[governance] Can Internet be Shaken up?

[Nyangkwe Agien Aaron]

Dear  all,
I read this over the BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7468855.stm
and think that others can read so that we may be have a debate on the issue.

Aaron


'Shake-up' for internet proposed
By Darren Waters
Technology editor, BBC News website

The net could see its biggest transformation in decades if plans to open up
the address system are passed.

The net's regulators will vote on Thursday to decide if the strict rules on
so-called top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can be relaxed.

If approved, it could allow companies to turn their brands into domain names
while individuals could also carve out their own corner of the net.

The move could also see the launch of .xxx, after years of wrangling.

Top level domains are currently limited to individual countries, such as .uk
(UK) or .it (Italy), as well as to commerce, .com, and to institutional
organisations, such as .net, or .org.

To get around the restrictions, some companies have used the current system
to their own ends.

For example, the Polynesia island nation Tuvalu, has leased the use of the
.tv address to many television firms.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), which acts
a sort of regulator for the net, as well as overseeing the domain name
system, has been working towards opening up net addresses for the last three
years.

  It's a massive increase in the geography of the real estate of the
internet

Dr Paul Twomey, Icann

The plan would also allow for the new domain names to be internationalised,
and so could be written in scripts for Asian and Arabic languages.

Dr Paul Twomey, chief executive of Icann, told BBC News that the proposals
would result in the biggest change to the way the internet worked in
decades.

"The impact of this will be different in different parts of the world. But
it will allow groups, communities and business to express their identities
online.

"Like the United States in the 19th Century, we are in the process of
opening up new real estate, new land, and people will go out and claim parts
of that land and use it for various reasons they have.

"It's a massive increase in the geography of the real estate of the
internet."

Arbitration process

Hundreds of new domain names could be created by the end of the year, rising
to thousands in the future.

Icann says any string of letters can be registered as a domain, but there
will be an independent arbitration process for people with grounds for
objection.

The openness of the new system could pave the way for a .xxx domain name,
after more than half a decade of wrangling between its backers and Icann.

The latest attempt to launch .xxx was rejected by Icann last year on the
grounds that approval would put the agency into the position of a content
regulator.

When asked about the possibility of a .xxx domain name, Dr Twomey repeated
only that the new system would be "open to anyone".

The move could yet be blocked as the independent arbitration panel can
reject domains based on "morality or public order" grounds.

Dr Twomey said Icann was still working through how much the application fee
to register a domain name will be, but it is expected to be at least several
thousand dollars.

'Cost recovery'

"We are doing this on a cost recovery basis. We've already spent $10m on
this," he said.

Individuals will be able to register a domain based on their own name, or
any other string of letters, as long as they can show a "business plan and
technical capacity".

While companies will be able to secure domain names based on their
intellectual property easily, some domain names could become subject to
contention and a bidding war.

Dr Twomey said: "If there is a dispute, we will try and get the parties
together to work it out. But if that fails there will be an auction and the
domain will go to the highest bidder."





-- 
Aaron Agien Nyangkwe
Journalist/Outcome Mapper
Special Assistant To The President
Coach of ASAFE Camaroes Street Football Team.
ASAFE
P.O.Box 5213
Douala-Cameroon
Tel. 237 3337 50 22
Cell Phone: 237 79 95 71 97
Fax. 237 3342 29 70
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