Global network domain name wars through ICANN

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A few weeks ago, Sala Doych Sarah Deutsch, the Verizon deputy attorney general, received a phone call she had been familiar with. One of her lawyer friends told her on the phone that someone had sold verizonwirelessstorm.com's internet address on ebay for a 1 million dollar price. For Ms. Deutsch and her team of five trademark attorneys, the incident triggered another tiresome process, which was to try to find out the seller and ask for the Internet domain name to be withdrawn.

"We receive thousands of reports of violations every day and it is difficult to determine which one we are going to follow first," she said.

Verizon, the US telecoms operator, owns a group of up to 10,000 domain names, From the obvious verizon.com to misspellings such as verison.com and names like verizonsucks.com, they don't want these to fall into the hands of mischief-makers and competitors. This is typical for large companies, with up to 24,000 domain names, such as Microsoft.

Ms. Deutsch's work will become much harder. Next spring, the agency's Internet name and digital address distribution Agency (Icann), which manages the day-to-day operation of the network, plans to allow the "top" domain name to soar to 268, or to add anything behind the point. Currently, the content behind these points is from ". com" or ". org" of generic genera to specific countries such as ". UK". But the us-based organization is now planning to release a new top-level domain for anyone who can pay a registration fee of 186,000 dollars (113,000 pounds, € 132,000). ICANN estimates that there will be about 500 new top-level domain names from individuals or companies ("Verizon") to generic genus (". Books").

This opening of the Internet is the biggest change seen by the online media infrastructure so far, and its implications are complex and controversial, and far beyond the concern of commercial companies that view the web as a big global shopping mall.

For example, a representative of the pope wrote to ICANN about how to ensure that sensitive religious domain names-". Catholic", ". Muslim" or even ". God"-would not fall into the wrong hands.

At the same time, public interest groups worry that the change marks a more comprehensive rewrite of the rules of the Internet, which could result in a loss of free speech to commercial interests.

These fears have sparked renewed scepticism about the structure and management of the Internet, which has often emerged in recent years. In the final analysis, ICANN, the nonprofit organization that is still at the mercy of the US Department of Commerce, has challenged the way it manages, particularly in Europe, trying to put it under U.N. control.

ICANN is trying to prove that it is truly operating in the interest of a rapidly growing global audience, and the expansion of the looming Internet naming system is a central part of its efforts. For example, the Roman alphabet still dominates the Internet naming system, and the world's largest internet audience is now in China. The Arab states are also angry that ICANN has delayed a system that meets their needs.

If ICANN cannot placate these internet groups, the consequences could be serious. Wrongdoing could lead to the fragmentation of the Internet's underlying naming system-leading to a single global online media system that becomes a series of independent systems.

ICANN has spent years creating a new naming system, and it is now in sight, but it is the big companies that complain the most.

The cost and risk of any big company doing business over the internet is considerable. Although some domain names can be registered for a few dollars, it may cost about 2000 dollars to buy them back if they are already owned by someone. If there is a dispute over ownership, the cost is much higher.

However, large advertisers such as Verizon cannot ignore opportunists, the so-called cyber-squatters, who register their trademark variants online. Fake web sites confuse people's vision while undermining the image of the company's brand in the eyes of their customers. Verizon estimates that at least 9 million customers could be lured to fake websites without control.

As a result, big brand owners are trying to ensure that ICANN has procedures to protect their power at the start of a violent attack-for example, by quickly shutting down sites that violate trademark rights.

However, these practices are causing controversy with other sectors of the Internet sector, such as non-commercial groups, who fear that they will clog up free speech on the Internet.

"In Iran, protesters can communicate with the outside world because proxy servers allow them to remain anonymous," he said. But there are working groups within ICANN that are working to block anonymous proxy servers because these proxies may use trademarks without authorization, "said Robin Gross, an international civil Liberties organization IP Justice." Robin Gross.

Despite the high antagonism, the open naming system is a necessary step towards creating a more enduring foundation for the internet and benefiting hundreds of millions of users, with little doubt.

People keen to expand their domain name say that may make browsing the Internet easier. It can be said that looking for Plumber.london may be more clearly indicative of the business content and location of the enterprise than many of the a1plumbers.com.

"We spend a lot of time and money trying to push people to the site." Anything that makes web searches simpler is good, "said Tom Eslinger, a Tom Eslinge of the Saatchi & Saatchi of the advertising company.

Others add that the high cost of the new naming system will fall over time. Nick Wood, a domain-management company COM laude, says costs may be high at first but will "inevitably" fall. Com Laude is a customer service for multinational companies such as Nestle (Nestlé) and AstraZeneca (AstraZeneca).

"In 1994, when the domain name of the commercial website first started selling, it was worth only 200 dollars." Now, 6 dollars can be registered. The top-level domain will do the same. When the registration fee drops to $18,000 or 9000, many companies will apply, "he said. He added that, as he knows, 54 companies in the UK and Scandinavia are interested in applying for their own domain names.

But big companies have a broader reaction to the final effort to ensure that the new naming system protects their interests, exposing deeper tensions within ICANN.

The recent meeting of ICANN in Sydney has morphed into a full-blown debate on the issue.

"The environment is very unfriendly-even for ICANN meetings, and the ICANN meeting is generally an unfriendly environment for [intellectual property] owners and representatives." People yell at us and say we are tyrants, and blogs post articles that equate us with Ahmed Ahmadinejad (Nejad), "Law firms Covington & Burling Christina Rossette Kristina Said。 She was involved in drafting a proposal for ICANN on trademark protection issues when new domain names were issued.

Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's new chief executive, now Beckstrom more responsibilities. Mr Beckstrom, the former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's cyber-safety chief, has been working on a neutral stance at the beginning of his tenure, but his comments are not helping to calm the company's concerns.

"You can look at domain owners in many different ways. Some people think they are domain owners, others see them as entrepreneurs. I think the debate is rich and healthy, "he added. "There is no solution that everyone needs." ”

The trademark owner is concerned that such remarks suggest Mr Beckstrom is not listening to their concerns.

"There is an absolute possibility of a showdown between ICANN and the trademark owner," Ms. Rossette said. She described Mr. Beckstrom's statement as an "uncoordinated tone". If ICANN does not prove that it really wants to prevent trademark abuse, the two sides may end up in court, she warns. "It is no secret that a trademark owner will sue ICANN for tort." ”

Public interest groups, on the other hand, warn that disruptive divisions are also in sight. "If non-commercial users feel that our voices are not heard at the meeting, then we will not let people participate in ICANN," says Mr Grose.

The global Internet address record is based on a delicate consensus, and ultimately, for ICANN and internet users around the world, the danger is that these tensions may destroy this consensus. If ICANN loses the trust of countries that have contracted to join its system, it may even lead to the emergence of a competitive naming system that splits the world of cyberspace into a fragmented network.