Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Esther Dyson on DNS

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:5/1/1999; 11:07:56 AM
Topic:DNS problems
Msg #:5508 (In response to 5477)
Prev/Next:5507 / 5509

From Esther Dyson, the chairman of ICANN, in response to Was I Fooled?

Esther Dyson on DNS

John is partly right.

We haven't created competition for NSI in toto, but for the *service* of registering domain names - i.e. its *registrar* business. NSI still maintains the database (the registry), but does so under a price cap (which may be further reduced in negotiations between NSI and the Department of Commerce).

One of our jobs at ICANN is making sure that NSI maintains a Chinese wall between its registry and its registration operations, where it will be competing with five new registrars for the next couple of months and eventually with virtually all comers.

Yes, service quality is an issue, and we hope competition among registrars will improve it, as well as lowering prices and leading to more innovation in related services. (Yes, NSI still maintains the central database. What can I say? No one is perfect. They have a US government contract to do so, and the government is monitoring their performance.)

That is a first step. One next issue is indeed to consider whether it makes sense to add new gTLDs - a question about which there are many opinions! We learned .com; why can't we learn the next new thing?

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