from Wired.com: ICANN to Unveil New Rules by Joanna Glasner 3:00 a.m. 28.Jan.99.PST After four months in start-up mode, the group charged with setting the rules for registering new Internet domain names is ready to go public. Well, nearly ready. On 8 February, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, will release new guidelines for accrediting companies that want to distribute domain names in the .com, .org, and .net domains. The biggest change in Net registration will come this spring, when Network Solutions (NSOL) splits its operations. For more than five years, Network Solutions has held a lock on US registrations for the three most popular top-level domains. But that is about to change. Although Network Solutions will still control the master root registry of all Internet domains, many other companies will be registering individual domains. Companies will be able to apply to be test registrars or get accreditation as regular registrars starting in March. Entrepreneurs and other interested parties who have been clamoring to open up the registration industry are impatiently waiting to get involved. "I get about three phone calls a day asking where to sign up," said ICANN interim president and chief executive Mike Roberts. ICANN's new guidelines will spell out what a company needs to do to become accredited as a registrar -- including how much information it will have to share with regulators and domain-name holders. "The intention here is to have the minimal obstacles to market entry," said Roberts. ICANN plans to test the new system in April and is looking for five companies to participate in a two-month trial run. Like everything else in the Internet policy-making world, even the selection of beta testers has sparked bickering in Net circles. ICANN is considering a lottery, but hasn't made a decision. The process of drafting a new registration system is complicated by ICANN's plans to use the results of the US tests and its new guidelines as a model for other nations to manage Internet domains. In recent months, former White House technical Internet advisor Ira Magaziner and others have trekked to Europe, Asia, and Latin America to promote international standards for registering Net sites. ICANN's proposals will be the next step in the process, and Net-policy watchers say they won't be surprised if the new guidelines spark another round of controversy. "It wouldn't be easy if it was just centered within the borders of the United States. The fact that it's an international area makes it that much more complex," said Barbara Dooley, president of Commercial Internet Exchange Association, an international association of ISPs. Critics say the group has already taken too long to set up a new domain system. ICANN has been overseeing the Net's technical management since November, when the White House began to pass regulatory authority over to the nonprofit group. The organization will influence technical standards and set rules for registering sites and new top-level domains. ### __________________________________________________ To receive the digest version instead, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To SUBSCRIBE forward this message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNSUBSCRIBE, forward this message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Problems/suggestions regarding this list? Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___END____________________________________________
