Small Business Administration Objects to .US Deal 130
rlarner writes: "The United States Small Business Administration has written a letter to the NTIA that challenges the .US sale. The SBA claims that the UDRP and sunrise period were not properly enacted - they needed comment periods, etc. The letter is here." We've done a few previous stories about the handling of .us. Free registration of second-level domains under .us were supposed to go live shortly.
Re:err another useless TLD (Score:1)
Heh, it seems "us" is also quite inappropriate for the non-schizoids among us.
why-are-they-staring-at.us
why-is-mommy-doing-that-to.us
Re:err another useless TLD (Score:2)
Re:err another useless TLD (Score:4, Funny)
The 1337 kiddies out there will want
411.y0ur.b453.4r3.b3|0ng.70.us
And what about toys.r.us?
Re:err another useless TLD (Score:2)
I get it that different characters are substituted for letters. But what's really the point? It just makes it harder to read. Am I missing something? What is 1337? Am I just too old?
Re:err another useless TLD (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:err another useless TLD (Score:1)
I'm probably going to get flamed for this... (Score:4, Insightful)
trademarks (Score:3, Insightful)
What's needed isn't a chance for trademark holders to get a head start, but a better system for resolving conflicts when disputes arise.
Re:trademarks (Score:1)
After all, if you don't have a monopoly on the Acme name, you shouldn't have a monopoly on the acme.us domain either.
Would the registrars be technically able to split contested domains into 3rd-level domains?
Re:trademarks (Score:2, Insightful)
Now if Acme motors had been told that they couldn't register acme.us, but only acme.autos.us, then Acme Chemicals would never have noticed them when registering acme.chem.us.
But you're not going to get the hierarchy perfect, so you'll still have conflicts. Ultimately, I think it should go to the first person to register the domain unless it can be proven that the domain was registered to take advantage of someone else's trademark.
Re:trademarks (Score:1)
Of the hundreds of registered country codes, only 4 (uk, fr, de, au) are being used. The rest have been sold to domain-name prospectors, as "us" is about to be.
But then, what did we expect to happen, when we gave the same amount of namespace to an island without houses (nevermind DNS servers) as to the whole of North America?
Re:trademarks (Score:2)
ru (Russia)
jp (Japan)
tw (Taiwan)
ie (Ireland)
nl (Netherlands)
se (Sweden?)
nz (New Zealand)
Even see za from time to time. As for the size of the namespace, huh? What...should we have
Re:I'm probably going to get flamed for this... (Score:2, Informative)
Also, SBA is stating that the NTIA is skirting any questions by thinking the contract to NeuStar is exempt from Legislative process.
Personally, I wish NetSol was given this much analysis and review before it sunk it's teeth into getting the Gov't contract for TLD's
The least we can do is follow our own advice on making domain delegation fair and not *#$k our own country domain registration. The NTIA is a classic example of the Gov't doing shoddy work and claiming to say, "We don't need to answer your questions."
Re:I'm probably going to get flamed for this... (Score:2)
I think it's completely unreasonable to expect the holder of a trademark to pay for the right to exclude other people from using it. That particular scam is called "protection" and it's not any more legal because it's cheap.
-- Is posting a "no solicitors" sign spam?
What do we want for .us? (Score:5, Interesting)
I would like to see them become widely used, but I would also like to see some degree of hierarchical naming enforced.
I think all
There should probably be a small set of foo.us domains pre-defined for which people could register bar.foo.us domains.
mybiz.com.us (US business)
myname.indv.us (individual)
mybiz.com.ma.us (Massachussetts local business)
Or should we require any
Question (Score:1)
What if someone moves inter-state, like I did a few years back? Does your domain change, too?
Re:Question (Score:1)
Re:Question (Score:1)
*boggle* (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you have any idea how many "Jim Smith" or "Bob Jones" there are in New York or California? Including middle names doesn't eliminate the name collisions, but makes the system much less useful since most people don't routinely use their middle names and acquaintances are unlikely to know them.
Even in Iowa you'll see a lot of collisions.
A while back a friend and I did web searches for our "friends." We all have relatively uncommon names, both family and given. Yet all of us had "twins" listed on the net, sometimes "twins" near our own age and in our own profession. Some of us had multiple hits - back in 1995 a coworker found 4 other men with the same name. Today the same search would probably yield a dozen or more matches.
This search was at the national level, not state level, but that's arguably a moot point since our population is so mobile that it's common for people to live in several states during their lifetime.
Taking a step back from the problem, a few years ago comp.risks mentioned an Australian plan (population 20 million) to uniquely identify citizens by full name and date of birth. They discovered that THREE women had the same name and birthday after the state detected "fraud" in the student loan program - the same "person" was simultaneously enrolled in college and earning a paycheck 1000 km away. (I don't remember what the third woman was doing.)
Re:*boggle* (Score:1)
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:3, Funny)
We should leave the
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:3, Funny)
Wouldn't we need .al.gore.us too, then?
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:1)
Can you imagine what a hassle it would be to change all the
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:3, Insightful)
co.uk - commerical (sounds better than com.uk)
ac.uk - academic, universities, schools, etc
org.uk - organisations, charities, and the like
gov.uk - official government sites
net.uk - UK network providers ?
Of course, in the US, I guess each state would be interested in providing it's own DNS server:
ak.states.us
nd.states.us
tx.states.us
(the
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:1)
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://unemploymentBenefits.cdle.state.co.us
Try to give THAT to a reporter over the phone and not get it screwed up in the news clipping!
(www.coworkforce.com/uib works MUCH better)
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:1)
*
*
*
.co.us is, of course, already taken.
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:2)
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:1)
Gov't funded research monkey number 121-50-2981 has:
http://121502981.citizen.us
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:2)
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:2)
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:1)
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:1)
Re:What do we want for .us? (Score:1)
WTF: "It was supposed to go live shortly" (Score:2)
Re:WTF: "It was supposed to go live shortly" (Score:2)
From the website:
What are some of the expected changes to
Soon, for the first time in history,
Re:WTF: "It was supposed to go live shortly" (Score:2)
But then, I probably shouldn't hold Slashdot to journalistic standards. It is, after all, just a couple of geeks who barely passed English 101 who run this site.
Re:WTF: "It was supposed to go live shortly" (Score:2)
looks illegal... (Score:2, Insightful)
from the letter....NTIA did not submit these legislative rules for notice and comment as required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and did not conduct a regulatory flexibility analysis as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA).
As part of our statutory duty to monitor agency compliance with the RFA, Advocacy requests that the NTIA place the contract for administration of the Dot US Domain Space on hold and submit the legislative rulemaking provisions for notice and comment, and conduct a regulatory flexibility analysis. Alternatively, NTIA can strike the rulemaking provisions from the contract, and the contract would no longer be subject to the APA. Unless and until NTIA does so, the contract for the management of the Dot US domain is unlawful, as it violates both the APA and the RFA.
While I don't agree with the "sunrise" period mentioned in the letter, it really doesn't matter. According to the statement above NITA dropped the ball. They didn't do what they were supposed to do, didn't get the proper regulatatory "stamp of approval" and the contract should be considered invalid.
After they drop the contract, they should re-think the sunrise policies... but first they need to slap that thing with a big "illigeal" stamp and get it out of there ;)
just my 2cents... -ryanThis is getting silly. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This is getting silly. (Score:2)
After the sunrise period is over the remaining domains will be allocated randomly in cases of multiple people registering the same domain.
Re:This is getting silly. (Score:2)
Re:This is getting silly. (Score:1)
Take a look at the letter or the website and a lot of your questions will be answered.
TLD's (Score:2, Insightful)
A local radio station, WHTZ 94.9 (Zeta) swtiched from 949zeta.com to 949zeta.cc, but a few months after going to
I think the
Re:TLD's (Score:1)
Re:TLD's (Score:2)
Re:TLD's (Score:1)
Funny I made that blunder since I used to live in NYC.
Excuse an off-topic question, but... (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Excuse an off-topic question, but... (Score:1)
Re:Excuse an off-topic question, but... (Score:1)
Re:Excuse an off-topic question, but... (Score:2)
Re:Excuse an off-topic question, but... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Excuse an off-topic question, but... (Score:2)
zouth africa! SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS!
Get on zee train!
What is zee problem!
.
Way to do business guys. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Way to do business guys. (Score:2)
Of course, that doesn't mean you should trust Neustar - just that they have been accused of anything illegal yet.
-- Is a sign that says "no solicitors" spam?
More on underlying legal theories (Score:5, Informative)
Here is the abstract:
Re:More on underlying legal theories (Score:2)
(Someone please mod the parent post to 5...)
TLDs are useless!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
...well that is, of course, unless it's a personal domain...and only then if your name doesn't conflict with some trademark somewhere.
It's not "for use anywhere" (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It's not "for use anywhere" (Score:2)
I think he means any new TLD for any specific use (such as US only in this case).
The problem is that people have registered their own NAME as a domain, and lost it because their name conflicts with a trade mark.
Say my name is John Q. Exxon and I register exxon.XYZ. It doesn't matter that Exxon corp has nothing to do with
That's why new TLD's aren't solving the problem. Every company wants exclusive rights to their trademarks under every TLD, and every variation on their trademarks, and everything that contains their trademarks (such as VerizonEatsPoop.com [verizoneatspoop.com]), and anything else they can get away with.
-
I like this "Sunrise" stuff about like a vampire.. (Score:2)
Consider the "old", location-based, heirarchical system for
Now, you WILL have "microsoft.us", "sony.us", etc. If I had a small business specializing in fixing Sony TV's, I won't be able to register "wowbaggers_sony.ks.us".
How does this help small businesses?
Re:I like this "Sunrise" stuff about like a vampir (Score:3, Informative)
From the site:
Existing
What will happen to state domain heirarchys? (Score:2, Interesting)
in or are they going to be arbitrarily taken back
and sold to the highest bidder?
Since state.us has existed for a long time it would seem rather dumb for the commerce department to yank the state's domain names away from them.
Are the two letter state abbreviations trademarked by the post office so noone else can use them?
Re:What will happen to state domain heirarchys? (Score:3, Informative)
From the site:
Existing
This is all moot to me (Score:3, Funny)
So long as I can get... (Score:2)
Is "toys.r.us" an actionable trademark infringment? What if it's a site devoted to criticizing society's obsession with the latest technology?
Re:So long as I can get... (Score:2)
The real solution (Score:2)
Re:The real solution (Score:2)
Let me load up my browser so I can ping that server
Re:The real solution (Score:2)
getting a *.state.*.us domain (Score:1)
*.state.ut.us to be more exact.
have looked all over trying to find out how and even GOOGLE is giving me no love =(
Re:getting a *.state.*.us domain (Score:1)
If you want to register a fourth level domain in an already delegated locality domain (e.g. yourdomain.new-york.ny.us), you need to contact the delegated manager [www.nic.us]. Keep in mind that this is a hit or miss--some of them are very good, while some, like hostmaster@prairie.net, are incommunicado, not answering any communication. I hope after things settle out, that those blowing off requests will have their delegations taken away, but for the moment, things are static.
Not free. (Score:3, Informative)
The fees charged are registrar are $5.50 per name per year, more for the first year. This is explained in schedule f [neustar.us])
This is about the same amount that Network Solutions charges ($6.00 a year) so you can expect to pay approximately the same amount for a SLD under
P.S. Network Solutions took in over $600,000,000 last year, about 1/5 of which was from external registrars, the rest being from their own registration service.
Re:Not free. (Score:1)
"For purposes of this Agreement, "Registered Name" shall not include domain names registered or maintained pursuant to the locality-based structure defined in RFC 1480, as amended or superceded by previous or the current usTLD Administrator." (from the document you linked)
Against Unfair Competition Law & First Amendme (Score:2)
To explain:
Virtually every word is trademarked, be it Alpha to Omega or Aardvark to Zulu, most many times over.
Most trademarks share the same words or initials with many others.
Any TM lawyer will tell you all that I write is true - though they will certainly disagree with my conclussion.
Most companies share the same word(s) for trademark, in a different type of business (classification).
But only one will be allowed to use it, to get the domain name in the American
For example, the World Trade Organization (WTO) shares its initials with six trademarks - in the U.S. alone. Please check at USPTO [uspto.gov].
In this example, only one can be WTO.us !!!
What about the other five ???
As this is the main American country TLD (ccTLD) - is it not unfair on the others, that one should be given priority over them?
The same goes for all words in the dictionary - a few will get priority over the many.
Point 1 - I thought it unlawful to award it to just one - is it not against unfair competition law?
Point 2 - This is abridgement of words that small businesses (without a trademark) and the American people can use - Surely it violates the First Amendment?
Perhaps a lawyer would like to address these two points.
None have so far - wonder why?
No - I don't wonder why - I know the truth of the matter.
My logical conclussion is this: Big Business is abusing the powers of their trademarks, the Lawyers are making a fortune out of it and the Authorities are corrupt.
The authorities know the solution to trademark conflict with domain names. It was ratified by honest attorneys - including the honourable G. Gervaise Davis III, UN WIPO panellist judge.
Please see it yourself at WIPO.org.uk [wipo.org.uk]).
No bull* propaganda or spin from trademark lawyers - see feeble excuses link on the site.
Re:How about somthing that would help..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Define "inappropriate" as well as the penalties for posting something "inappropriate" on non-.xxx domains. Hardcore porn is easy but what about safe-sex guides? Sexual positions manual? Is it inappropriate if you use cartoons? Computer generated models? Unerotic photos of models?
You'll never be able to make it mandatory. Sure, you might be able to move a great deal of the porno business to
Re:How about somthing that would help..... (Score:1)
"Sure, you might be able to move a great deal of the porno business to
I am realistic and don't think you could push it all into a corner. However, it would change the current state of porn in every
Re:How about somthing that would help..... (Score:1)
And this is supposed to be a good thing? Or are you one of those yahoos who's always off to "save the chiiiiiildren!"?
Max
Re:How about somthing that would help..... (Score:2, Interesting)
Um, I think AlterNIC has had .xxx for years. So their users (and users of hierarchies who peers with them, such as OpenNIC) are all ready to connect to your .xxx site.
You can whine about ICANN, or you can set up your machine(s) to take away their power and get what you want. Pretty easy decision, IMHO.