Overview Issues
Solutions Resources |
Personal Rights and Domain Names There has been much attention to the rights of free speech vs. the trademark rights of corporations on the Internet. One of the major players is the Domain Name Rights Coalition (DNRC), a working group of the Association for The Creation and Propagation of Internet Policies (A-TCPIP). They are currently lobbying the Department of Commerce for changes to their Technical Management of Internet Names and Addresses green paper to ensure that the rights of small businesses and individuals who may not have federally-registered trademarks still have rights to second-level domain names. Part of the concern is the policies instituted by Network Solutions that:
The DNRC opposes these policies because:
There is also substantial concern that proposed policies of the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) which is to be the successor to Network Solutions in managing the domain name registration process may also have similar problems. A major proponent of these "conflict resolution policies" is the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The DNRC and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are leading proponents of keeping the Internet open and accessible to all, including the domain name registration system. The EFF asserts in "Re: Request for Comments on Issues Addressed in the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process (WIPO RFC-2)":
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