Green Paper

The Green Paper entitled A Proposal to Improve the Technical Management of Internet Names and Addresses was released by the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) in the Federal Register on February 20, 1998 which calls for the creation of a new non-profit corporation to take over the management of the DNS.It also proposes competition and registration of domain names.

Background

On July 1, 1997, President Bill Clinton instructed the Department of Commerce to privatize the management of the DNS as part of the administrations Framework for Global Electronic Commerce. The administration's objective is to increase competition and to encourage international participation. The Department of Commerce responded immediately to the President's instruction and issued a Request For Comments (RFC) which discusses the governments overall framework of the DNS administration, the creation of new top level domains (TLD), policies for domain name registrars and trademark issues on July 2, 1997. NTIA received 430 comments. The Green Paper was released by the NTIA based on the inputs provided by the internet community on the RFC.

Proposals

The Green Paper proposed the establishment of a globally represented not for profit corporation to handle the technical management of the DNS. Stability, competition, private, bottom-up coordination and representations should be the guiding principles in establishing a new organization that will handle the DNS of the internet.

Response to the Green Paper

The Domain Name Rights Coalition (DNRC), a working group under the Association for the Creation and Propagation of Internet Policy (A-TCPIP) supported the Green Paper, however the organization identified four key issues that needs to be addressed which include:

1. Failure of the Green Paper to affirm that communication and free speech as the core principle in internet development
2. A diverse representation is needed to the Board of the proposed new structure
3. The Green Paper must clearly explain how to achieve accountability and transparency and provide opportunity for the internet community to comment on ongoing policy developments
4. The Green Paper needs to provide a better option in implementing Trademark Law

Request For Comments