[Re: [council] IANA Report on Establishment of the .biz and.info Top-Level Domains]

[Louis Touton <touton@icann.org>]

Milton,

In addition to its functions related to development of DNS and other
policies as described in the White Paper, ICANN performs a series of
tasks known as the IANA function.  This includes coordination of the
root-server system and administrative tasks relating to maintenance of
the root zone.  The report issued today was one of those administrtive
tasks, as described in section 2.1.1.2 of the IANA function contract
between ICANN and the US Government.

As noted in the report, the TLDs are being delegated in advance of the
September 2001 onset of resolution of publicly registered names.  This
is intended to allow testing procedures of the nameservice that might be
disruptive in a zone containing public registrations, so that any
problems may be found and corrected before those registrations.  This is
consistent with Article IV, Section 1(b) of the ICANN the bylaws, which
concerns ICANN's ability to act as a registry "in competition with
entities affected by the policies of the Corporation."

ICANN has not yet completed agreements with the other five TLDs in the
current round of TLD introductions.  There does not appear to be any
need for the preparation of an IANA report on those TLDs at this time.

Louis




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [council] IANA Report on Establishment of the .biz and.info
Top-Level Domains
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 23:25:51 -0400
From: "Milton Mueller" <mueller@syr.edu>
To: <council@dnso.org>, <touton@icann.org>

Louis:
Thank you for calling attention to this report.
The report raises a number of questions.

1. Why is this request being made under the rubric 
of "the IANA," rather than ICANN? The White Paper 
authorized ICANN to approve TLDs, ICANN conducted the
entire process of approving them, and it received
$50,000 from each of over 40 applicants to do so.

2. Why does the report say the TLDs are being added 
for "testing and evaluation?" The DNSO and ICANN Board 
Resolutions call for "the introduction of new TLDs in 
a measured and responsible manner," not the "testing 
and evaluation" of new TLDs. Are the people who are 
paying good money for registrations in .biz and .info 
being informed that they are only part of a "test"?
What exactly is being "tested?" 

3. Why is the initial name service being provided by
"the IANA," i.e., by ICANN itself? Is this consistent
with the Articles of Incorporation's prohibition on
ICANN acting as a registry? 

4. Why are the other approved TLDs not also being 
requested at this time? By contract, you need the 
approval of the Dept of Commerce to add them, but
gaining that approval does not require you to make
the registries operational immediately.

>>> Louis Touton <touton@icann.org> 06/25/01 15:22 PM >>>
To the Names Council:

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (the IANA) has issued a report
on the establishment of the .biz and .info top-level domains.  The
report reviews the Internet community's extensive efforts over the last
several years, leading to the Names Council's March 2000 recommendation
for introduction of new TLDs in a measured and responsible manner, the
ICANN Board's adoption of that rcommendation, and the subsequent
selection and contract-negotiation process.  The report is available at
<http://www.iana.org/reports/biz-info-report-25jun01.htm>.

Louis Touton