Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/dn-news for
the latest domain news. By close of business 14
November Melbourne time, a more recent edition of the
news should be posted to the auDA web site.

The domain name news is supported by auDA.

****************
DOMAIN NAMES
****************
When Smurfs Attack!
Having been toasted in a recent Belgian children's
cartoon, Smurfs are now on the counter-attack,
mounting an intellectual property rampage against
domain name holders. Studio Peyo, which owns the
rights to the Smurfs trademark and copyright, has been
sending out threatening letters to webmasters who use
the name in their web addresses.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/08/smurf_domain_revenge/

nz: Draft Policy - Dispute Resolution Service for .nz
Comments are sought on a draft Dispute Resolution
Service Policy for the .nz domain name space.
 http://dnc.org.nz/story/30231-29-1.html

au: Melbourne IT expects higher sales
Domain name registrar Melbourne IT expects higher
sales and earnings for the full year ending December
31, 2005.

http://smh.com.au/news/breaking/melbourne-it-expects-higher-sales/2005/11/09/1131407689454.html

Net pioneers awarded top honour
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn are being awarded the US's
highest civilian honour in a ceremony at the White
House.
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4415326.stm
 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39235791,00.htm

ICANN Does Something Technical! By Karl Auerbach
I've often said that ICANN regulates the business of
buying and selling of domain names and that ICANN's
claim that it coordinates technical matters to
preserve the stability of DNS is a fantasy. Well I am
proven wrong. ICANN has done something technical.
ICANN has issued Guidelines for the Implementation of
Internationalized Domain Names, Draft Version 2 [PDF]
(pending approval by the ICANN board.) It's only four
pages long, but those few pages contain a lot of
significant material.

http://www.circleid.com/posts/icann_does_something_technical/

Nom-Com Appoints Independent and Diverse Candidates to
ICANN Leadership Positions By Ram Mohan
When 72 candidates vie for 8 positions, making tough
choices are inevitable. ICANN's 2005 Nominating
Committee (Nom-Com) on Friday announced the selection
of a diverse and independent set of nominees for
important roles in ICANN, including the Board of
Directors, the GNSO, the ALAC and the ccNSO.

http://www.circleid.com/posts/nomcom_appoints_independent_diverse_candidates_to_icann/

ICANN Strategic Planning Update
In accordance with its plan for consultation and
writing the next version of the ICANN's Strategic
Plan, ICANN posts the Draft Key Priorities document
resulting from the feedback received from the
community on the issues paper and the meeting of
chairs of the Supporting Organization and Advisory
Committees (or their representatives), members of the
Board and senior ICANN staff. ICANN seeks feedback
from the community on this document either through the
public forum or through Supporting Organizations and
Advisory Committees. Based on feedback received on
this document, a draft strategic plan will be prepared
for discussion by the community. The Draft Key
Priorities is available at
<http://www.icann.org/strategic-plan/strategic-planning-draft-priorities-08nov05.pdf>.
Comment can be made to
<stratplan-draft-priorities&#167;icann.org>. The archive of
comments is available at
<http://forum.icann.org/lists/stratplan-draft-priorities/>.

ICANN: Final Proposed Draft IDN Guidelines Posted
The final proposed draft version 2.0 of the Guidelines
for implementation of Internationalized Domain Names
is now posted. The draft is currently pending
endorsement from the ICANN Board. Additionally, an
overview of the actions taken by the working group in
response to the comments received on the initially
proposed draft has been posted.

http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-07nov05.htm

.eu Domains - Businesses established or based in the
EU have another country-code domain name to consider
(reg req'd)
The .eu domain name ending is being added to the ever
increasing list of country-code top level domain
names. EURid, the organizer of the new European Union
domain name, has announced there will be a four-month
"Sunrise Period" for pre-registration commencing
December 7, 2005. "Regular"registration, open to the
EU public, will be available beginning April 7, 2006.

http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=35972&lastestnews=1

.ES TLD launches
The opening of the .ES top level domain will take
place over 4 days, starting November 8th, according to
the Spanish Domain Name Registry.

http://domaintimes.net/newseng.php?mhnews_id=306&mhnews_newsid=6613&mhnews_page=1

What's a name worth? Not much if business plan is weak
In the height of the dotcom era, I made a bad business
decision. Another company owned a domain name ? a
website name ? I thought I just had to have, so I
offered the owner $25,000 to buy the name. Thank
goodness, she turned me down.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/abrams/2005-11-03-name_x.htm

*********************
WSIS & GOVERNANCE
*********************
Seven Questions: Battling for Control of the Internet
by 
Should the United Nations control the Internet? That?s
the subject of a heated debate slated to take place at
the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis
later this month. The European Union is pressing for a
U.N. role in governing the Internet, which is
currently in the hands of a U.S. nonprofit. Lawrence
Lessig breaks down the debate and offers his views.
 http://foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3306

Battle for the web (free till ~12 November)
Who do you think is in charge of the internet?
America, of course. But now the UN wants to muscle in.
A very bad idea, says Rupert Cornwell

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article325846.ece

Beware a 'Digital Munich' by By NORM COLEMAN (sub
req'd)
It sounds like a Tom Clancy plot. An anonymous group
of international technocrats holds secretive meetings
in Geneva. Their cover story: devising a blueprint to
help the developing world more fully participate in
the digital revolution. Their real mission:
strategizing to take over management of the Internet
from the U.S. and enable the United Nations to
dominate and politicize the World Wide Web. Does it
sound too bizarre to be true? Regrettably, much of
what emanates these days from the U.N. does.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113133007519089738.html

http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200511/msg00112.html

Who controls access to the internet?
If the UN gets its way cyberspace could suddenly
become a lot smaller
 http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/09Nov2005_news18.php

ph: RP delegation gears up for WSIS summit in Tunisia
The Philippine delegation is preparing to leave for
Tunisia next week for the upcoming WSIS Summit that
will highlight experiences of different countries on
IT development and discuss global resolutions.

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=55896

The hegemony of free speech
As this is written, the United States is finding
itself the object of concerted and near-unanimous
condemnation for its refusal to hand supervision of
the Internet over to the United Nations or other
international body.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/11/06/special_reports/science_technology/10_12_5711_5_05.txt

First Coffee - The United Nations' Attempted Internet
Hijacking
Republican Senator Norm Coleman, from Minnesota,
sounded the alarm in The Wall Street Journal a couple
days ago: It sounds like a Tom Clancy plot. An
anonymous group of international technocrats holds
secretive meetings in Geneva. Their cover story:
devising a blueprint to help the developing world more
fully participate in the digital revolution. Their
real mission: strategizing to take over management of
the Internet from the U.S. and enable the United
Nations to dominate and politicize the World Wide Web.
Does it sound too bizarre to be true? Regrettably,
much of what emanates these days from the U.N. does.
 http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/nov/1202094.htm

The U.N.'s Threat to the Net By Bruce Levinson
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, writing
in The Washington Post, declared that it is a
"mistaken notion" that the U.N. "wants to 'take over,'
police or otherwise control the Internet."
Unfortunately, neither the WSIS, the WSIS' WGIG or the
Secretary General's column give comfort to those
committed to cyber-freedom.

http://www.circleid.com/posts/the_un_threat_to_the_net/

Internet Governance: Countdown to Tunis
In a paper entitled "DNS D?tente", written in the
authors' personal capacities, Tricia Drakes (a former
member of the ICANN Board) and Michael D. Palage (a
current member of the ICANN board) have attempted to
address some of the unresolved issues of the recent
Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) 3 session in Geneva as
discussions head to the final phase of the WSIS in
Tunis. More specifically, the paper focuses on one of
the "fundamental stumbling blocks to the continued
evolution of Internet Governance"; The insistence of
the United States Government that it retain its
historically exclusive role in connection with
authorizing changes to the Root A server, particularly
with respect to ccTLDs. Shared further is the content
of this paper.

http://www.circleid.com/posts/internet_governance_countdown_to_tunis/

Keep the Internet Free of the United Nations by Brett
D. Schaefer, John J. Tkacik, Jr., and James L. Gattuso
For decades, the Internet has developed with a minimum
of government interference. The core governance of the
medium has been performed by non-governmental entities
and overseen by the U.S. government, which has
exercised a light regulatory touch. It is no
coincidence that the medium has prospered from this
benign neglect, growing from a research curiosity into
a major force in the world economy and an invaluable
venue for the exchange of information.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/wm904.cfm

U.S. dominance of World Wide Web could spur backlash
at U.N. summit
When hundreds of millions of people around the globe
log on to the Internet every day to shop, chat, check
on their investments or sports scores or research
their homework, the last thing they think of is the
dull but vital inner workings of the Web.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/08/MNGGAFKHMA1.DTL

The Stage Is Set: Who Will Control the Internet?
The call has sounded for the creation of an
international body to govern the Internet as a global
resource. Such a move is expected to draw fierce
opposition from the U.S., which holds firm to the
belief that any change in the status quo would
jeopardize the Internet's ability to function as a
medium of free expression.
 http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=38790

WSIS: UN has no plans to 'take over' the net
Kofi Annan says the web should be 'protected from the
heat of day-to-day politics'
 http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=5278

http://infoworld.com/article/05/11/07/HNannanun_1.html

U.N. Proposes Global Control Over Internet Domains
A U.N. report proposes a more multi-national approach
to running the Internet which serves a billion users
worldwide.
 http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7000920116

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and
BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(c) David Goldstein 2005


	

	
		
____________________________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Yahoo! Photos: Now with unlimited storage 
http://au.photos.yahoo.com