Since Network Solutions (VeriSign) is the incumbent and has had a Goverment sponsored
monopoly of the DNS for 6 years - they should be prohibited from profitting from
this venture until true competition can be established. The ICANN Board squatters
should be asked to immediately step down.Just because I currently support the
ideas of the alternative roots does not mean that we should get rid of ICANN entirely.
But, we do need a complete reorganization of ICANN with public accountability.
The
reason that I support the alt.roots is that they believe that the market should determine
the demand for new TLDs. ICANN should be ultimately responsible for the Root servers
(NOT VERISIGN!). Every single Board Member of ICANN should be a publically elected
official with strict term limits.
ICANN should have a reasonable application process
whereby any group or company can add a new unique TLD into the Root. Then, all the
accredited registrars would be allowed to sell the TLD. There should be no "Sunrise"
period, it is strictly first-come-first-served. If you are stupid enough to infringe
on someones trademark the UDRP should be sufficient to resolve the problem (with
the courts being the last resort). There should be hundreds of new TLDs.
VeriSign
would have no more advantage that Dotster, or any other registrar. In fact that is
what they would be - just another registrar. When someone registers a domain name,
ICANN would get the $6 fee to be used for administration of the system.
In this
model -- there would be one Root with hundreds or thousands of TLDs. It is owned
by the people of the world and managed by ICANN. Everyone who is running an "alternative
root" and completes the application process would simply have their proposed strings
added to the ICANN root. If the string did not meet minimum usage requirements, ICANN
would have the right to remove it. A process link this is fair, democratic and prevents
abuse from artificial scarcity.
The biggest problem with the whole TLD process
right now is that VeriSign is calling the shots. They are using ICANN and the DoC
to protect their monopoly. They are extorting money from us in the biggest racketeering
scheme ever!
Some people say let's start over. Others are saying let's fix the
problems with ICANN. Here is a good quote that I saw:
"I assert that where we see
a vacuum of competence and fairness, others see a vacuum of power and revenue. In
any throw-it-away-and-start-over model, the 'others' will most likely win."
The
first step towards fixing the "problem" is removing VeriSign.