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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