Re: Internet domain name controversies

From: <ArborLaw[_at_]aol.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 18:47:23 -0400

Timothy Arnold-Moore writes:
>
> The cost of allocating and maintaining domain names is
> significantly less than the charges (at least an order of
> magnitude). Being delegated the task of assigning domain names
> is a licence to print money. The Internic uses it to fund other
> parts of its activity which directly benefit the Internet
> community (It remains to be seen whether MUIT will do the same).

What proportion is going to make the world a better place? I have yet to see a breakdown.

Actually, the cost is not so out of line, if the system were better integrated with the legal reality of domain names being used in a manner of a mark. But it's monopoly pricing, and under market economies non-governmental monopolies are usually only permitted with fairly strict price controls. Intellectual property laws confer a type of monopoly, up to a point, and the point is usually where the monopoly puts an undue economic cost on interoperability. But IANAAL (that's "antitrust lawyer").

There's no denying that business is good when you're a monopolist. Any truth to the unsubstantiated rumor on the net that NSI will IPO soon?

Carol Shepherd
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==--====-==-=-=-==--=--====--=-=-=-====---===-=-=-====---===---= Received on Thu Oct 10 1996 - 22:53:46 GMT