DNRC Press Release (fwd)

Fri May 2 05:32:35 UTC 1997

> |       Today, rights on the Internet will be lost.  The International
> | Telecommunication Union (ITU), a handful of private companies, and the
> | Internet Society (a small, membership organization in Reston, VA), will sign
> | a Memorandum of Understanding in Geneva that closes the doors to open and
> | public governance of domain names.  The Domain Name Rights Coalition, a group

Exactly the opposite.  Finally, the entire DNS area is open to public
governance.  DNRC can be part of it by simply signing the MoU as have
about 60 and 20 more signatures are on the way.

> |       The Memorandum of Understanding codifies the recommendations of a small,
> | private group.  Calling themselves the "International Ad Hoc Committee," the
> | group represented small portions of the Internet community (mainly the ITU,
> | WIPO and large companies), met privately, circulated draft recommendations to
> | a small group, held private off-the-record meetings and created a final
> | report which differed significantly from original proposals.  The DNRC
> | submits that the IAHC's grant of authority to ITU and the World Intellectual
> | Property Organization:

Small private group?  The Internet has been run for about 20 years by IANA
and IAB.  When exactly did the DNRC become an NGO?  ITU has been around
for about 100 years handing out international country dialing prefixes.
The IAHC (no longer in existance) held a completely open discussion.
4,000 emails can't be wrong.  I think you must have made a mistake and
meant NSI which "met privately,... held private off-the-record meetings".
We do appreciate your mentioning that our final draft differed from the
original.  It merely shows that we were listening to community feedback.
That is the purpose of open discussion, is it not?

> | Created by a few companies and organizations, today's actions of the ITU and
> | IAHC make entrepreneurs, Internet Service Providers, small businesses and
> | individuals and other domain name owners into second-class citizens of the
> | Internet.

A large number of small entrepreneurs and small businesses came to Geneva
and signed the MoU, thereby having the same weight as an MCI or Digital.
We still invite all organizations to come and join the Policy Advisory
Body which is now forming.  

Hank Nussbacher
IAHC member
[the views expressed above belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the other IAHC members]