NSI, U.S. Near Pact on Domain Names Controversy
The U.S. Department of Commerce and Network Solutions Inc. are expected to reach an agreement early this week regarding the Herndon, Va.-based company’s operation of InterNIC, the organization that assigns World Wide Web domain names.
Network Solutions has been running InterNIC under an exclusive contract with the U.S. government, but that agreement is set to expire in the coming months. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers in Los Angeles is preparing to take over many of the functions historically performed by NSI. ICANN is close to selecting the first five companies that will compete with NSI in the domain name registration business.
So Network Solutions’ decision earlier this month to shut down InterNIC’s Web site at https://www.internic.net and replace it with its own home page (https://www.networksolutions.com) was not exactly welcomed by the Commerce Department or the Internet community.
Critics complained that NSI was taking improper advantage of its government contract to improve its position against its soon-to-be competitors. After all, they noted, InterNIC is a registered trademark of the U.S. government.
“We’re challenging Network Solutions’ interpretation that they own the [InterNIC] registry,” said ICANN interim Chairwoman Esther Dyson. “Clearly they’ve invested a lot and created something of value, but the domain names don’t belong to Network Solutions.”
Network Solutions spokesman Christopher Clough said InterNIC’s directory is the company’s property. He said the InterNIC site was consolidated with NSI’s home page--which sells marketing services and sportswear in addition to domain registration services--in an effort to consolidate the company’s Web sites.
A senior Commerce Department official said the government and NSI are negotiating new rules for how the company will operate the InterNIC database and accompanying Web site. No sanctions are being contemplated to punish Network Solutions for its actions, the official said.
