The chairman of a House panel that has cast its gaze on the future of domain-name administration said today that a non-governmental pact signed earlier this year won't fly because it will undercut US clout.
"American taxpayers, companies, and government built the Internet," said Representative Charles Pickering (R-Mississippi), chairman of the House Science subcommittee on Basic Research. "This is something uniquely American."
The agreement on which Pickering held forth is one drafted by the International Ad Hoc Committee agreement earlier this year. The committee, the creation of the Internet Society and the Internet Assigned Number Authority, held a widely publicized signing ceremony in Geneva in May in which a host of telcos and other Net players joined.
The Geneva connection is one that Pickering expressed distaste for.
In the second of two hearings on the future of domain names, Pickering said that Congress could not support the global organization because it calls for setting up the registration of domain names in Geneva - not in the United States.
"That part of the IAHC plan is not going to sell very well - not here, not on Main Street," Pickering said.
Defending his proposal before the committee, Don Heath, president of the Internet Society, backpedaled on the plan, suggesting that a proposed Council of Registrars, which would administer the system, could very well stay on US soil.
The council "could reside anywhere," Heath said. "We chose Switzerland because of the international thing."
The hearing took a detour into the "international thing" to discuss the implications of a report that Libya might be doing business on the Net with private US help.
Panel members became alarmed when, during a break to vote, they read an MSNBC report that the Treasury Department is investigating whether the registration of domain names for a Libyan concern by US-based NetNames violates US sanctions against Libya.
"What would Swiss law say about a company doing business with Libya?" Pickering asked Heath.
"As far as laws being broken, I don't know," Heath responded. "We may recommend some changes to the proposal."
The other strong proponent of Heath's proposal is Jon Postel, who is responsible for administering many of Net country codes, such as .us, through the Internet Assigned Number Authority. MSNBC said Postel approved an application from a concern in Tripoli, Alshaeen for Information Technology, for administrative rights to the Libyan domain, .ly. The British division of NetNames then secured .ly domain names for Netscape, Intel, and Goodyear.
Postel, who testified last week before the committee in support of the IAHC agreement, could not be reached for comment.
In addition to creating new global governance for some Net functions, the IAHC pact creates new top-level domains, such as .store, .firm, and .web, to alleviate what some say is congestion on the popular top-level domain .com, which is currently administered by Network Solutions Inc. under exclusive contract with the National Science Foundation.
The IAHC proposes to also allow an unlimited number of companies to register domain names worldwide, and an elected policy oversight committee would oversee the registration process.
But with many, including some US government agencies, opposed to the IAHC work, no permanent solution is in sight. The House will likely hold more hearings on the issue, but not before the Commerce Department issues a report later this month on the future of domain administration.
