PAB House mulls Clinton domain plan

From: Sascha Ignjatovic (sascha@isoc.vienna.org)
Date: Sun Oct 18 1998 - 07:32:47 PDT


http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,27665,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh
                 
                 House mulls Clinton
                 domain plan
                 By Reuters
                 Special to CNET News.com
                 October 16, 1998, 5:10 p.m. PT

                 The House Commerce Committee
                 opened an investigation into the
                 Clinton administration's drive to
                 privatize the Internet's name and
                 address system, following complaints
                 that reform plans were drafted behind
                 closed doors without public input.

                 Committee chairman Thomas Bliley
                 (R-Virginia) yesterday sent letters to
                 Clinton's top Internet policy advisor, Ira
                 Magaziner, and Secretary of
                 Commerce William Daley criticizing the
                 reform process and demanding
                 communications and records related to
                 recent proposals, the committee said.

                 In June the administration asked the
                 private sector to create a consensus
                 plan for privatizing the domain name
                 system. Earlier this month, the
                 Commerce Department received a
                 plan with the backing of many Internet
                 players that proposed handing over
                 control of the system to a nonprofit
                 corporation based in California.

                 "I am concerned about the manner in
                 which the process of privatizing the
                 governance of the DNS (Domain
                 Name System) has apparently
                 unraveled," Bliley wrote. "A loss of
                 credibility in the Internet community at
                 large will seriously undermine the
                 ability of the new corporation to
                 administer the Domain Name System
                 and the stability of the Internet itself."

                 Bliley asked Magaziner and Daley to
                 explain the administration's legal basis
                 for reforming the system and to explain
                 how involved the administration was in
                 developing the leading plan submitted.

                 The administration is expected to
                 announce its intentions shortly, after
                 accepting public comments on the plan
                 and several other suggestions.

                 Story Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All
                 rights reserved.



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