[ga] Judge puts brakes on .biz addresses (NEWS.COM)

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

All assembly members,

Judge puts brakes on .biz addresses
By Gwendolyn Mariano
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 12, 2001, 2:45 p.m. PT
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In the latest setback for efforts to expand the Internet address
system, a state court in California has temporarily blocked the
activation of some new domain names ending in .biz.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Thursday issued a preliminary
injunction against domain registry NeuLevel, pending a lawsuit
charging that some .biz domain names were assigned through an illegal
lottery.

NeuLevel said the injunction covers less than 20 percent of the
domain names registered to date and that it expects to send all
uncontested addresses live Oct. 23 as scheduled.
"While we are disappointed with the court's decision and the impact
it will have on some .biz applicants, we strongly believe that the
process we've set forth...is the most fair and equitable way to
distribute domain names," Douglas Armentrout, CEO of NeuLevel, said
in a statement. "We fully intend to pursue this matter in the courts
and will work to resolve these issues as quickly as possible."

The case highlights the rancor that has marred efforts to expand the
choice of so-called top-level domains available to the general public
beyond .com, .org and .net.

In November, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN), the body that oversees the Web's address system, added seven
new domains to the pool: .biz, .info, .aero, .name, .coop, .pro
and .museum. ICANN also accredited a handful companies to administer
them, including NeuLevel, which won a contract for .biz.

The process has drawn some barbs.

ICANN "looks somewhat of an unregulated monopoly or the authority of
government without the accountability," said Robert Connor, an
associate professor at the Carlson School of Management at the
University of Minnesota, who published a critical study of the .info
domain in August. "It doesn't look to me like a free market kind of
system...They don't seem responsive to customers."

In addition, some registries have run into speed bumps that slowed
the launch of new domain names. Internet addresses under the .info
domain appeared later than planned as a result of last month's
terrorist attacks. Afilias, the registry operating that domain,
encountered further delays after continued efforts to bring its
system up to speed.

NeuLevel, ICANN and several other registries were hit with a class-
action lawsuit in August charging them with running an illegal
lottery system with applications for .biz domain names.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said that a processing fee skewed the
playing field for would-be registrants.

Applicants "wanted a fair and legal chance at registering a .biz
domain name," and they weren't given that chance, said Derek Newman,
an attorney at Newman & Newman who is representing the plaintiffs in
the case.

In response to Thursday's injunction, ICANN noted that the order did
not find the contract that ICANN entered into with NeuLevel was
unlawful. It said the judge only determined that NeuLevel's decision
to charge a $2 fee for processing certain ".biz" applications might
be in violation of California's lottery law.

ICANN added that the court may have stepped beyond its jurisdiction
in limiting Web address activations that were processed outside the
state of California.

"The ruling, if upheld on appeal, would be harmful to the evolution
of the global Internet," ICANN said in a statement.

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 118k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-447-1800 x1894 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208


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