The formal agreements announced last week between the US Department of Commerce, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Network Solutions Inc (NSI) were set in stone today. Six documents were signed: a Registry Agreement between ICANN and NS;, a revised Registrar Accreditation Agreement between ICANN and all registrars, including NSI, in .com, .net and .org; a Registrar Transition Agreement which will see NSI converted from the sole registrar to one of 88 competitors; a revised Registrar License and Agreement; an amendment to the Cooperative Agreement between the DOC and NSI; and an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding between the DOC and ICANN.
The changes include provisions making it easier for customers to switch registrars, the inclusion of which was forced by NSI’s rivals; a reduction in the price of registry services from $9 to $6 per domain name and a $1.25m advance from NSI to fund ICANN. All registrars have agreed to continue public access to the WHOIS site, where web users can inquire about domain name ownership. Finally, the InterNIC web site will be maintained as a public information site with a directory of links to all accredited registrars.
On behalf of ICANN, I am pleased that as a global community we have reached this important stage in our development and can now move on and work together to accept our responsibilities, said ICANN president and CEO Mike Roberts. ICANN has been avid to assume those responsibilities ever since its inception in September 1998, but the terms under which it could exercise its power have been the subject of frequently acrimonious debate. The bitterness of the DNS wars reflect the magnitude of what’s at stake. To the outspoken horror of many net pioneers, mainstream papers have started to refer to ICANN as the internet’s governing board.
