3 ms·

FYI, .com/net/org have always belonged to the United States. In the same way that .ca belongs to Canada, com/net/org/us belong to the US. Think of them as the

by dsl 15y ago

FYI, .com/net/org have always belonged to the United States. In the same way that .ca belongs to Canada, com/net/org/us belong to the US. Think of them as the sponsoring organization that originally created them. The only thing the US government has ever given up is control over the registry and DNS management. Under a MoU[1] that facility was handed over to ICANN with the understanding that they would select US based private sector companies to take on the duties. Other TLDs that are sponsored internationally but managed in the US (like .me or .ws) is a whole different issue, but this one is pretty clean cut. 1. http://www.icann.org/en/general/icann-mou-25nov98.htm http://www.icann.org/en/general/icann-mou-25nov98.htm

wmf 15y ago
It does seem problematic that all the generic TLDs (whose value over ccTLDs is obvious) are US-controlled. Maybe the imminent explosion of new gTLDs will help.
- dsl 15y ago
  You can make a million brands of beverage, but everyone will still grab a Coke or a Pepsi from the shelf. The new gTLD program is just a money land-grab. It's been well known within the domain industry that firing up a new TLD is one of the most profitable things you can do. Between speculators and brand protection agencies you are guaranteed a minimum of 100k+ registrations. Multiply that by $20-$30 bucks a pop.
  - marshray 15y ago
    Or in the case of gTLDs make that $185,000 per name applied-for. In other news, ICANN is starting an "international development initiative". http://blog.cira.ca/2011/06/new-gtlds-icann-international-development-and-venture-capital/ http://blog.cira.ca/2011/06/new-gtlds-icann-international-de...
ThaddeusQuay 15y ago
"The only thing the US government has ever given up is control over the registry and DNS management. Under a MoU[1] that facility was handed over to ICANN ..." That's just a bureaucratic illusion. As we can see from recent domain seizures, the feds can take over any of these domains, unilaterally, and without any notice or due process.
- dsl 15y ago
  Assets used in the commission of a crime can be seized regardless of if you are charged or even found guilty of that crime. Cars, boats, and houses are regularly seized from suspected drug dealers. None of these people have been deprived of due process. The due process is to go to the courts to challenge it. If you don't like either of these points, you'll need to go to the courts and have the laws changed or thrown out. Thats how America works. EDIT: Downvotes are not how you disagree on HN. Well thought out replies are.
  - kijinbear 15y ago
    I think it depends on what you mean by "due process." If you mean "whatever the law says the government can do, and/or what the government customarily does," there may have been no violation of due process. However, the phrase "due process" also often means "what the law should say the government should do." Such an interpretation usually appeals to a higher moral authority, the Constitution, etc. This is how people often criticize the PATRIOT Act for violating due process, even though the PATRIOT Act defines clear processes to be followed. These people are saying, in effect, that the processes defined by existing law don't count as "due process." You are right that court challenges are the way to fix problematic laws. But I disagree that "none of these people have been deprived of due process," because I think that any process worthy of being called "due process" should involve, among others, presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and a bunch of documents signed by judges. I don't know what the law is really like in the US, but seizing property in the absence of a criminal conviction (except temporarily, to gather evidence) sounds like a gross violation of due process.
  - adolph 15y ago
    Civil forfeiture law has been rapidly expanded by the war on drugs. It hasn't been part of "how America works" for very long. I'd say it is an example of "how America doesn't work" and a perversion of the fourth amendment.
by 15y ago
The .COM domain has always been international in nature, not a country domain restricted to the US. See the extract of RFC 1591 below. Or have I missed something? It is fairly clear that .US is for US companies, .COM is international commercial, and the .GOV and .MIL domains are restricted to the US. RFC 1591 (March 1994) http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1591.txt http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1591.txt "Each of the generic TLDs was created for a general category of organizations. The country code domains (for example, FR, NL, KR, US) are each organized by an administrator for that country. ... These administrators are performing a public service on behalf of the Internet community. Descriptions of the generic domains and the US country domain follow. Of these generic domains, five are international in nature, and two are restricted to use by entities in the United States. World Wide Generic Domains: COM - This domain is intended for commercial entities, that is companies. ... EDU - This domain was originally intended for all educational institutions. ... NET - This domain is intended to hold only the computers of network providers, that is the NIC and NOC computers, the administrative computers, and the network node computers. ... ORG - This domain is intended as the miscellaneous TLD for organizations that didn't fit anywhere else. ... INT - This domain is for organizations established by international treaties, or international databases. United States Only Generic Domains: GOV - This domain was originally intended for any kind of government office or agency. More recently a decision was taken to register only agencies of the US Federal government in this domain. State and local agencies are registered in the country domains (see US Domain, below). MIL - This domain is used by the US military. Example country code Domain: US - As an example of a country domain, the US domain provides for the registration of all kinds of entities in the United States on the basis of political geography, ..."
- chalst 15y ago
  .edu domains are only granted to organisations accredited as providing higher education by the U.S. Department of Education. Wikipedia claims that it started out as a general TLD, as did .gov and .mil, and only became attached to the Dep. Education in 2001, which I am sure is wrong - I'm sure they adminstered it earlier.

by dsl 15y ago

wmf 15y ago

It does seem problematic that all the generic TLDs (whose value over ccTLDs is obvious) are US-controlled. Maybe the imminent explosion of new gTLDs will help.

dsl 15y ago
You can make a million brands of beverage, but everyone will still grab a Coke or a Pepsi from the shelf. The new gTLD program is just a money land-grab. It's been well known within the domain industry that firing up a new TLD is one of the most profitable things you can do. Between speculators and brand protection agencies you are guaranteed a minimum of 100k+ registrations. Multiply that by $20-$30 bucks a pop.
- marshray 15y ago
  Or in the case of gTLDs make that $185,000 per name applied-for. In other news, ICANN is starting an "international development initiative". http://blog.cira.ca/2011/06/new-gtlds-icann-international-development-and-venture-capital/ http://blog.cira.ca/2011/06/new-gtlds-icann-international-de...

ThaddeusQuay 15y ago

"The only thing the US government has ever given up is control over the registry and DNS management. Under a MoU[1] that facility was handed over to ICANN ..." That's just a bureaucratic illusion. As we can see from recent domain seizures, the feds can take over any of these domains, unilaterally, and without any notice or due process.

dsl 15y ago
Assets used in the commission of a crime can be seized regardless of if you are charged or even found guilty of that crime. Cars, boats, and houses are regularly seized from suspected drug dealers. None of these people have been deprived of due process. The due process is to go to the courts to challenge it. If you don't like either of these points, you'll need to go to the courts and have the laws changed or thrown out. Thats how America works. EDIT: Downvotes are not how you disagree on HN. Well thought out replies are.
- kijinbear 15y ago
  I think it depends on what you mean by "due process." If you mean "whatever the law says the government can do, and/or what the government customarily does," there may have been no violation of due process. However, the phrase "due process" also often means "what the law should say the government should do." Such an interpretation usually appeals to a higher moral authority, the Constitution, etc. This is how people often criticize the PATRIOT Act for violating due process, even though the PATRIOT Act defines clear processes to be followed. These people are saying, in effect, that the processes defined by existing law don't count as "due process." You are right that court challenges are the way to fix problematic laws. But I disagree that "none of these people have been deprived of due process," because I think that any process worthy of being called "due process" should involve, among others, presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and a bunch of documents signed by judges. I don't know what the law is really like in the US, but seizing property in the absence of a criminal conviction (except temporarily, to gather evidence) sounds like a gross violation of due process.
- adolph 15y ago
  Civil forfeiture law has been rapidly expanded by the war on drugs. It hasn't been part of "how America works" for very long. I'd say it is an example of "how America doesn't work" and a perversion of the fourth amendment.

by 15y ago

The .COM domain has always been international in nature, not a country domain restricted to the US. See the extract of RFC 1591 below. Or have I missed something? It is fairly clear that .US is for US companies, .COM is international commercial, and the .GOV and .MIL domains are restricted to the US. RFC 1591 (March 1994) http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1591.txt http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1591.txt "Each of the generic TLDs was created for a general category of organizations. The country code domains (for example, FR, NL, KR, US) are each organized by an administrator for that country. ... These administrators are performing a public service on behalf of the Internet community. Descriptions of the generic domains and the US country domain follow. Of these generic domains, five are international in nature, and two are restricted to use by entities in the United States. World Wide Generic Domains: COM - This domain is intended for commercial entities, that is companies. ... EDU - This domain was originally intended for all educational institutions. ... NET - This domain is intended to hold only the computers of network providers, that is the NIC and NOC computers, the administrative computers, and the network node computers. ... ORG - This domain is intended as the miscellaneous TLD for organizations that didn't fit anywhere else. ... INT - This domain is for organizations established by international treaties, or international databases. United States Only Generic Domains: GOV - This domain was originally intended for any kind of government office or agency. More recently a decision was taken to register only agencies of the US Federal government in this domain. State and local agencies are registered in the country domains (see US Domain, below). MIL - This domain is used by the US military. Example country code Domain: US - As an example of a country domain, the US domain provides for the registration of all kinds of entities in the United States on the basis of political geography, ..."

chalst 15y ago
.edu domains are only granted to organisations accredited as providing higher education by the U.S. Department of Education. Wikipedia claims that it started out as a general TLD, as did .gov and .mil, and only became attached to the Dep. Education in 2001, which I am sure is wrong - I'm sure they adminstered it earlier.