Syndicate: PGMedia Challenges U.S. Government's Claim To Control Of The Domain Name System

[pgp@pgmedia.net (pgMedia)]

Press Release
September 18, 1997


PGMedia Challenges U.S. Government's Claim
   To Control Of The Domain Name System


NEW YORK, NEW YORK:     PGMedia, Inc. d/b/a name.space(tm), the New
York-based company which sued Network Solutions, Inc. ("NSI") (the holder
of the monopoly in commercial Internet Domain Name Registrations) for
violations of U.S. antitrust laws in March of this year, has amended its
Complaint in that case to join the National Science Foundation ("NSF") as a
party-defendant.  While PGMedia steadfastly believes that the National
Science Foundation has no authority to restrict or forestall the complete
opening of the Domain Name Registration market which PGMedia seeks in its
case against NSI, over the last three months, the NSF has injected itself
into the Domain Name dispute by claiming (on behalf of the U.S. Government)
to exclusively control the Domain Name System.  The NSF has exerted this
control to prevent NSI from acquiescing in PGMedia's demand for access to
the market.  Again, PGMedia believes that the NSF possesses no such control
or authority, but even if it did, such actions have the clear effect of
limiting freedom of expression in the first and foremost avenue of speech
on the Internet -- the Domain Name.  Thus, either the NSF has no authority,
and NSI should be allowed to comply with Federal and state antitrust law in
settling with PGMedia, or the NSF must, pursuant to the First Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, acquiesce in PGMedia's demand to unlimited and
shared Top Level Domain Names.

The name.space(tm) Service

PGMedia's name.space(tm) service(http://namespace.pgmedia.net) was launched
in August 1996 to offer Internet Domain Name Registration Services in
competition with NSI under virtually unlimited Top Level Domain names.
That is to say, while NSI has forced Internet users to register their names
under .com, .net and .org, name.space(tm) offers the full range of
expression, in virtually any language, in the top level namespace.  In
addition, and significantly, name.space(tm) claims no exclusivity with
respect to the right to register under any TLD.  Indeed, PGMedia has
developed software and code to allow multiple registries to register names
under the same TLD.  Unfortunately, until NSI changes the so-called "root
zone file" (or directory of directories) which resides on its root name
servers, the name.space(tm) top level domain names will not be universally
resolvable on the Internet.  Until NSI makes that change, only users who
have visited the name.space(tm) web page and downloaded the self-executing
application which points their browser to the name.space(tm) servers first
can use a name.space(tm) domain name.

PGMedia sues Network Solutions
to Open the Domain Name Market

In March 1997, after NSI refused PGMedia's request that reference to the
name.space(tm) name servers be added to the root zone file, PGMedia sued
NSI in Federal District Court in the Southern District of New York seeking,
among other things, to compel NSI to add the name.space(tm) TLDs and
nameservers to the root zone file.  Initially, NSI refused, claiming that
Dr. Jon Postel, of the so-called Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
("IANA"), was the only person who could add a TLD to the root zone file.
However, after several discussions with PGMedia and its counsel, NSI
proposed allowing unlimited TLDs, but only if the National Science
Foundation had no objection.  PGMedia has consistently contended that the
NSF has no more of a place in this debate than any other interested party,
and could not act to arbitrarily limit speech in the top level name space
even if it did. In June and again in August of this year, the NSF informed
NSI that the NSF controlled the root zone file, and that the NSF could not
allow NSI to comply with Federal and state antitrust laws in granting
PGMedia's reasonable request.

With today's addition of the National Science Foundation to the case, the
issue of who ultimately controls the Global Internet is squarely before a
Court of competent jurisdiction.  In addition, the arbitrary restriction by
the U.S. Government of freedom of expression in the top level name space
may soon finally come to an end.

For more information, contact: law@pgmedia.net
                                                 Or call (212) 677-4080