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A. Purpose. The purpose of this document is to provide a summary description of a proposed policy and advisory structure for the .us top-level domain name registry. The proposed structure and accompanying public interest principles are intended to be incorporated into the chartering materials for operation of the registry, which is currently in the process of being reassigned and redelegated within the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Commercial and non-commercial organizations with an interest in the .us registry are encouraged to contribute to the further development of this document and to become sponsors of its adoption by the .us registry operator. Contact information is provided in the references section below.
B. Background. The Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet provides the means by which easy to use mnemonic strings of letters and numbers may be used to remember the addresses of the host computers that provide Internet services. At the present time, there are more than forty million registered domain names in the Internet. Domain name to address resolution is performed more than six billion times a day as network users access their email servers, web sites or other Internet functions. Within the DNS, there is a hierarchical assignment of name server computers, which perform the conversion of names to addresses, to domain name registries, of which there are more than 250 worldwide.
The .us top-level domain name registry has been in operation for over a decade under policy and administrative rules originally promulgated in RFC 1591 and RFC 1480. These rules are currently administered by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which is part of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The .us registry is currently operated by VeriSign Global Registration Services (VGRS), under contract to the United States Department of Commerce (DOC), which is conducting a solicitation under federal procurement regulations for a new registry operator. The solicitation contemplates substantial upgrading and improvement of the operation of the registry to meet emerging requirements of domain name system users of the .us registry, both current and future. Bids for operation of the .us registry are due on 27 July 2001 so that a new operator can be selected and assume responsibility for the registry prior to expiration of the current contract term in November 2001.
Detailed information, including the full solicitation text, is accessible at the sites contained in the References section below.
C. Public Interest Requirements of the .us Registry Solicitation. Requirements for supporting the public interest are contained in several sections of the solicitation document.
In summary, these requirements include:
D. Principles. Delegations and redelegations of national domain name registries are subject to the provisions of RFC1591, which has been adopted as policy by ICANN in its document ICP-1. The responsibility of the manager of a national domain name registry is stated as: "The delegee of a ccTLD is a trustee for the delegated domain, and has a duty to serve the residents of the relevant country or territory." Service to the users of the registry services, both current and future, is thus a major component of the registry operation and must be accomplished under a set of principles ensuring fair and equitable treatment, among other objectives. A proposed initial set of principles for the .us registry follows:
E. Structure. Among a number of possible alternatives for the best administrative and legal structure within which to implement the principles stated above, it appears that a not-for-profit corporation is the superior choice.
Within the corporate structure, the key features will be the mechanisms for representation of user and public interests; the legal relationships to the registry operator, to the Department of Commerce and to ICANN; procedures for appropriate policy development; and arrangements for funding the corporation and its agreed-upon activities from registry operating revenue.
E.1. Representation of user and public interests. Consistent with the principles stated above in section D, the proposed not-for-profit corporation will represent a variety of interests in the .us domain. Since the DOC solicitation assumes that growth will result in a substantial expansion of registrations and the introduction of new categories of registration, the representation structure must accommodate the interests of current registrants as well as those of future registrants.
A governing structure that supports the diverse objectives of the sponsors of this proposal must balance representation with effectiveness. In order to be effective and responsive to fast-changing conditions in the Internet and the DNS, the Board should (at least initially) have eleven Directors, with seats distributed in such a way to establish balance among four categories of stakeholders: current users of the locality-based .us domain (largely public sector); non-profit public interest organizations; users of the .us space as it expands (including commercial interests); and technical operators (e.g., registrars, regional delegees, etc.). Such a structure is enumerated below; sub-categories of participants are listed, but should not imply a proposed distribution of seats to particular entities.
| Legacy Stakeholders (3 seats) | Non-profit public interest groups (3 seats) | .us Users (3 seats) | Technical Operators (2 seats) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charitable organizations that operate exclusively to promote the public good and community development. |
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If found necessary or desirable, the Board could be expanded in the future, but any such expansion should be consistent with the balance expressed above, and with the total number of Board members not to exceed fifteen.
E.1.1. Population and responsibilities of the Initial Board. With respect to the Initial Board, members should be chosen not only for their commitment to this statement and to the Memorandum of Understanding, but also for the measure of trust that they have earned from the community and for their experience and expertise.
It is expected that members of the Initial Board, and all future Board members, will assume a significant responsibility for outreach to other individuals and organizations in their constituency group. Such outreach would be intended to increase participation in the .us policy process, to provide an intake system for grievances or requests for policy action, and to generally increase the legitimacy of the non-profit corporation.
Further, the Initial Board is expected to work to develop a fair, efficient mechanism for selection of future Board members in a way serving the interests of the American Internet community. Of the four categories listed above, three - legacy stakeholders, non-profit groups, and technical operators - may be able to make use of existing membership organizations to assist in such selections. In the fourth category, ".us Users," established representative organizations exist for some likely participants (e.g., the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or other trade associations, as organized representatives of business users), but not for others (e.g. individual users). A more elaborate selection mechanism, possibly to include elections by domain name holders, will be needed to identify Board members in such a case. Outreach would play a significant role in the development of such systems, by helping to name candidates or, if an election is used, to build an electorate.
Finally, both the Initial Board and all future Boards of the not-for-profit corporation should embody a commitment to open and transparent processes, as befits their mission and objectives.
E.1.2. Purpose of the not-for-profit corporation. While the Board structure of the not-for-profit corporation should include representatives from diverse sectors of the American Internet community, the corporation and its Board should have a specific mandate to serve the broad interests of the American public as a whole, and not the specific interests of discrete groups. This mandate should be reflected in the corporation's founding documents and bylaws, and members of the Board have a fiduciary responsibility to serve the public interest as individuals, regardless of the policy agendas of groups with which they may be affiliated.
E.2. Legal relationships. Although there are several acceptable options with respect to legal relationships, the preferred one is for the selected registry operator to hold the delegation of the registry from ICANN and to contract with the not-for-profit corporation to provide policy oversight in order to ensure that the operations serve the broad community interest. The contract provisions would require the operator, within reasonable economic and operational limits, to have a defined method for taking policy input and to follow the policy recommendations of the board of the not-for-profit corporation.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the not-for-profit corporation and the selected registry operator should commit the parties to a meaningful level of participation in each other's decision making processes so that mutual goals of effective coordination of policy development and execution are achieved. This may involve reciprocal Director appointments or similar mechanisms.
E. 3. Funding arrangements. The budget and funding issues will in part be affected by the details of the legal structure, but in any event need to be structured so as to ensure the security, integrity and operational stability of the registry. This should include provisions to (a) allow sufficient margins to the operator to create the incentive for high-quality performance and continued interest; (b) protect against unreasonable changes in charges to registrants over time; and (c) provide adequate funding to carry out the policy responsibilities of the not-for-profit corporation.
F. Implementation. Since this proposal is being made publicly available to all bidders for the registry contract with the Department of Commerce, it is assumed that the implementation of the formation of the not-for-profit corporation and the assumption by it of the public interest policy development and oversight responsibilities for the .us registry will begin upon award of the registry contract.
Upon award of the contract to the successful bidder, a sequence of actions will take place, pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding entered into prior to the award between the bidder and the organizers of this effort that sets forth timelines and other specifics. The registry operator will provide the initial funding necessary to form the not-for-profit corporation. An initial set of Directors will be appointed and procedures for expansion of the Board and selection of permanent Directors will be developed, agreed to, and adopted. Either interim or permanent management of the corporation will be hired. Policy processes related to provisions of the solicitation will be initiated, consultation undertaken with the community, and procedures agreed to and adopted.
All of these actions will require close coordination with the business plans of the registry operator and with the obligations of the registry to the Department of Commerce and to ICANN in order to secure redelegation of the registry to the new operator.
G. References.
For additional information about this statement, contact:
Rob Courtney
Center for Democracy & Technology
202-637-9800
rob@cdt.org
Aleck Johnson
Leslie Harris & Associates
202-478-6184
asj@lharris.com
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The Center For Democracy & Technology |