IAHC

Jon Postel appointed Dave Crocker and Perry Metzger to the IAHC.

The International Ad Hoc Committee was quite a group. There were eleven of us, eight engineers and three lawyers. The eight engineers were Don Heath and Bob Shaw, my pals from Dublin, Geoff from Australia, Hank from Israel, Jun Murai from Japan, Perry from New York, Dave from Silicon Valley, and George from the National Science Foundation in Washington. The lawyers were myself, Albert Tramposch, also from the Dublin group, and Sally Abel, a partner in a Palo Alto law firm. (Sally had succeeded me as cochair of the Internet Subcommittee of the International Trademark Association.)

Since the qualified adoption of the IANA proposal by ISOC, "there has been considerable international debate on various aspects of the proposal, with no consensus," Heath said. "Additional important issues have surfaced and it is in the best interest of the continued beneficial evolution of the Internet that these issues be aired and resolved," he added. A centralized electronic forum will be employed to facilitate and support the process.

William Schrader, President, CEO and Chairman of PSINet, a leading Internet Service Provider with aggressive international plans stated, "The initiative by ISOC is a bold move in asserting its role in the leadership of issues key to the future of commerce on the Internet as well as in defining and resolving important governance issues internationally. We strongly support and urge this kind of action by ISOC."

The IAHC will be composed of representatives of the large international Internet community. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the International Trademark Association (INTA) will designate one each. ISOC, IANA, and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) will each appoint two members for a total of nine.

"The IAHC members appointed by ISOC, IANA, and IAB may come from anywhere within the worldwide Internet community and not necessarily from their respective groups," said Heath. Members of the IAHC are expected to be named within the next week.

An Internet International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC) has been named to resolve issues resulting from current international debate over a proposal to establish additional global registries and international Top Level Domains (iTLDs).

"We are pleased to have attracted such a high level of leading international experts in their fields to examine these questions that are critical to the current and future growth of the Internet," Donald M. Heath, president and CEO of the Internet Society said in announcing the eleven-member committee. Heath will serve as chairman.

Deliberations of the committee may lead to the establishment of new international Top Level Domains (iTLDs), adding to the current three-letter tags, such as .com, .net, and .org, that end many Internet email and World Wide Web addresses.

Dr. Donald N. Telage, Don Telage president of the Herndon, Virginia - based Network Solutions, Inc., which manages the InterNIC Registry administering the .com, .net, .edu, and .org top level domains, said: "Network Solutions has supported the registration process and the growth of the Internet since 1991. We have seen its evolution from a research and education tool to a powerful medium for global communication and collaboration. The National Science Foundation has played a critical role in the early governance activities, and we support the Internet Society's efforts to review issues critical to the future of Internet growth, evolution and governance. Network Solutions will participate and support this effort enthusiastically supplying our extensive operational knowledge as needed."

Named to the new IAHC are:

1. Sally Abel, specializes in international trademark and trade name counseling, chairs the Internet Subcommittee of the International Trademark Association (INTA), and will represent that organization on the IAHC. Ms. Abel is the partner in charge of the Trademark Group of the law firm of Fenwick and West, a Palo Alto, Ca. firm specializing in high technology matters.

1. Dave Crocker, is co-founder of the Internet Mail Consortium, an industry trade association. He is also a principal with Brandenburg Consulting in Sunnyvale, Ca., a firm specializing in guiding the development and use of Internet applications. With ten years in the ARPA research community, ten years developing commercial network products and services, and extensive contributions to the Internet Engineering Task Force, he is considered an expert about the Internet, email, electronic commerce, Internet operation and the Internet standards process.

1. Geoff Huston is the technical manager of Australia's Telstra Internet and is responsible for the architecture and operations of its service. He formerly was technical manager of the Australian Academic and Research Network, and was largely responsible for the introduction and subsequent development of the Internet into Australia.

1. David Maher, a partner at the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, of Chicago, IL, is a registered patent attorney and has extensive experience in intellectual property and entertainment law. Principal outside trademark counsel for several nationwide companies, he has served as special counsel to the American Bar Association for telecommunications matters.

1. Perry Metzger is the president of New York - based Piermont Information Systems Inc., a consulting firm specializing in communications and computer systems security. He has worked with the New York financial community for many years and is active in the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF) security area, chairing the group's Simple Public Key Infrastructure working group.

1. Jun Murai is an associate professor on the Faculty of Environmental Information at Keio University in Tokyo. He developed JUNET, Japan's first UUCP network and the WIDE Internet, Japan's first IP network. He is president of the Japan Network Information Center (JPNIC) and serves as adjunct professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the United Nations University in Tokyo.

1. Hank Nussbacher, an independent networking consultant, currently works with IBM Israel as Internet Technology Manager and has been responsible for all aspects in establishing IBM Israel as a major ISP in Israel. He also consults for the Israeli inter-university consortium and is on the board of directors of the Internet Society of Israel.

1. Robert Shaw is an advisor on Global Information Infrastructure (GII) issues at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is a United Nations treaty organization within which governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services.

1. George Strawn is with the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which has funded Internet development for research and education. Mr. Strawn has been involved with the NSF's Internet activities for the last five years and also co-chairs the Federal Networking Council, a US government committee coordinating inter-agency Internet activities, including funding for administrative activities, such as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

1. Albert Tramposch is senior legal counsellor at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. WIPO is a United Nations organization which has responsibility for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. It also administers various treaties dealing with legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property, including the international registration of trademarks.

In addition, Stuart Levi, a partner in the New York Office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and the head of the firm's Computer and Information Technology Practice, will serve as outside counsel supporting the IAHC.

"The IAHC will be charged with fairly and openly looking at the complex issues surrounding the current domain name and registry situation, including trademark and infringement, economics and administration of registry operations, dispute resolution policies, fees and iTLDs," Heath said. He anticipates the Committee reaching reasonable consensus on issues identified, sometime in January. A subset of the IAHC will seek to implement its recommendations very shortly after that.