NetSol power grab begins in earnest

Pretty interesting sui generis database issue.

James Love
<love[_at_]cptech.org>

• Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 11:47:22 -0400 From: Steve Peterson <stevep[_at_]visi.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <com-priv[_at_]lists.psi.com> Subject: NetSol power grab begins in earnest

Not sure whether anyone has seen this yet, but in Network Solutions' S-1 registration (at
ftp://www.sec.gov/edgar/data/1030341/0000950133-97-002418.txt ) they assert ownership of the domain name database. To quote:

> The Company has compiled a database of information relating to
> customers in its registration business. While a portion of this
> database is available to the public, the Company believes that it

                                                   ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 


> has ownership rights in this database and is seeking to protect such

  ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^

It's a scary thing if they make this stick. Sounds like West Publishing all over again. And the recent message from David Holtzman implies that they believe they can control who gets copies of the zone files and who doesn't. Who knows where this will lead?

What would prevent IANA from requesting today that the complete database be published on the web?

Steve Received on Mon Jul 07 1997 - 19:30:21 GMT