in all eternity!

      Verisign to control .com domain name until end of time!

      It wasnt just the end of the mayan calender. They werent like, well, this should be enough. It was the end of the 13 eon, where time itself ended and perhaps looped back to the beginning. It is the end of time.

    22. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by cloudmaster · · Score: 1

      It's not really a visible number anymore either - just a qualitative "excellent" (or some other term I've not seen because I was pegged at 50 when that switch happened and I tend to not troll enough to have dropped significantly since). I was dissapointed because I used to have "Maintain 50 Karma on Slashdot" in my "other stuff" setion of my resume - depending on the anticipated sense of humor at the recipient's end, of course. :)

    23. Re:The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 by F34nor · · Score: 1

      One of the dumbest polls ever on Slashdot was "When are you going to a 64 bit CPU" or something like that. There was no option for 2038.

  2. fair? by ajdlinux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Verisign has been known to go around policy: who authorised .root? ICANN is known to be undemocratic and hold meetings in places where people can't access them. Could some non-profit organisation take over .com and make the internet fair again?

    1. Re:fair? by Jim+Logajan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, an old and fair organization does exist. The ITU (previously CCITT) seems to have no problem handling telecommunication standards and telephone country code assignments relatively fairly.

      The ITU is one of the world's oldest international organizations:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Telecom munication_Union

    2. Re:fair? by c_forq · · Score: 1

      Can you please provides links? I would like to know more about this.

      --
      Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
    3. Re:fair? by ajdlinux · · Score: 1

      And why is ICANN controlling instead of ITU? Because America doesn't want it to. The US govt. can't cope with losing control of the net.

    4. Re:fair? by galdur · · Score: 2, Informative
      Well, there seemed a lot more love between ICANN and Verisign when they negotiated the .NET deal. I guess ICANN considered Verisign the lesser of two 'evils'?

      More criticism piled on .Net report [theregister.co.uk] .Net report speared a third time [theregister.co.uk]
      .Net report was fudged [theregister.co.uk]
      .Net report slammed again [theregister.co.uk]
      Denic damns 'errors' in .net report [theregister.co.uk]
      VeriSign responds to .net report criticisms [theregister.co.uk]


      Quite an entertaining read.
    5. Re:fair? by ajdlinux · · Score: 2, Informative

      * .root - a system TLD created without authorisation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.root
      * ICANN - meetings held in Ghana and Tunisia and other countries that most people don't even know exist - see http://icannwatch.org/

    6. Re:fair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When I'm looking for reliable, unbiased tech reporting, the Register is the FIRST! place I always go.

      They're never wrong and they never post baseless rumours as news.

    7. Re:fair? by Xarius · · Score: 2, Funny

      A non-profit running the .commercial domain?

      --
      C17H21NO4
    8. Re:fair? by ajdlinux · · Score: 2, Informative

      Funny. But the .com domain can be controlled by a nonprofit. Companies are out to make money, and they will misuse their power if it makes them money. Every company except for verisign will benefit with a nonprofit on .com.

    9. Re:fair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i think this nonprofit organization has had its eye on the TLDs for a while. would it make the internet "fair" again?

    10. Re:fair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shh, don't tell the Yanks that the ITU is a branch of the UN, they'll start ranting and raving about China censoring the Internet, the same way China stops them from making all the phonecalls they want.

    11. Re:fair? by monkeydo · · Score: 1

      Holy crap. Must these trolls appear in every article remotely related to DNS posting anti-American bullshit? Control of the . zone is not remotely like "control of the net."

      --
      Si vis pacem, para bellum
      The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian
    12. Re:fair? by tony1343 · · Score: 1

      Hell yeah, we invented the damn thing. Stop trying to steal it. We've been nice enough to let you use it; you should say thank you, and stop bitching. For the most part the only good sites anyway are American, English, and Australian. Maybe we'll give them some say, but screw the rest of you. If you speak fluent english and I don't even know you are foreign, then you are ok too. I'm not serious by the way. What has gone on with the internet that is unfair to other nations? It seems like the only countries clammoring are countries like China, and freedom of speech on the net is essential. Who else would control it, the U.N.? The internet would probably disintegrate. Might as well give control of it to a kindergarten class. I don't care if control stays completely within American control, but it cannot go to a political organization - that would be horrible. Until there is a need, keep it how it is. If change is needed, make sure it is an independent, non-political (as much as possible, obviously), and technical organization.

  3. Iran? China? by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    God forbid we should run the Internet in a way that displeases such an open and information-friendly group of countries.

  4. Coral Cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant
  5. Verisign icky! by mister_llah · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They tried to start a 'service' to redirect mistyped domain names to a search engine (with ads)....

    These same people also make 6 dollars per year for the 35 million .com domain names in use, and then also the .net names.

    They are icky.

    ===

    Of course, one has to wonder... WWCD? What would China do? (if they had control) ... or any other nation/entity vying for control...?

    Mountain View, California-based VeriSign introduced a search engine in September 2003 that directed Internet users who mistype domain names like "www.example.com" to a search engine which contained advertisements

    IMHO, The internet should always be 'free' (except for the cost of connection) ... and I think right now its as free as it's going to be...

    --
    MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
    http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
  6. China and Iran? by geoffrobinson · · Score: 0, Troll

    Darn Americans trying to control everything! Can we please allow the U.N. to control the Internet so we can have an easier time suppressing our people?

    --
    Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
    1. Re:China and Iran? by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Insightful

      suppressing our people

      Stop doing business with them, then talk about how evil they are.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    2. Re:China and Iran? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Stop doing business with them, then talk about how evil they are.

      Perhaps the US should follow the lead of the EU and UN members on that one?

    3. Re:China and Iran? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see you believe in trade embargos and such. Well guess what, its not wrong for individuals and companies to trade with individuals and companies in another country. Governments on both sides should get the hell of their way. Just because the Chinese and Iranian *governments* have human rights abuses doesn't give you the right or anyone else the right to decide who can trade *privately* with people in those countries.

    4. Re:China and Iran? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      stupid argument.

      a government turning a blind eye to sweatshops, forced labour and child labour - is it the fault of the government that 'individuals' and 'companies' exploit this.

    5. Re:China and Iran? by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      its not wrong for individuals and companies to trade with individuals and companies in another country. Governments on both sides should get the hell of their way. Just because the Chinese and Iranian *governments* have human rights abuses doesn't give you the right or anyone else the right to decide who can trade *privately* with people in those countries.

      Slave labour: It's just business!

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    6. Re:China and Iran? by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      Perhaps the US should follow the lead of the EU and UN members on that one?

      First: They're following the US lead.

      Secondly, it doesn't show, but the U.S.A. is a member of the UN, a founding member no less! With a permanent seat on the security council and everything! Who'd a thunk, right?

      Finally, did I say I was allright with them doing it? Or did I say to either STFU about how evil these countries are, or to stop being accomplices to what they do? That's right, the STFU one.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    7. Re:China and Iran? by tony1343 · · Score: 1

      Doing business with them is a much better way of bringing them around to capitalism, and then democracy and freedom, than the alternative. Plus, I like cheap stuff.

  7. Saw this first thing this morning by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1
    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  8. That means by ackthpt · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    Ebay will control .com names until 2012.


    I wonder if they'll auction off the expired names.


    You have been outbid on Domain Name www.cgi-ebay-com.com

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:That means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi, you're an idiot.

      Ebay only bought VRSN payment services, not the friggin registry.

    2. Re:That means by Mattwolf7 · · Score: 1

      Ebay didn't buy all of VeriSign, just one of the divisions...

    3. Re:That means by LLuthor · · Score: 1

      Ebay does not own Verisign - they only bought a small devision of it. Besides, Verisign merging with eBay is like me merging with a cheeseburger.

      --
      LL
    4. Re:That means by ackthpt · · Score: 1
      Ebay didn't buy all of VeriSign, just one of the divisions...

      Yes, the payment division, which therefore gives them control.

      Can't see how two posters actually missed that aspect, as it was the driver behind the purchase.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    5. Re:That means by ackthpt · · Score: 1
      Ebay does not own Verisign - they only bought a small devision of it. Besides,

      Payment services, which makes them gatekeepers. Read past the headlines, please.

      Verisign merging with eBay is like me merging with a cheeseburger.

      This explains something, I'm quite certain of it.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    6. Re:That means by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1
      > Payment services, which makes them gatekeepers. Read past the headlines, please.

      Um, no. eBay bought Verisign's payment services, which means that's now part of eBay.

      Your argument is like saying that if I buy a car from you, I get to determine what you have for dinner. The two things (eBay (formerly VeriSign) payment services and VeriSign controlling the registry) are completely unrelated.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    7. Re:That means by ackthpt · · Score: 1
      Ebay only bought VRSN payment services, not the friggin registry.

      And the payment services are the keys to the registry.

      And I'm an idiot? You should run for public office!

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    8. Re:That means by ackthpt · · Score: 1
      > Payment services, which makes them gatekeepers. Read past the headlines, please.
      Um, no. eBay bought Verisign's payment services, which means that's now part of eBay.

      Exactly.

      Your argument is like saying that if I buy a car from you, I get to determine what you have for dinner.

      No, it's like you want to buy a car from me, but I tell you to go stuff yourself, because I'm not going to let you buy the car you want to. I'll tell you which car you can buy, but you have to keep asking, one after another, rather than me telling you which ones you are allowed to buy.

      This should be no surprise, really, as VeriSign was just letting phishers and who knows what buy domains. Control the means of completing the transaction and you control who gets what.

      The two things (eBay (formerly VeriSign) payment services and VeriSign controlling the registry) are completely unrelated.

      You really need to think these things through before making such ridiculous claims. Why do you THINK that eBay bought that part of VeriSign? Because they like the way the cubicles are arranged? Sheesh.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    9. Re:That means by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1
      > Why do you THINK that eBay bought that part of VeriSign?

      Because they already own PayPal, and this VeriSign thing plays into thier strategy of controlling electronic micro-payments?

      One more time: eBay isn't going to have anything to do with DNS, or anything remotely like it.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    10. Re:That means by powerg3 · · Score: 1

      Um, no. eBay bought Verisign's payment services, which means that's now part of eBay.

      Exactly.

      eBay didn't buy Verisign's accounting department, they bought Verisign Payment Services.

      You really need to think these things through before making such ridiculous claims.

      Indeed.

      --
      Wild Eeep!
    11. Re:That means by wombert · · Score: 1

      No, it's like you want to buy a car from me, but I tell you to go stuff yourself, because I'm not going to let you buy the car you want to.

      At which point you go to the dealership next door and buy the one you want. You think Verisign had the only credit card processing around? Once they sell off that unit, they are still free to choose who processes their payments. They aren't somehow going to be forced to send all payments through eBay.

      --
      Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.
    12. Re:That means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Genius, payment services is verisign's version of paypal. It is NOT their accounting department OR the domain registry section. Hello? Clue? Get? No?

  9. Er, oops? by mister_llah · · Score: 1

    Uh, yeah, that Mountain View bit isn't supposed to be there, I guess it pays to edit, eh?

    I guess it goes well enough, WWCD, then I show what an American company would do.

    (Pause)

    No, it still looks like shite.

    Oh well.

    --
    MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
    http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
  10. A DNS scam? by Jim+Logajan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The ICANN and VeriSign dispute about the content of the root domain name servers makes about as much sense as a dispute between Fred and Joe over which of them can park their car in Bob's driveway.

    What contractual or legal obligations exist between ICANN, VeriSign, or any of the registrars and the owners of the traditionally accepted root domain name servers? Just how do ICANN or VeriSign intend to force the owners of the root DNS systems to sync their databases to the registrar's if they decide to cut out the middle man? What contractual or legal obligations requires ISPs to resolve DNS queries using the traditionally accepted root DNSs?

    I'd sure like to know what these missing links are. Seems to me they are fundamental....

  11. Why single out China and Iran? by siufish · · Score: 0

    I mean... it's the U.S. vs the rest of the world, and no real information is added by referring to China and Iran like other countries support their suppression of freedom. Please editors, don't post flamebait ok? Oh I forgot this is Slashdot... never mind then.

    1. Re:Why single out China and Iran? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's not simply the U.S. versus the rest of the world.

      China and Iran are leading proponents of setting up some sort of UN-based body to replace ICANN. The European Union wants to keep ICANN in place, but have it answer to an international group. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and I think Japan back the U.S.

    2. Re:Why single out China and Iran? by andr0meda · · Score: 1


      Europe wants to reform ICANN and bring it back to where it belongs: Geneva.

      --
      With great power comes great electricity bills.
    3. Re:Why single out China and Iran? by pl1ght · · Score: 0

      We can kick the rest of the worlds ass anyway. So why do we even care what they cry and whine about?

    4. Re:Why single out China and Iran? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you can topple an aging regime and then get your ass kicked by the people you supposedly liberated. How old are you, 12?

    5. Re:Why single out China and Iran? by pl1ght · · Score: 0

      Are you serious? Its f'ing liberals/laws/regulations/treaties/accords/etc/etc keeping us from being able to stamp down these fools. Its not us being incapable. We are more than capable, we are just held back.

  12. Re:Iran? China? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Bah, you fell for it. There are lots of countries-- including democratic nations of Europe-- who would like to see the 'net under a more global control. It's not a US-only club anymore, after all, and hasn't been for a long time. The poster evidently wanted to stir up specific emotions by explicitly listing China and Iran.

  13. Obligitory.. by fak3r · · Score: 4, Funny

    "All your .com domains are belong to US"

    1. Re:Obligitory.. by Xarius · · Score: 1

      Heh, ever played Zero Wing? They didn't belong to them for long.

      --
      C17H21NO4
    2. Re:Obligitory.. by thuh+Freak · · Score: 1

      please, mods, please stop encouraging these morons. all your base isn't funny. "clever" rewording of the same formula isn't funny. it stopped being funny a long time ago. it could have still been funny ocassionally, but assholes, like this one, ruined it. its dead. it hurts me to read it.

      --
      I wish that I was a catfish.
    3. Re:Obligitory.. by Thud457 · · Score: 1

      Take off every 'dead horse'.

      --

      the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    4. Re:Obligitory.. by fak3r · · Score: 2, Funny
      • please, mods, please stop encouraging these morons. all your base isn't funny. "clever" rewording of the same formula isn't funny. it stopped being funny a long time ago. it could have still been funny ocassionally, but assholes, like this one, ruined it. its dead. it hurts me to read it.


      it hurts you to read it? ouch, sounds like you are a bit uptight, try to have some fun sometimes. as for me being an 'asshole' feel free to look over my other past posts, they're usually not this funny. Oh, and just so you know:

      You have no chance to survive make your time.

      HA HA HA HA ....
  14. so... by smindinvern · · Score: 1

    ...what does this solve?

    --
    ignorance will killus all --eric
    1. Re:so... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It attempts to solve an argument between many powerhungry people.

  15. No, you *don't* have to wonder WWCD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    All you have to do is watch what they are doing with the Internet control they already exercise within their own borders. Imprisoning dissidents for speaking their minds, hunting down kooky but otherwise relatively-harmless religious cults with a vengeance, creating entire ministries of government for "reeducation" of Internet "addicts."

    US-based Internet corporations certainly have some things to be ashamed of... but they mostly involve complicity with the aforementioned Chinese governmental policies. The Internet may be an annoyance to Dubya's administration ("There ought to be limits to freedom!") but the Chinese government takes it well beyond the grumbling stage. They must not be given a broader role in Internet administration until they have shown that they aren't frightened to death of a few words or images on a Web page.

  16. Re:Iran? China? by hitmark · · Score: 1

    well, the big us corps seems to bend over backwards to get access to the chinese markets. didnt yahoo help track down a journalist's id based on a email account on their systems?

    oh i forgot, thats about money, not "freedom"...

    --
    comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
  17. what if... by CDPatten · · Score: 0, Troll

    Verisign wound up only controlling the "US internet and China, Cuba, and France create their own .com TLD separate from ours.

    What happens to all the billions of computers that try to go to indowsupdate.microsoft.com?

    1. Re:what if... by ciroknight · · Score: 1

      They'd be retarded. First of all, the root domain ".com" doesn't matter that much; anyone who's got a big-name .com has bought rights to it for years and years to come, and if another country tried to distrupt them, those companies would go bonkers on that country.

      Secondly, Other countries already have their version of ".com", though many believe that we should follow their lead as well (.co.uk, .co.fr; why not replace .com with .co.us?).

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
    2. Re:what if... by jzeejunk · · Score: 1

      in that case since we've already changed french to freedom, we might as well change cuban and china both to .com ;)

      --
      sarchasm
    3. Re:what if... by Harlan879 · · Score: 1

      Ooh! Ooh! Think of the possibilities! I want cous.co.us! And there's also rau.co.us... and vis.co.us...

    4. Re:what if... by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1

      Funny.
      Don't forget mu.co.us

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    5. Re:what if... by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1
      They'd be retarded. First of all, the root domain ".com" doesn't matter that much; anyone who's got a big-name .com has bought rights to it for years and years to come, and if another country tried to distrupt them, those companies would go bonkers on that country.

      Secondly, Other countries already have their version of ".com", though many believe that we should follow their lead as well (.co.uk, .co.fr; why not replace .com with .co.us?).

      ...because, although .com has a large number of US companies in it, it is not solely composed of US companies. The only statistic that I can readily locate is from late 1997, and only shows 71.6% being owned by US companies.

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  18. Choose your evil by fuzzy12345 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I thight this topic was pretty much mined out, so I don't expect the huge number of "USA, yeah! UN Sux!" posts that have characterized it in the past, but...

    What's everyone say now? ICANN President Paul Twomey said the settlement shows that issues involving the domain-name system are best resolved within ICANN, rather than through an international bureaucratic body. Am I missing something? Big US corporation uses threat of long, expensive US litigation to bend ICANN to its will? ICANN claims that this proves the system works, sure -- what else could they say and maintain a shred of self-respect?

    But now y'all have to chose your evil: VeriSign and litigation lawyers, or the UN? Bwahahahaha!

    --

    Everybody's a libertarian 'till their neighbour's becomes a crack house.
    1. Re:Choose your evil by ZachPruckowski · · Score: 1

      Well, litigation isn't designed to be useful, it's designed to make the litigants money. In theory, the UN is designed to get things done. Granted, it isn't efficient, but it gets stuff done.

    2. Re:Choose your evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In theory, the UN is designed to get things done. Granted, it isn't efficient, but it gets stuff done.

      Are we talking about the same UN? If by getting stuff done you mean stopping a genocide by arguing over the definition of "genocide" vs. "acts of genocide", then I suppose you are right.

    3. Re:Choose your evil by ZachPruckowski · · Score: 1

      Um, last I checked, the US wasn't much better. I mean, Darfur, Rwanda?

  19. Re:Iran? China? by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 0

    The Internet was developed in the US and for many years was supported by the largesse of the US Defense Department and Universities. Now that other governments think that the net is "useful" they think the US should share. I have no love for Verisign or any of the other monopolists, but ICANN has shown that international stewardship of the net is rather poor as well. Given a choice between those who would run the net for profit (which tends to encourage efficiency) and the net run buy an international do-nothing agency, I'd prefer to retain the status quo.

  20. Re:Iran? China? by thumperward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oooh, lovely cracky mods this evening. HE DISSENTS! SEIZE HIM!

      - Chris

  21. Re:Iran? China? by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 1

    Sorry, you're just plain misinformed/wrong, look at the previous 5 discussions about this very same topic, i won't detail it for you.

    --
    It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
    Be yourself no matter what they say
  22. Completely, Utterly, Wrong. by ciroknight · · Score: 3, Informative

    Who the hell modded this up? Ebay bought a very, very small part of Verisign, the part that did payment processing. No big deal. Verisign still controlls the .com, .net root servers, and that's all this article is about. Period.

    --
    "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
    1. Re:Completely, Utterly, Wrong. by ackthpt · · Score: 1
      Who the hell modded this up?

      Clearly someone brighter than you.

      Ebay bought a very, very small part of Verisign, the part that did payment processing. No big deal. Verisign still controlls the .com, .net root servers, and that's all this article is about. Period.

      Yes, payment processing, which gives them oversight of domain name purchasing. You're the 4th poster who couldn't even see this, despite it being spelled out in The Bob knows how many news articles.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:Completely, Utterly, Wrong. by Toasty981 · · Score: 1

      The other posters have it right, I believe.

      If a consulting company takes over the outsourcing of the financial department of a company, that doesn't mean the consulting company controls what they purchase. They can't effectively shut down the corporation re-routing all their money.

      Similarily, just because eBay is expanding its micropayment attempts, doesn't mean they'll have any control over their registries.

    3. Re:Completely, Utterly, Wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When will you realize how spectacularly you are missing the point?

    4. Re:Completely, Utterly, Wrong. by ciroknight · · Score: 1

      You are fucking retarded. eBay is basically playing Bank with Verisign Payment Processing / PayPal. They don't give a damn where the money comes from, and to a lesser degree, where it goes. They just process the payments and take their cut in the profits. It really isn't as big a deal as you make it sound like; there are a million other banks out there who do this exact same thing. Just because you own the bank doesn't mean you control the purchases that the company banking with you makes. But good attempt at a troll.

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
  23. PLEASE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Will someone PLEASE invent a replacement for DNS so we don't have to suffer thru this crap anymore?

    1. Re:PLEASE by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1
      Sure. Visit our website at:

      129.42.16.99
      or
      129.42.17.99
      or
      129.42.18.99
      or
      129.42.19.99
      or
      129.42.20.99
      or
      129.42.21.99

      Please try to load-balance your requests.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    2. Re:PLEASE by ajdlinux · · Score: 1

      Convert all that into IPv6!

    3. Re:PLEASE by ilyanep · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just because it's done through DNS now doesn't mean it's the only way it can be done.

      --
      ~Ilyanep
      To get message, take amount of carrier pigeons at each stage mod 2. Then decode binary.
  24. Re:Iran? China? by stupidfoo · · Score: 1

    Errhh... the other 15 discussions were mostly filled with anti-American tyrades that had little to do with the Internet.

    Other than wanting to be a "team player" there is still no good reason for the US to give up control.

  25. Re:Iran? China? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nope kid, you're wrong. Sorry. No room for negotiation or argument here. You're wrong. End of discussion.

  26. Everyone wins...except the users by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So let me get this straight:

    1. Verisign introduces wildcard
    2. ICANN tells them to temporarily suspend that
    3. Verisign sues, but the case gets thrown out
    4. Verisign sues again and they settle that Verisign keeps its reign over .com until 2012, instead of 2007 BECAUSE they fucked up in the first place with that outrageous wildcard-advertising?
    5. No ??? here, just profit.


    Oh yea, and the people wonder why do I and apparently the rest of the world think that ICANN and the USA is not doing the task it had been given properly?

    --
    It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
    Be yourself no matter what they say
    1. Re:Everyone wins...except the users by wayne · · Score: 2, Informative
      Oh, it is worse that you describe.

      ICANN didn't rule out the redeployment of sitefinder, Verisign has mearly agreed to inform ICANN first and ICANN has promised to give a quick technical review.

      Verisign will support ICANN as the controller of the DNS root against EU attempts to break the monopoly.

      Verisign has fought hard to protect domain owners by limiting ICANN domain fees to only grow by a factor of 3, while ICANN has fought hard to protect domain owners by limiting Verisign to increasing their fees by 7% per year. </sarcasm>

      Check out this post to the ICANN mailing list for more details.

      --
      SPF support for most open source mail servers can be found at libspf2.
    2. Re:Everyone wins...except the users by triffidsting · · Score: 1

      Maybe it just was a political maneuver - getting Verisign properly incented to back them up in the upcoming brouhaha. Verisign has big pipes and lots of experience and hardware dedicated to this purpose. Having them defend the ICANN might be the "expert testimony" that sways the UN people to let the matter rest for now.

      --
      Non, je ne veux pas coucher avec toi ce soir.
    3. Re:Everyone wins...except the users by rs79 · · Score: 1

      It's not quite that simple though. At the time NSI began wildcarding there were 13 other (cc)tlds that were wildcarding. Some (.ws I think) for about two years at that point.

      Now, there was a clause in the ICANN/NSI contract that NSI had put in (since neither ICANN nor NSI had even the faintest trust in each other; fair enough, each wanted the other dead and it showed; IBM forced them to get along; but I digress) that said ICANN can't treat NSI any different than any other TLD manager, so, when ICANN got frapped for wildcarding NSI was within their rights as they had negotiated them and that ICANN had agreed to by contract. ICANN of course went back on their word... frapped sitefinder (which I found both annoying and helpful at times - a dead draw in summation) and the rest is as you describe.

      NSI is a company. It had a pretty clear job to do and is accountable to it's shareholders. Buy a share and you get to vote.

      ICANN is accountable to mysterious guys that move in the shadows. It's all favours and party politics and the reason the meetings are so boring is because it had all be worked out in the bar last night.

      Those of you smirking right now have been to one of these things I see.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  27. Re:Iran? China? by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

    Isn't China supposed to invade Taiwan by 2012? Hmmmmmm

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  28. Re:Iran? China? by slavemowgli · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, that part of the article was FUD at its best, and you're the perfect example of a naive Slashdot reader who took the bait and fell for it, so to speak.

    For one, not all the world's Iran and China; admittedly those are dictatorships that you probably don't want having a say in how the Internet is governed, but the majority of the world's countries is not like that. Furthermore, the proposition wasn't that individual countries control the Internet; rather, it was suggested that an international body responsible for this be created. Kind of like the ITU, for example - which is not exactly a prime example of the devastating influence that countries like China and Iran would have, is it?

    And don't even think about playing the "free speech" card - that coming from a country where an accidentally-exposed nipple on TV causes a major outrage and where the FBI goes after and tries to shut down porn websites is just ironic. If you want the USA to keep control of the Internet, at least be honest enough to admit that you like to feel that you're in power, that you have control, and that you're better than the rest of the world.

    And now I'll most likely get modded down to oblivion for saying this, probably - again by people who otherwise constantly talk about free speech. Isn't it ironic...

    --
    quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
  29. Re:Iran? China? by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

    Neither China nor Iran are dictatorships. Get your head out of your ass.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  30. Re:Iran? China? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll admit that the U.S. is better than the rest of the world.

  31. Re:Iran? China? by Xarius · · Score: 1

    Every week, maybe every day, we hear about another US-centric lawsuit based around "Intellectual Property" and licensing and a whole manner of stupid crap designed to limit access to our information-based purchases, such as DVDs or games or books.

    I didn't expect anything but hypocrisy from the country that brought us the DMCA.

    --
    C17H21NO4
  32. Why mention only China and Iran? by CharAznable · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why not the EU or any other number of countries that don't have despotic governments? Countries depend on the internet for a number of things, and it's only natural and sensible that they don't want to trust their vital infrastructures to Verisign or the US. Mentioning China and Iran seems like a lame attempt at scaremongering. "Imagine, the internet in the hands of China! Oh noes!"

    --
    The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
    1. Re:Why mention only China and Iran? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because Zonk has been watching too much Fox News.

    2. Re:Why mention only China and Iran? by bullitB · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why not the EU or any other number of countries that don't have despotic governments?

      Because frankly the EU doesn't have any legitimate complaints. There's nothing the EU has tried to do that that ICANN has stopped them from doing. The same can't be said for Iran and China, who have tried extremely hard to eliminate the existence of subversive web sites. ICANN impedes their ability to do this.

      There are two big issues Europe is really worried about. Firstly, Europe wants to eliminate the IETF, because it embarrassed the ITU in designing the Internet when they could not. The fluke of the Internet de facto standards doesn't fit well with Europe-based organizations like the ITU and ISO, who would rather control those standards. Secondly, European politicians probably want to cash in on the current "Americans/Bush sucks" attitude felt by an overwhelming portion of the world, so they're using this time to their advantage.

      Not to say that the US and US politicians wouldn't do the same thing in these circumstances, but the idea that there's something remotely noble about this sudden, global anti-ICANN movement is absurd. There is no reason to believe the ITU or whoever else gets control of domains wouldn't give VeriSign (or someone worse) control of .com anyway.

      Mentioning China and Iran seems like a lame attempt at scaremongering

      It can both be scare-mongering and a very legitimate concern.

    3. Re:Why mention only China and Iran? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What part of "DIY News wrote" do you not understand?

    4. Re:Why mention only China and Iran? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mentioning China and Iran seems like a lame attempt at scaremongering.

      Haven't you figured it out yet? "Think of our freedoms!" has exactly the same effect on USA geeks as "Think of the children!" has on USA mothers. It doesn't have to have sound reasoning or facts behind it, the mere idea of "those damn commies" taking away freedom is enough to shout down any attempt at rationality.

    5. Re:Why mention only China and Iran? by kevinbr · · Score: 1

      You say "who have tried extremely hard to eliminate the existence of subversive web sites. ICANN impedes their ability to do this."

      ICANN impedes them today exactly how?

      Any country that want to impede web sites buys cisco routers and proxy servers and firewalls their main access and redirects all web access through a farm of proxy servers.

      Why exactly do they need control of DNS to do this? In fact today they can redirect all port 53 requests away from OUR DNS servers to THEIR DNS servers.

      You say "Firstly, Europe wants to eliminate the IETF..."

      You stay this will no attribute, the EU does not give a %%$$£ about the IETF vs the ITU. This is of course a statement that only exists as true in your head because it suits you world view which seems to be EU sucks and US is KING.

      Where have you seen concrete action that Europe wants to eleimnate the IETF? The ITU and the IETF have different goals and remits.

      Perhaps the ITU should take over the IANA function of ICANN, perhaps not. But FREEDOM demands that this choice be made democratically by ALL internet stakeholders globally NOT just the US. Everyone should have an open process to add TLD's to the root file without having to beg and suck up to some fucked up ICANN expensive TAXABLE process.

      WHy should nations and people of the world have an ICANN tax with no representation?

      Oh......because you say so?

      Has China and Iran fucked up the ITU? Is the global phone space at risk because China has input to the ITU standards process?

      Does the US Suck? If it does only because ignorant serfs like you pull the flag out of their ass and try to jam it down the throats of other humans.

  33. Re:Iran? China? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yup. You're the prettiest waitress at Dennys. Now what?

  34. Higher prices too by karl.auerbach · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The prices for .com names may go up significantly - 7% per year.

    And ICANN's slice goes up to 50cents per name per year.

    All of this adds up to increased taxation on those who acquire domain name, i.e. you and me. Yet we are unrepresented in ICANN's decision-making processes. Can you say "taxation without representation"?

    And if you really think about it, what is the actual cost to provide a service in which the yearly cost is that of *not* removing an entry for a database and in which the resources consumed are a few hundred bytes of disk space?

    I've suggested a new domain name selling model - The .ewe Business Model - or - It's Just .Ewe and Me, .Kid(s) (http://www.cavebear.com/cbblog-archives/000159.ht ml)

    1. Re:Higher prices too by wayne · · Score: 1
      And if you really think about it, what is the actual cost to provide a service in which the yearly cost is that of *not* removing an entry for a database and in which the resources consumed are a few hundred bytes of disk space?

      While completely agree with you about the price increases being out of line, I have to point out that what you said above isn't true. Verisign has to turn the dot-com name servers and have to provide an interface so that registrars (i.e. godaddy, netsol, joker, etc.).

      I don't believe that the costs of running those name servers cost anywhere near $6 per domain per year that the currently charge. I also don't see how their costs are going to be increasing 7% per domain per year. Yeah, their total number of queries will be going up as the internet grows, but the cost per domain is going to go down as bandwidth and hardware costs go down.

      --
      SPF support for most open source mail servers can be found at libspf2.
    2. Re:Higher prices too by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Presumably the price goes up because real costs (energy etc) go up while # of .com domains continues to go down. Therefore cost per domain goes up.

      Just a guess.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  35. Re:Iran? China? by azureice · · Score: 1

    Care to enlighten us as to which country has more freedom of speech?

  36. I'm from Iran and I DO AGREE with you!! by linumax · · Score: 1

    I don't even believe that the control of .ir should be given to Iranian authorities, these fuckin bastards, all they know is how to limit people's access to any source of information which is not completely under their own control!
    Now that I'm writing this many bloggers are being prosecuted in courts, around 120 newspapers/magazines have been closed by the judiciary in the past couple of years and 99% of ISPs were enforced to block whatever relates to politics and p0rn, I don't care for the latter but I used to read many online news websites in my own language and almost all of them have been blocked by now(Damn, they even blocked Orkut, Google's cache and Google translate!). I know, there are proxies out there but they are all more of a temporary workaround rather than a permanent solution.
    Anyway, IMHO Internet should be govenrned by some int'l independent organization, maybe a subsidiary of UN, but governemnts of countries like Iran, China, etc. should not be allowed to vote or decide on any matter, they should just be able to attend the meetings and know what goes on and no more that that. Up until the day they learn how to care for freedom of speech, freedom of access to information and all other sorts of freedom.

    PS: AFAIK The provider of the filtering system for Iran Telecommunications Inc. (IRTCI) is an american vendor and the name of the software is smartfilter! I'm not sure about this bcuz they never announce the details but if it's true me and other proponents of freedom in Iran expect US goverment to ban american vendors from helping Iran with it's evil freedom-limiting plans. and sorry if I was a bit off-topic, I'm just mad at what goes on!

  37. And read this too! by linumax · · Score: 1

    No, I'm totally serious, Plz read it.

  38. Re:Iran? China? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fortunately for Ritz Just Ritz, moderators are just as easily taken in by this sort of intellectually dishonest tripe increasingly making its way across the /. wires. Insightful. Lol.

  39. verisign = jamster by digitallysick · · Score: 1

    soon you will go to any website, and it will say " get the funny gay elephant on your cell phone" just text the # 1234 i hate that, i cant believe verisign owns them, and then destroys my tv with the stupid commericals, they dont even try to offer content that people would want on their cell phones, i wish someone would destroy verisign

  40. The arguments? by DynamicPhil · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I have yet to hear *good* arguments for not transferring the power to the UN.
    Does ANYONE have those?

    Ive currently heard (and you will get my comments on the arguments in non-italic)
    The US doesn't mess with how its run
    false: we have the whole mess with the .xxx domain, and not to forget: what's going on with the iraqi domain?
    Well, since the current owners are in US custody (!??) its in limbo: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/30/iraq_inter net_domain/?

    Transferring power will lead to greater Cencorship
    Oh, cencorship as in preventing media to display coffins of dead soldiers? Or showing a nipple on tv? Banning Al Jazeera from reporting from iraq? Or pictures from abu ghraib? (where the public - thats us, folks - have the right to know what is actually going on).
    No, my dear friends - it's time to 'fess up, and admit that there are plenty of countries - participating in the UN, as a matter of fact - that does the whole "Freedom of speech"-thing better than the US.

    The UN is corrupt
    Arguably the UN has had its share of scandals - it's no suprise since any political body draws the attention of people out for personal gain. This is solved by actively participating, and demanding increased opaquity of how the UN (or any political body - the US for example) is run. I won't even go into the whole Haliburton, Bush AWOL, Saudi connection, Campain Contributions and Florida vote scandals.

    Historically the internet came from the US - so it should remain in US control
    This one is plain dumb. Just because something is historical, doesn't mean that it neccessarily is good today.

    The US runs it better (technically)
    Not really. Ever heard of pharming? Im going to do a littel flag-waiving myself, and point out that right now Sweden is on the track to implement DNS-SEC, for examplehttp://www.nic.se/english/nyheter/pr/2005-0 9-14?lang=en

    To keep internet democratic, the US should be in control
    It IS a issue of democracy. The US has to hand over the power to a international democratic body, any other action is per definition UN-Democratic (no pun intended). I'm sorry, but arguing anything else is just moot.
    It's the US responsibility to participate and to try to affect the outcome of voting on these issues in the UN. That, my friends, is how democracy is supposed to work.(and I shouldn't have to point out what democracy actually is)
    I'm scared of that the rest of the world won't put the US intrests first.
    Well, should they? Honestly?
    The rest of the world is not, I repeat NOT, by definition Evil. Remember, North Korea, China (as is the US) are a part of the rest of the world. There are enough good countries to balance out the "bad" ones ("bad" as in the _US sense of the word).

    Ok, I'll probably be modded down for this post, but before bringing out the flamethrowers, I'm actually intrested in hearing good arguments for keeping it in US control.

    Regards ...

    --
    "If it can be thought up, there exists at least one person trying to make it happen for real" - Phil
    1. Re:The arguments? by tony1343 · · Score: 1

      What's the deal with this nipple business that keeps coming up? I guess America just has different morals than Europe. Nudity isn't accepted as much here (as a guy, I agree with Europeans). We don't block out nudity, porn, etc in the proper channels though. We are seeing a lot more of what is going on with the soldiers in Iraq than we ever have in any other war. Bad stuff happens in war, sorry but that is the fact. Really bad stuff happened in World War II - a war that is highly glamorized. If you think no criminal actions took place on either side, than you are sadly mistaken.

    2. Re:The arguments? by rs79 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "what's going on with the iraqi domain?
      Well, since the current owners are in US custody (!??) its in limbo: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/30/iraq_inter net_domain/?"


      Around 1995 or so Bayan Elashi was given .iq by Jon Postel (apparanly on the basis of a phone call simply asking for it) I worked at a small company which Bayan was the president of in 1983/4. We talk every few years, or we used to.

      The company Bayan ran that I worked for built 100 CP/M S-100 Z-80 based Bilingual English/Arabic computers. They had MS BASIC and Wordstar and nothing else. This was in Torance, California.

      I moved to Canada, the Elashi's moved to Texas and opened a computer store in the early 1990's.

      Bayan's sister married a guy who six years previous could be pinned as belonging to Hamas, but was guilty of apparanly nothing more than that. Just after 911 in the anti-Arab furor, the Elashis (there's a half dozen of them) were also running a Palastinian relief organization. They had all been born in Palestine and had Palestinian passports, but when I worked with them Palestine didn't technically exist. The government tried to show they were funding terrorists but could only find receipts for medical supplies.

      Not being able to pin anything actually terrorst related on them they popped them for sending mice to Turkey dropshipped through Italy. or Libya or something. Somebody we didn't like that week. Was it Iran when we liked Iraq or Iraq when we liked Iran - don't remember.

      They've been in jail 3 years now waiting trial if memory serves.

      Now, the interesting thing is the Elashis have no more or less claim on "their" TLD than the Brits, the Germans or even the Americans do. A phone call was all it took back then. Cf. Nigel and the Pitcairn Island TLD (rolls eyes)

      so, if you can get a judge to believe a TLD is worth money, then the US/ICANN arbitrarily taking it away and citing some nonsense about "community purpose" would, I presume be actionable.

      ICANN tries to be risk averse. They're terrified of this one. So, the nameservers for .iq still point on Bayan's machines. They will presumably change without warning one day or have an accident.

      I know Bayan reasonably well and I know the actors in DC and Marina del Rey. I think the wrong ones are in jail. That is, I'd much sooner trust Bayan with all names and numbers than the clowns and their yelping trademark lawyers who have it now. I mean, at least Bayan can actually configure a nameserver; he was also the one I convinced fund gryphon.com/gryphon.uucp that ran all usenet news and uucp mail in LA in the mid to late 80s from NASA and mejac. For this we taught him unix. Maybe that's his problem.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    3. Re:The arguments? by DynamicPhil · · Score: 1
      Thank you, this is really really intresting!
      It's actually exactly how the net is supposed to work; bringing forth information and real peoples accounts, instead of somebodys FUD.

      --
      "If it can be thought up, there exists at least one person trying to make it happen for real" - Phil
    4. Re:The arguments? by kevinbr · · Score: 1

      Like what happened to the .ae Domain. It was run by a private citizen, and then the local MONOPOLY telephone company decided they wanted to be in the ISP business and emailed Postel who handed over the TLD to Etisalat with no process as defined at the time.

      IANA and now ICANN had and have too much power behind opaque rules and processes and it boils down to if the rules do not suit them they just act.

      No one asked the UAE internet community who should be redelegated the .ae domain. IANA just did it. The government had no involvement as at the time they were too ignorent, but now with the UAE trying to become WTO members it will look silly to have the .ae domain run by a gormless monopoly.

      Freedom? Choice? Nah.......

      ICANN is not about that, it is about power and influence and lack of process and MONEY.

    5. Re:The arguments? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very good questions!

      Just a thought... what stops the UN from just creating a new DNS register? I whould guess that any non-US ISP would switch the first day it was up and running stable. It could even start with a copy of the current DNS (cp internet localhost =) so the end users not whould see any difference at all.

    6. Re:The arguments? by DynamicPhil · · Score: 1
      You are absolutely right.
      But, if I may guess: it won't be the UN doing it, it will be China (I'm just doing the math: approx. 1/6 th of the world population - that's potential internetusers - are Chineese). And they will just "sync" the DNS register with what they want included (if they feel the need for it), and probably punish anyone in china not using this Chineese DNS register.
      You can also bet that most companies in the rest of the world will fall in line with this - just ignoring 1/6 of your potential customers just isn't an option.

      This is exactly the scenario that the UN is trying to avoid. This is exactly why the UN needs to be backed!

      --
      "If it can be thought up, there exists at least one person trying to make it happen for real" - Phil
  41. This is a racist comment. by hummassa · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Everybody I know who passed sixth grade Geography with "D"s knows where Tunisia and Ghana is.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
    1. Re:This is a racist comment. by Lucractius · · Score: 2, Funny

      yet these people cant even find one of the evil countrys people always talk about like North Korea...

      http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/002454.html

      --
      XML - A clever joke would be here if /. didn't mangle tag brackets.
  42. Re: Rhetorical, old bean... by mister_llah · · Score: 1

    The WWCD comment was rhetorical, allowing people to make their own conclusions on the subject, but ultimately the various countries and agencies track records speak for themselves. :)

    --
    MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
    http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
  43. if it ain't broke .. by illuminix · · Score: 1

    The US built it, it's working fine. Leave it alone.

    --
    http://cubemonkey.net/quotes -- fortune-mod quote generator
  44. Re:Iran? China? by tony1343 · · Score: 1

    I'll admit it, America is better than the rest of the world. Obviously, we can't trust people in other countries, since they don't even have the sense to emigrate here. There is nothing wrong with having a little nationalistic feeling - as long as you don't go overboard. Calm down with the Anti-American rhetoric - it's getting old.

  45. Re:Iran? China? by belmolis · · Score: 1

    Say what? What do you think they are? Democracies? Iran has nominally democratic institutions, but it isn't a real democracy because a small group of clerics can veto anything that they regard as inconsistent with Islam and can, and have on numerous occasions, bar candidates that they don't like. Iran has a terrible human rights record, imposes a state religion, and censors the press.

    As for China, again there are certain semblences of democracy, but the real power is in the hands of the Communist Party oligarchy. Elected officials have little power and you aren't allowed to run if the party doesn't like you. Labor unions are illegal. The press is censored, and the courts are openly subject to political control.

  46. Americans are too stoooopid to control the net by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to a CBS News public survey, 51 percent of Americans don't accept evolution. Note that the nationwide sample size was just 808 adults and that the error rate could be plus or minus four percentage points.

    Fifty-one percent of Americans say God created humans in their present form, and another three in 10 say that while humans evolved, God guided the process. Just 15 percent say humans evolved, and that God was not involved.

    These views are similar to what they were in November 2004 shortly after the presidential election...

    Americans most likely to believe in only evolution are liberals (36 percent), those who rarely or never attend religious services (25 percent), and those with a college degree or higher (24 percent).

    White evangelicals (77 percent), weekly churchgoers (74 percent) and conservatives (64 percent), are mostly likely to say God created humans in their present form.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/22/opinion/ polls/printable965223.shtml

  47. Re:Iran? China? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh NO! Anti-American Rhetoric is getting OLD! Established and widespread! Well, it looks like the Anti-Americans are certainly the ones with the problem here.

  48. Re:Iran? China? by ZombieRoboNinja · · Score: 1

    Has the US control really been so onerous to date? Any huge issues of censorship or repression?

    No?

    Then I don't exactly see why control should be handed over from an organization that's doing a perfectly fine job of it to some ambiguous international organization. Or is the goal to make the Internet as efficient and quick-moving as the UN?

  49. Why not just use country codes? by Mustang+Matt · · Score: 1

    Let each country control the root servers for it's country codes and the U.S. can start using .com.us like every other country does.

    --
    The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
  50. Re:Iran? China? by tommyServ0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't think you understand what free speech is. It has nothing to do with nipples and getting modded down. My nipples, for example, do not speak, nor am I familiar with any medical literature that talks about nippular vocal abilities.

    In addition, being "modded down" does not infringe upon your free speech. If you were taken to jail for your post, then we would have a free speech issue on our hands.

    tS

    --

    Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff.
  51. Re:Iran? China? by Scudsucker · · Score: 1

    They aren't democracies, but more so oligarchies. Rule by a powerful few as opposed to rule by a single individual.

  52. VeriSignToControl.com Domain Until 2012 by Bemmu · · Score: 1

    But after that, the domain is mine!

  53. US lawyers at work?? by Wolfier · · Score: 1

    The FA does not say what happens after 2012.

    It is too easy but wrong to assume VeriSign to *relinquish* control after 2012.

    "Control until 2012" does not mean "Not control starting 2013".  I think the EU are fooled.

  54. Wtf? Get a clue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why not the EU or any other number of countries that don't have despotic governments?

    Probably because they're not despotic governments! SURPRISE! Despotisms are more likely to suppress information than their democratic counterparts.

    Countries depend on the internet for a number of things, and it's only natural and sensible that they don't want to trust their vital infrastructures to Verisign or the US.

    Well gee-wiz, THEN DON'T. Build your own fucking "vital infrastructures". Or do what most (all?) Internet Service Providers do: use your own DNS servers! If China or North Korea or Japan or any other country wants to build their own DNS system, guess what? NOTHING IS STOPPING THEM.

    Mentioning China and Iran seems like a lame attempt at scaremongering. "Imagine, the internet in the hands of China! Oh noes!"

    No shit? Do you really want China to be part of an international group, insisting that it have the power to control everything its populace does online? Would you rather see DNS replaced by an "infrastructures" allowing governments the oppurtunity to monitor and control what information their citizens do and don't receive?

    I don't think it's a lame attempt at scaremongering; infact I'd say the concerns are justified. *I* don't think oppressive nations should have any say *period* in the evolution of the Internet. Infact, I'm ashamed of companies - especially the American ones - who sell goods/services/software to countries such as China which help to further suppress freedom and information.

  55. Re:Iran? China? by theTerribleRobbo · · Score: 1

    > Isn't it ironic...

    ... Don't you think?

  56. MOD PARENT UP by Lucractius · · Score: 1

    Damn it if i had mod points theyd be on your post so fast!

    Someone mod this up damn it!

    --
    XML - A clever joke would be here if /. didn't mangle tag brackets.
  57. Re:Iran? China? by grimJester · · Score: 1

    Care to enlighten us as to which country has more freedom of speech?

    Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, New Zealand, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, Austria, Latvia, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Canada, Lithuania, Portugal, United Kingdom, Benin, Cyprus, Namibia, El Salvador, Cape Verde, France, Australia, South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jamaica, Mauritius, South Korea, Japan, Mali, Hong-Kong, Spain, Costa Rica, Italy and Macedonia.

    Here's the list.

  58. More than two options by Lifewish · · Score: 1

    There have been many many types of government throughout history. Iran is a theocracy, China is pretty much the equivalent, but substitute Communism for Islam. Neither is a dictatorship. The fact that they are not dictatorships does not mean that they are democracies.

    I don't particularly like either of them, but that's cos they suck not cos they're not democracies. I also think that the Salem region of Massachusetts sucked in 1692 to a similar degree, regardless of its democratic status.

    --
    For the love of God, please learn to spell "ridiculous"!!!
    1. Re:More than two options by belmolis · · Score: 1

      You're making some false distinctions. First, the term "dictatorship" is used in two ways. In its narrowest sense it refers to rule by a dictator, which is rule by a single person. Iran and China are not in this sense dictatorships but rather oligarchies. In its broader sense it refers to any system of government that is dictatorial. Although dictatorial is etymologically related to dictator, it is broader in meaning. In this broader sense, a dictatorship is a system in which power is restricted to a small group and in which it is wielded arbitrarily, without regard for law. In this sense, Iran and China are correctly described as dictatorships.

      A theocracy is any system of rule by a religious body. It isn't a term on the same dimension as "democracy", "dictatorship", and "monarchy". A system of rule by a hereditary religious figure could accurately be described as a theocracy and as a monarchy. The current Iranian system is a theocratic oligarchy mixed with some democratic institutions. The current Chinese system is an oligarchy that, I would argue, is no longer a "theocracy". That is, the system was once driven by ideology, but that isn't really true any longer. China has effectively abandoned communism. Economically, it is now a capitalist country, albeit one in which the state or the military still own many companies. It retains the dictatorial aspect of the old Communist government but is de facto no longer a communist system.

  59. FLAMEBAIT?! Pfff... by hummassa · · Score: 1

    You know, when I get my mod points, I usually take a good look in the person who is writing something before moderating as troll or flamebait.
    The fact is: everybody that passed junior high should know about the world he lives in, where are located Tunisia and Ghana, that Brasil is larger than the continental US, speaks Portuguese (not Spanish), and that Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  60. My choice has been made for a while by TheSpoom · · Score: 1

    VeriSign lost any shred of respect from me when they implemented SiteFinder. I'm against them gaining any more power and I suspect if they're convinced of their control they will do this again.

    (By the by, I think this whole "who has control" thing is really over the top anyway; nobody's going to let the Internet "disintegrate", it's far too important no matter who's in control.)

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs
  61. How large are your genitals? by CyricZ · · Score: 1

    How long is your penis, sir?

    --
    Cyric Zndovzny at your service.