Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (1)
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Facing heat over gas price rise, Obama vows to speed pipeline's southern leg
22 Mar 2012
Marine sergeant faces discipline for Facebook critique of Obama
22 Mar 2012
Special Report: Intel shows Iran nuclear threat not imminent
12:00pm EDT
Fed officials clash on view of economy
22 Mar 2012
Madonna vows to defy anti-gay law on Russian tour
22 Mar 2012
Discussed
197
Dozens arrested at Occupy’s 6-month anniversary rally
159
Republican budget plan seeks to play up tax reform
155
Marine sergeant faces discipline for Facebook critique of Obama
Watched
Artworks preview in LA prior to sale
Thu, Mar 22 2012
Amateur video shows police assault on Toulouse suspect's home
Wed, Mar 21 2012
Clashes over austerity in Portugal
Thu, Mar 22 2012
Web address controversy deepens after U.S. warning
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Analysis & Opinion
The meltdown explanation that melts away
Compensatory penalties, hedge-fund insider cases mark SEC enforcement trends
Related Topics
Tech »
Media »
By Georgina Prodhan
LONDON |
Fri Mar 23, 2012 1:25pm EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - A controversial attempt to expand Internet addresses far beyond the likes of .com, .org or .net has provoked a rare threat from the U.S. government to withdraw a key license from the body that runs the Internet's core functions.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) depends on its U.S. government contract to coordinate the unique addresses that tell computers where to find each other, without which the global Internet could not function.
But this month the government warned that the non-profit body's rules against conflicts of interest were not strong enough and only temporarily extended ICANN's contract - which it has held since its formation in 1998 - instead of renewing it as many in the industry had expected.
A failure to secure the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) contract would severely damage ICANN's ability to implement its address expansion program, the most radical move in the organization's history.
The conflict of interest concerns arise from the fact that some past and present board members stand to benefit financially from the liberalization of Web addresses through ties to organizations that make money from registering new domain names or consulting on the expansion.
Currently, organizations are restricted to a couple of dozen so-called top-level domains, such as .com, .org or .net, or country code domains such as .co.uk.
ICANN wants to enable brands, cities or firms seeking to build new Internet businesses to apply to own and run their own domains, for example .apple, .nyc or .gay, giving them more control over their Web presence and a greater choice of names.
"Not to award ICANN the IANA contract would be to completely knock it off its foundations," said Philip Corwin, who is legal counsel for the Internet Commerce Association, an organization for domain name investors and developers.
"ICANN needs that contract to have the authority they need to really make this program work."
The contract has been renewed until September.
A whole industry has already sprung up to take advantage of ICANN's initiative. One of those is Top Level Domain Holdings, a London-listed firm set up to acquire and operate the new domains, whose chairman, Peter Dengate Thrush, was chairman of ICANN when it approved the change.
TLDH has already put in 40 applications and intends to submit more for domains including .miami and .music.
BUZZ
Many critics are skeptical as to whether ICANN will achieve its stated aim of boosting competition and innovation, pointing to previous experiments with the likes of .aero, .travel and .museum, which have gone largely unused.
But convinced or not, hundreds of consumer brands feel forced to apply for their own domains - a costly and complex process that comes with obligations to actively operate the domain - fearing they will lose out to rivals if they do not.
A three-month window will close on April 12, likely for years and possibly forever.
A recent survey by Internet registry services company Afilias, which is applying for about 150 new domains on behalf of clients and already provides key infrastructure for .org, .info and .mobi, found considerable uncertainty about the process.
Of 200 major consumer brands it surveyed in the United States and Britain, 53 percent were either not aware that they could participate in the process at all or did not know that the application window was open and when it would close.
Of those who were aware, however, 54 percent of brands were in the process of applying, and only 6 percent said they definitely would not.
"There's a buzz about this now," said non-executive Afilias director Jonathan Robinson.
Others with less of a stake in the process call such behavior outright defensive.
"Of the people that I'm talking to, the vast majority of those that are moving ahead to apply don't have a concrete business initiative in mind for how they will use the registry," said Jeff Ernst of technology analysis firm Forrester.
"They're fearful of another organization getting their string, or they're fearful that another competitor will buy its own and get first-mover advantage in doing something strategic."
Stuart Durham, European sales director of consultancy Melbourne IT, which is preparing about 100 applications for customers, says interest is rapidly increasing as the end of the window approaches.
FINANCIAL INTERESTS
Joshua S. Bourne, a managing partner and co-founder of FairWinds Partners, a consultancy that works with brands on their Internet strategy, said some of the world's biggest brands were refusing to apply.
"I think we're going to be very surprised on May 1st when some of the world's biggest brands aren't included," he said. "They want to make a statement because they don't agree with the whole ICANN process, but in the end I think they'll regret it."
Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's outgoing chief executive, told Reuters this week the expansion was going smoothly. "We're holding the course. There's not a single complaint about anything to do with the administration of the program."
But at a major ICANN meeting earlier this month he warned it was time for the organization to tighten up its rules.
"ICANN must be able to act for the public good while placing commercial and financial interests in their appropriate context. How can it do this if all top leadership is from the very domain name industry it is supposed to coordinate independently?"
"Preserving ICANN's ability to act independently, in the public interest, is paramount to the future of the Internet and this institution," he said.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Erica Billingham)
Tech
Media
Related Quotes and News
Company
Price
Related News
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
ImranAnwar wrote:
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.