Network Solutions Dropped as Registrar Of Internet Domains By David S. Hilzenrath Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, April 24 1997; Page E01 The Washington Post The National Science Foundation said yesterday it will not renew Network Solutions Inc.'s deal to register Internet domains when the Herndon company's agreement with the government expires next year. But Network Solutions responded by saying it does not plan to relinquish its exclusive hold on the registration of ".com" domains and several other established forms of Internet addresses. The two announcements leave the future of one of the Internet's central resources in confusion and contention. Domain names serve as something of a Zip-code system for the Internet, enabling users to address electronic mail and locate pages on the graphical World Wide Web. Corporations and organizations pay to register their locations. A coalition of organizations has been pushing for competition in the registration of Internet domains, including those ending in .com for commercial users, the most popular form of Internet address. Critics have argued that competition could promote better service and lower prices. As of Dec. 31, Network Solutions had collected $42.6 million in fees from the enterprise, charging $100 to register new addresses ending in .com, .org, .gov, .net and .edu. It also charges annual renewal fees of $50 after two years. Seventy percent of the money is revenue to Network Solutions, a subsidiary of California-based federal government contractor Science Applications International Corp., and the rest is set aside for improvement of the Internet. The NSF inspector general recently estimated that registrations would generate annual fees of about $200 million by mid-1999. National Science Foundation spokeswoman Beth Gaston said it "has not been determined yet" whether the registry Network Solutions operates belongs to the company. The agency put Network Solutions in charge of the registry in 1993, and it has grown to include about 1.2 million domains. Networks Solutions seemed more definite. "It is not our intention to share .com or the others [domains] we register," Network Solutions spokesman Christopher Clough said. "Those would obviously [be] assets that we've developed . . . much as Microsoft wouldn't share DOS," its proprietary software. Network Solutions favors competition, but only in the registration of new types of domains, Clough said. A coalition of groups led by the Internet Society is trying to create a system in which competing registrars could process the same types of domains, including those controlled by Network Solutions. "They've taken the low road and tried to protect their monopoly instead of taking a leadership role in the best interest of the Internet," said Donald Heath, president of the Internet Society. The National Science Foundation's inspector general recently recommended that the federal government maintain oversight of Internet addresses and continue earmarking a portion of registration fees for development of the Internet. But Joseph Bordogna, the agency's acting deputy director, issued a statement yesterday saying the commercialization of the Internet leaves the NSF less reason to stay involved. Bordogna said the NSF "has no plans to renew or re-compete" the agreement with Network Solutions. A group of federal agencies, including the NSF, the Federal Communications Commission and the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, has been discussing what role the government should play. Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Aleph One / aleph1@dfw.net http://underground.org/ KeyID 1024/948FD6B5 Fingerprint EE C9 E8 AA CB AF 09 61 8C 39 EA 47 A8 6A B8 01