<nettime> Why Domains Affect Freedom of Speech, Access and Privacy

[Paul Garrin <pg@lokmail.net>]

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Why Domains Affect Freedom of Speech, Access and Privacy

Domain names may be viewed by some as merely a brand, an internet address,
or just an easy way to remember where to send mail or access a web site. 
There is of course much more than meets the eye. 

All the noise and rhetoric over domain names in the past four
years--should there be more toplevel domains, who controls the root of the
internet, trademark claims and conflicts, domain hijacking, and more have
mainly simply fanned the flame-wars and obfuscated the real issues at
hand--Freedom of Access, Freedom of Speech, and Privacy. 

How do simple domain names affect such profound things as Access, Freedom
and Privacy?  The answer to that is easy, and you just need to look around
you at some of the events that transpired over the past couple of years. 
Most fresh in our memories, and still not resolved is the infamous
"etoys.com" v. "etoy.com"  battle over trademark rights and artistic
expression. When the domain name "etoy.com" was turned off by Network
Solutions, all access to the etoy.group website and email was terminated,
and their presence under that domain disappeared from the entire net. 

Other factors are less obvious and largely unknown to the general public,
limited mainly to corporations and the commercial agreements made between
them which largely contribute to the erosion of individuals' rights on the
net. With the emergence of ICANN into the realm of Internet governance,
one can only expect more restrictions to access, privacy and free speech.
For example, in the registrar's contract between ICANN and companies who
wish to register domain names, there is a MANDATORY DATABASE ESCROW clause
that threatens privacy by removing any due process or constitutional
protections on the access to the identities of domain name registrants. 
(http://www.icann.org/nsi/icann-raa-04nov99.htm#II-I) 

New Toplevel Domains mean FREEDOM.  Freedom of ACCESS, Freedom of SPEECH
and PRIVACY.  Name.Space has had hundreds of new TLDs in operation since
1996 and has established technology and policy through practice and
interaction with its users.  The processes persued by Name.Space to
achieve global recognition of those TLDs involved Antitrust action against
Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI)  and the battle for Free Speech in joining
the US Government in that suit.  In addition, Name.Space has persued the
available Public Policy routes as a participant, a contributor and a
critic of the process, in defense if individual users' rights in the face
of the overbearing corporate interests that seek to dominate the debate. 
(http://namespace.org/law) 

Policies in place by Name.Space include NO CENSORSHIP, PRIVATE
(unpublished) LISTINGS, ANTI-SPECULATION AND HIJACKING, and encourages USE
of a domain name over hoarding and re-selling.  The stated policy also
calls for a politically decentralized management of the DNS, in the
interests of the global public and not favoring any nation, corporation,
or individual.  (see http://namespace.org/policy) 

To back this up, Name.Space and it's engineers have built up a stable
technical infrastructure to support registration, management, and serving
of both new and legacy domains, as well as technical innovations such as
the Smart Whois (sWhois) Universal Domain Search Engine
(http://dns411.com), and LokMail, a secure and encrypted webmail service. 
(https://mail.lokmail.net). 

Take a step toward freedom today by switching your DNS settings to
Name.Space!  Don't sit by idley while your rights and freedoms are being
dealt away in the corporate marketplace!  Support new TLDs!  Register
yours today!  and VOTE for the new TLDs that you prefer. 
http://free.name.space.xs2.net http://vote.global-namespace.net

Time is running out!

- ---------------------------------------------------------
Get Free Private Encrypted Email https://mail.lokmail.net

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