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NSI to require immediate payment for some
ethereal writes "CNET News.com has an article discussing NSI's recent change of heart. However, some businesses can still register names in bulk and pay later, so it sounds like this will only be effective against individual cybersquatters. " NSI has been coming under attack for allowing domain squatting, and so they are going to shift to require payment much sooner. However, some business that meet certain requirements and are reserving a bulk of domains will be able to pay later in a lump sum.
One of the things that I like about the web is the fact that I as a small, individual can actually figure out how to make the things I need the most on the net work...
Now, I understand that cybersquating is a problem for some folks, but I think that these new policies are more likely to hurt the little guy than the big guys.
I for one, do not use credit cards and don't reallyplan to, but now it looks like in the future I will be required to get a credit card in order to actually be able to order my domain name...
If I mail in the cost for the domain name, by the time my check arrives the Domain Name might be sold to someone else. Further, since I generally use Money Orders it's probably going to be a pain in the a** to get my money back.
So instead of the current situation where it takes me a few moments to register my name, and send in the check... I may end up doing a back and forth dance to establish a domain name for a period of months and that name I get is not necessarily the one I want.
Now I understand that I am an exception to the norm, but I think this will also serve as another hurdle for people outside the US as well. 'Course maybe credit cards are universal and I am just being stupid...
Also what the heck, raising the price? Cybersquatting is not a problem with pricing issues the money for the domain names is never received. All raising the price will do is force individuals out of the market. Gee, no more fan sites, no more individual interest sites, no more sites by those dang blasted kids. You know the ones that actually understand the web and know how to use it. Slash-dot for instance, what's with that obviously the news should be provided by NBC, CBS and CNN let's raise the costs of doing business so that these new guys are not able to get into the market....
Sigh
Lando
Lando
Making 6 figures a year, paying cash for your purchases, and not using a credit card... Makes a second class citizen on the
net?
/* TODO: Spawn child process, interest child in technology, have child write a new sig */
As is typical, the big businesses that can already afford to are going to be the ones snapping up lots of addresses.
Anyone remember the www.bushsucks.com story from a while back? One of the other things a large company might do is buy up mis-spellings of rivals' domain names and redirect them there. Imagine, for instance, if Microsoft bought up things like www.linuz.com and www.netcape.com. That can leave people with interesting false perceptions, if they don't realize they've made a typo.
Though I have to admit, I do still think it's pretty entertaining that the NAACP bought up www.kkk.somethingorother. (I forget which ending it had.)
"Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today
Commerce Department yanks ICANN's chain, backhands NSI
On 9 July the Commerce Department sent a 32-page letter [1] to the ICANN board and the House Commerce Committee, responding to committee chairman Tom Bliley's questions on ICANN's recent actions [2]. Here's the NY Times's coverage [3] of this letter (free registration and cookies required). Commerce Department officials said that ICANN should
hold all meetings in public,
drop a proposed $1-per-domain-name fee until a permanent ICANN board can vote on it, and
draw up binding contracts with domain-name services that would bar ICANN from going beyond their mission.
Commerce did not let NSI entirely off the hook, either. While chastising ICANN for a threat, issued in its Berlin meeting, to cancel NSI's authority to issue domain names, the Commerce letter states baldly that unless NSI signs ICANN's operating agreement, Commerce will in fact terminate that authority. NSI must stop at once claiming the .com, .net. and .org domain-name databases as their intellectual property, Commerce insists.
Congress has now scheduled the investigative hearing promised by Bliley. The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will convene "Domain Name System Privatization: Is ICANN Out of Control?" on Thursday, July 22, 1999 at 11:00 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2322.
On 16 July Commerce again extended the deadline [4] for the end of the open domain registration test. The test had already been extended once [5] because of protracted wrangling among NSI, ICANN, and the test registrars. The new target date for wider participation in competitive registration is 6 August.
[1] http://www.ntia.doc.gov/n tiahome/domainname/blileyrsp.htme t.html
[2] http://www.news.com/N ews/Item/Textonly/0,25,38200,00.html?pfv
[3] http://www.ny times.com/library/tech/99/07/biztech/articles/10n
[4] http://www.zdnet.co m/zdnn/filters/bursts/0,3422,2295115,00.html
[5] http://tbtf.com/archive/1999-07-08.html #s01
TBTF Is required reading for anyone with a clue.
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