[wg-c] INT domain

["A.M. Rutkowski" <amr@netmagic.com>]

Jon,

The purpose and scope of the INT domain properly
falls within the purview of this working group, and 
the DNSO in general.

For the many years in which I've been involved in
international affairs, one of the most genuinely
useful international organizations is in fact the
one which maintains the world's global record of
international organizations - the Brussels based
Union of International Associations - a role it's
effected as a private organization pursuant to a
League of Nations treaty for a great many years.

Early last month, the UIA filed with IANA a request
for an INT domain name, and forwarded me a copy in
a personal capacity.  See below.  Hopefully its
request will be granted as it's an elegant and clearly
effective example of a private international
organization providing a treaty function.

In my personal capacity, I'd like to now convey this
to you, suggesting that it raises several issues that
deserve consideration.  These include:

1. Whether the INT domain criteria shouldn't now
be considered within the DNSO and WG-C;
2. Whether requests that pose policy implications
shouldn't be automatically forwarded to the DNSO;
3. Whether the INT domain ontology shouldn't
indeed encompass the very global function performed
by the UIA for so many years and be performed by
the UIA.

--tony

********************************************* 
From: Anthony Judge <judge@uia.be> 
To: iana@iana.org 
Subject: INT domain registry query 
Send reply to: judge@uia.be 
Date sent: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 14:35:55 +1

Greetings

I have noted the information regarding INT domain registry on your 
site at
http://www.iana.org/int.html
and on the ITU site at 
http://www.itu.int/net/int/int-policy-09.htm, specifically with regard to 
the restriction to organizations established by intergovernmental 
treaty and to Internet public architecture. 
The purpose of this communication is to briefly state the case for 
switching our domain from www.uia.org to www.uia.int in the light of 
an interpretation of the provisions of the ITU ruling, resolutions 
governing our activity by the UN, and the nature of the work we do 
regarding treaty organizations. 

Firstly however I would make the point that several years back, we 
were ourselves asked whether we would not wish to manage the INT 
domain and I indicated that the ITU was the far more appropriate 
institution to do this. At that time we did not have the web capacity 
that we do now (and I do not think that ITU did either at that time). 
The reason it was suggested that we should do this is that we have a 
clearinghouse function that manages data on the full range of 
international organizations, including the treaty organizations and 
their programs. We have done this since 1910, publishing the profiles 
of such bodies in hardcopy form. The data now appears annually in 
hardcopy (covering some 20,000 bodies) in the form of a Yearbook of 
International Organizations, on CD, and on the Web 
(http://www.uia.org/data.htm) -- where extensive hyperlinking is 
provided between organizations and to their websites. It is linked to 
data on the 30,000+ issues with which such bodies deal, and the 
strategies they advocate. The data includes intergovernmental 
treaties, whether in the UN Treaty Series or not -- and the ITU draft 
does not clarify the case for non-UNTS treaties. As an international 
nonprofit research institute, the issue data is freely available and we 
are endeavouring to develop formula to enable free access to the 
profile data. 

With regard to the current ITU Draft provisions "for discussion 
purposes" dated January 15, 1999 provisions, I note the clause 
specifying that: 
"The .INT domain is NOT intended for non-governmental (e.g., 
NGOs), commercial, or private organizations even if they may have an 
international character." 

We should like to argue the case that the unique nature of our 
apolitical, nonprofit work documenting and hyperlinking together the 
full range of international agencies, their issues and their strategies, 
merits consideration for the INT domain even though we are not an 
intergovernmental treaty body. 

To the extent that such treaty bodies can themselves be considered 
emerging core features of the public Internet architecture, we would 
argue that our profiling and hyperlinking of all of them (and of the full 
range of Internet architecture bodies), and the portal we provide to 
their own sites, constitutes an activity that falls under an 
interpretation of the second category "International databases 
supporting public Internet architecture functions". We have long 
provided access to the only comprehensive web resource list of 
international organizations, whether governmental or 
nongovernmental. 

Our function in documenting the "international domain" was initially 
recognized by the League of Nations (A.43 (B) 1421 of 5th September 
1921, and was further recognized by Resolution 334B (XI) , 30 July 
1950, of UN/ECOSOC -- as work that did not need to be separately 
initiated and with which the UN could cooperate. It is for this reason 
that our organization has been placed on a special UN Roster -- which 
could be interpreted in relation to the "observer status" criterion of 
the ITU provisions. 

Without endeavouring to argue our case in more detail, I should like 
to submit that the rather special nature of our work justifies our 
inclusion in the INT domain. I accept that a narrow interpretation of 
the ITU draft provisions would indeed require our exclusion, but 
would argue that a looser interpretation would allow our inclusion as a 
body exemplifying the global purpose of the INT domain -- a role 
which we have carried out since our hardcopy origins in 1910! 
In further support of our case, we note with some curiosity the 
existence of some INT bodies that do not appear to fulfil a narrow 
interpretation of either of the criteria specified in the ITU draft 
We should appreciate any comment on the case as presented before 
considering whether to engage in the formal submission process. 
Thank you for your attention to this query 
Regards 

**************************************************
Anthony Judge 
Director, Communications and Research 
Union of International Associations 
Rue Washington 40 
B-1050 Brussels, BELGIUM 
Tel:(32 2) 640.18.08 Fax:(32 2) 643 61 99 
WWW: http://www.uia.org/ E-mail: judge@uia.be
What we need to understand may only be expressible 
in a language that we do not know**************************************************