VeriSign gets European backing in ICANN reform fight

02/08/2002 

A coalition of international top-level internet domain name registries yesterday called on the US Department of Commerce to ensure the Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers is reformed into a "lightweight" body with no regulatory power on new services and pricing, Kevin Murphy writes. 

The move by VeriSign Inc and CENTR, which represents European country-code TLD operators, comes as ICANN is undergoing serious scrutiny from Washington, and as VeriSign is trying to introduce a new service that could add millions of dollars a year to its top line at a time when it is facing organic growth challenges. 

In a letter to Nancy Victor, undersecretary of the DoC's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which oversees ICANN, VeriSign and CENTR say that ICANN should keep out of regulating services, which are the domain of the market and government, and should be reformed to specify a tight technical remit. 

"The function of regulation remain[s] within governmental prerogatives, whether it be of prices, services, business practices, or open competition in general," the letter says. "Rather its [ICANN's] function is to act as a central depository for information about, and provide coordination among those who operate, the technical infrastructure of the internet, most notably in the domain name and IP numberings systems." 

VeriSign runs the .com, .org and .net TLD registries, among others. CENTR (the Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries) includes such top-five registries as DENIC (for the German .de) and Nominet UK (for the UK's .uk). DENIC and VeriSign sent a letter to the NTIA yesterday virtually identical to the CENTR letter. 

Details at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/26502.html