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The proposal for Versign/NSI to continue to operate the .com TLD exlusively not only
seems short sighted, but a bit irresponsible. Verisign is only recently "recovered"
from severe financial difficulties and is still posting huge losses per share (losses
of almost $20/share). How much fun would it be if the primary system operator
for .com had to close suddenly or had assets seized on a default? This is exactly
the sort of problem ICANN was created to solve. I also view with sympathy the
posters who point out the inadequacy of Verisign/NSI services - anyone who has ever
had to deal with them has nightmare stories. If they are to be given an exclusive
franchise, they must be required to conform to quality control standards as well
as strict financial control, similar to those imposed on a Federally insured or chartered
bank. The alternative is that all a national power would have to do to "own"
the Internet would be invest in Versign, help the company finish killing itself,
and claim the dot com contract as an injured party... Also, the idea of limiting
.org domains from individuals is really quite silly. I suppose Verisign hopes
individuals, unincorporated clubs, and the like will all purchase .coms instead.
All this will do is add further stress to the problem of having insufficient TLDs.
Again, ICANN, where are you? Mightn't you be better off worrying about that problem? It
seems that solutions are currently being found to non-problems. The 1999 agreement
to break the exclusive fanchise of NSI has not yet been shown to be flawed and therefore
does not require remedy. So one finds oneself asking, what problem is ICANN
solving? If none why is it taking action? And that leads to further questions and
will lead to further destabilization of an organization whose authority many prominent
Internet technologists, operators, and interested parties already doubt. Good
job, ICANN. If you need some work to do, let us know. We'll come up with
something for you. But don't make it up to keep yourselves busy unless you
have a very good reason for it.
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