>Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 19:46:15 -0500
>From: "Harold Feld" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Goods or Services?
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>Mikki, please forward.
>
>O.K., let me toss out a different suggestion.
>
>A registry provides a service. It therefore has the right to set the
>terms of this service. The service provided is that it creates and
>maintains an entry in a table that states that a particular domain name
>resolves to a particular IP address. It also allows any server to point
>to this table and pull the relevant uinformation, so that the server knows
>how to resolve the name.
>
>This avoids the property question. I have a right to continued service
>provided I meet the conditions of service, so that the registry cannot
>arbitrarily take my space in the table and give it to someone else.
>
>So who "owns" a domain name? No one. It doesn't exist, except as an
>entry in a table. Alternatively, I "own" a domain name, but it is pretty
>useless unless a service provider agrees (i.e., a registry) agrees to list
>it.
>
>This avoids all of the logical inconsistencies that have had people
>chasing their tails trying to define the level of property interest. A
>domain name is not something tangible, and can never be resolved into
>something tangible. It is not even a right to do something at a
>particular time (like an FCC license) or permission to do something (like
>an FCC certificate as a common carrier). Heck, it isn't even the content
>of your web page. You still have that, even if your domain name is
>delisted. just that nobody else can find it.
>
> Rather, a domain name is a service, like my contract with my local phone
>company, that allows everyone to find me at my "POTS address" (i.e., my
>phone number).
>
>the logical implication of this is that the rights of the parties should
>be established by the service agreement. In a world where the registry is
>a monopoly (e.g., NSI) or a carefully regulated guild (e.g., CORE, ICANN),
>this screws the consumer, who has no bargaining power. In an openly
>competitive world, the consumer is served by its ability to select among
>competing registries.
>
>Harold Feld
>
