Re: [ga] ALAC Statement on SiteFinder's Suspension

["Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law" <froomkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I missed the discussion of the draft version of this statement.  Could you
point me to the relevant archives please?

I think the statement is fundamentally misguided, since it fails to point
our that the reason .com matters so much is the artificial shortage of
gTLDs.  The interent tolerated similar behaviors from a large number of
ccTLDs without rebellion.  This one mattered due to size and centrality.


On Mon, 13 Oct 2003, Vittorio Bertola wrote:

> At Large Advisory Committee Statement on SiteFinder's Suspension
> 
> 
> The ALAC welcomes ICANN's decision to remind Verisign of its
> obligations to run its registries for the public good, and
> VeriSign's compliance with ICANN's demand to shut down SiteFinder.
> 
> SiteFinder's suspension was necessary not only because it broke
> hundreds of specific applications, and because it was forced on
> Internet users around the globe without any advance consultation or
> notice: SiteFinder also needed to be stopped because it broke with
> the end-to-end architecture of the Internet to give one company
> monopolistic control of a resource in the center. It's not a
> contest between SiteFinder's search page and MSN's, but between
> giving VeriSign sole, centralized control of the error-handling
> for incorrect URLs and distributing that choice among users and
> applications at the edge of the network. The question is whether
> users can choose what services fit their needs best, or whether
> Verisign can take that choice away from users, forcing them to do
> what's best for Verisign's commercial benefit.
> 
> Sitefinder affects not only the web, but most other applications
> running on the net.  The question here is whether the network is
> kept open for new protocols and applications, or whether it's left
> to Verisign to decide which applications the Internet supports well.
> 
> Keeping SiteFinder out of the center leaves the greatest flexibility
> in the network for those who want to innovate by adding new
> protocols, services, and features at the ends.
> 
> ICANN has called for "further evaluation and study" of the impact of
> SiteFinder. The proper question for VeriSign to consider is whether it
> will reimplement its advertiser-supported search as an option at the
> edge of the network -- where users can elect or decline to use it at
> their will -- or not at all.
> 
> 
> ====
> About the ALAC: The At Large Advisory Committee advises ICANN on the
> needs and interests of individual Internet users.
> More information can be found at http://alac.icann.org/
> 
> 

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