Keep the Name Game Fair

Surfing the Web has always been an adventure, but it is likely to become even more challenging with a decision last week by the private Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers to create seven new so-called “top-level domains,” the abbreviations that come at the end of Web addresses. Neat and self-explanatory domains like dot-org, dot-com and dot-gov--denoting nonprofit, commercial and government Web sites--may soon be joined by fuzzier new domains including dot-biz and dot-info.

The Internet Corp. should not be faulted for trying to remedy the current shortage of names. With some 20 million registrations under dot-com, virtually all good names have been taken, forcing Web sites to use difficult word combinations or abbreviations.

Still, legitimate questions have arisen about whether the Internet Corp. is encouraging competition in the domain-name system, the mission the Commerce Department gave it two years ago.

Today, a single for-profit company--Virginia-based Network Solutions Inc.--still dominates the business of registering lower-level domain names, like the Amazon in Amazon.com.

Congressional critics and others have raised concerns because the Internet Corp. required groups and individuals to pay $50,000 application fees before it would even consider requests for creation of top-level domains, then gave each applicant only three minutes to speak at a meeting before last week’s decision. This led applicants like DotTV Chief Executive Lou Kerner to complain of “a fundamental lack of due process.”

Internet Corp. officials have yet to fully explain why they decided to grant the aviation industry a domain of its own, dot-aero, while turning down the World Health Organization’s request for dot-health, which the WHO had seen as central to its future international public health campaigns.

Because of these issues, government--specifically the Commerce Department--continues to have a rightful role working with the Internet Corp. to encourage competition and fairness.