IANA or IRA ?

[Jim Fleming <JimFleming at doorstep.unety.net>]

On Friday, April 24, 1998 5:29 AM, Owain Vaughan[SMTP:owain at axa.co.uk] wrote:
<snip>
@
@You wouldn't want General Motors (for example) registering under
@
@GENERAL-MOTORS.EDU
@

I would prefer to see the users registering what THEY want.
Then, we can track their actions and make sure we keep
giving them more, not less. As an aside, in the U.S. there
is a school run by General Motors where apparently auto
mechanics are trained. I believe the sign on the building
says, General Motors Institute.. If THEY think that the
name above best fits their need and they obtain it first then
why not help to make sure it works for them ?

@and the University of Southern California registering under
@
@USC.COM
@

Again, why try to become the world's policemen ? Who knows
why USC might want this name ? Why not let them choose ?
People have a different view of what .COM means. I was once
told by someone that the .COM extension comes from the following,
(get ready for this...it is sad but true...)
	"When Microsoft *invented* the Internet, binary files ended in .COM
	and .EXE and they decided to use .COM but have been thinking
	about also now extending the TLDs to also include .EXE"
Yep !!...when Microsoft invented the Internet...I guess I missed that Patent :-)

Since you have brought up USC, some people have noted in the
past that ISI.EDU should probably be ISI.USC.EDU. Why isn't this the case ?
Well, in my opinion, it follows a pattern which is that ISI does as
they please while writing rules for everyone else to follow. For example,
www.iana.org takes you to an ISI.EDU web page. You have to look under
Services to find the IANA reference. Why is this ? In my opinion, it is
just one more example of the misguided management of the IANA.
Hopefully, that will change with the IANA Inc. from the U.S. Government.

Of course, some people may then assume that the name IANA.COM
will be used. This would make sense and several business people have
drawn similar conclusions. Unfortunately, when Bill Manning called
a meeting at USC (ISI) to discuss new TLD Registries and accepted
$1,000 from Chris Ambler with his .WEB application people claimed
this was not "The" IANA. Was Chris mislead ? When IANA Inc. gets
started, will his $1,000 fee and application be processed ?***

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA3-DOM)
   4676 Admiralty Way
   MDR, CA 90292
   US

   Domain Name: IANA.COM

   Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
      Manning, Bill  (WM110)  bmanning at ISI.EDU
      310-322-8102

   Record last updated on 18-Dec-96.
   Record created on 29-Jul-96.
   Database last updated on 23-Apr-98 03:58:19 EDT.

   Domain servers in listed order:

   NS.ISI.EDU                   128.9.128.127
   ORB.ISI.EDU                  128.9.160.66
                                                  

@would you? With some kind of appropriate differentiation system it
@makes it easier to find what we are looking for and prevents similarly-
@named organisations from clashing over names.
@
@> The thought popped into my
@> head that this is like setting up a trademark system, then
@> telling the food industry "and all cereal trademarks must
@> end in '.cereal'. Sorry, that must be registered as
@> 'raisenbran.cereal.food'".
@ 
@If it helps to clarify things, that can only be a Good Thing.
@
@> I have to return to a point I made earlier, that this
@> entire debate reminds me of the period in history when the
@> computing centre types argued among themselves how they
@> were going to structure the contents of their campus-wide
@> information systems while refusing requests from the
@> community for new features, since the CC didn't see the
@> value. So we installed gopher, wais and WWW servers. CC
@> types run them now, too.
@
@I'm not telling people what names to choose, just providing a framework
@into which they can be inserted.
@
@> The Internet routes around failure. If we fail to provide
@> functionality, I don't think it will stick.
@
@The functionality I am trying to prove is in addition to what we have
@now, not instead of it.
@
@> "But the gummint and the lawyers are involved now!", I hear
@> pyou cry. Yeah, so? We defeated IBM didn't we? Surely you
@> don't think the U.S. government is as powerful as IBM, do
@> you?  ;-)
@ 
@This is not about individual Governments or individual companies, this is
@a global issue. By following my proposals there is no need for lawyers
@(or Governments) to get involved in such unpleasentries.
@

"Unpleasentries" ? You call these unpleasentries ? The unpleasant
aspect of this whole thing is watching people with apparently no interest
in the Registry Industry attempt to dictate what the world needs and
how everyone should run their businesses. Fortunately, the U.S. Government
has recognized this pattern and has stepped in to make sure their
contractors (like the IANA) facilitate commerce and do not impede it.
This will help to create more jobs, which support families, who then
live to enjoy life and the net. This is a good thing in my opinion, not a
bad thing.

======

*** Note: The $1,000 fee was apparently returned, but I have a feeling
that Chris Ambler would be more than willing to return the check to
IANA Inc. or IANA.COM or to whatever agency the U.S. Government
contracts with to handle the applications. If Chris is not prepared to do
that, I have a feeling other companies will be willing to step in to have
their applications processed. In fact, some have suggested that companies
should take the InterNIC template which clearly shows it should be used
to apply for names registered in the "ROOT" and send it with $1,000 to
Ira Magaziner at the White House. Some suggest that companies should
use U.S. "registered mail" with a Return Receipt Requested. This will help
to time/date-stamp the applications which should be processed soon if
companies are going to start competing with NSI.

@@@@ http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,21386,00.html?st.ne.ni.lh

"HERNDON, Virginia--Expanding beyond its base as the
dominant supplier of commercial Internet addresses in the
United States, Network Solutions said today it acquired
Internet Domain Names Incorporated, a U.S. firm that
specializes in registering international addresses."

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

-
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation
IBC, Tortola, BVI