Wilson Named to Internet Board

In a proposal submitted Friday, Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson was named one of nine people who may become the sole governing body of the Internet.

If accepted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the proposal would give the board power over assigning Internet domain names, such as www.harvard.edu, to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), of which Wilson would be a member.

The House Technology Subcommittee will be holding hearings on the proposal today, and the Commerce Department is allowing 10 days for public comment before evaluating a number of private-sector proposals.

Critics have alleged the board would have too much power and that guidelines for selecting board members are inadequate.

The Commerce Department announced its intention to turn administration of domain names over to a not-for-profit corporation in June. Currently, an organization seeking a domain name ending in .com, .net, or .org must purchase the domain from Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI), a for-profit corporation operating under government contract.

Yesterday, the department reached an agreement with NSI that would enable multiple businesses to offer those registration services.

If its proposal is accepted by the department, ICANN would control these businesses, recognizing official domain name providers as well as creating new endings for domain names, such as .biz or .store, to allow for more competition in Internet registration services.

ICANN would then make sure that these for-profit corporations maintained compatible systems while keeping the system competitive; In this way, NSI's control would end without compromising the system's stability.

"There're standards for telephone inter-operability, but we don't have telephone monopolies anymore," said Professor of Law Lawrence Lessig, a leading expert in Internet law.

The ICANN proposal named nine interim board members of the corporation who will be responsible for its operation until a permanent board of 19 members is elected. Wilson is one of four Americans named to the board; the others are Esther Dyson '72, author and chair of EDventure Holdings, George H. Conrades, president of GTE Internetworking and Frank Fitzsimmons, senior vice president for global marketing at Dun & Bradstreet Corp.

Wilson, whom ICANN sought out for the board, had served as vice president for research at the University of Michigan during the Internet's initial development. A former member of the National Commission on Research, Wilson also served as a charter member of the National Academy of Sciences' Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable.

"President Wilson has a distinguished history of serving on different public and private boards," said Radcliffe spokesperson Michael A. Armini. "She has an impressive track record in the national science policy arena that will make her an asset to the proposed Internet governing board," Armini said.

The ICANN was incorporated in California and be headquartered in Los Angeles. However, says Armini, most of the work will be done over the Internet, meaning that Wilson will not be called away from Cambridge often.

Board members will receive no compensation.

Critics of ICANN

Although the corporation exists, its function as a gatekeeper of the Internet is still only a proposal.

While the proposal's author, Jon Postel,director of the Internet Assigned NumbersAuthority, described it in a cover letter ascommanding "the support of a broad consensus ofInternet stakeholders, private and public,"opposition to the proposal has surfaced.

Foremost is concern that the board of directorsof ICANN would have too much discretion inchoosing their successors.

"The corporation is relatively closed," Lessigsaid.

If the board is reorganized from an interim toa permanent body, nine of the members would benominated from three supporting umbrellaorganizations, each concerning different aspectsof Internet administration.

However, the board would have to approve therepresentatives of these organizations. Inaddition, the board would elect nine other"at-large" members; No other bodies would vote forthe members.

"That violates a principle of separation ofpowers between the supporting organizations andthe board," Lessig said.

"As it exists right now," he said, "the onlycheck on its activities would be the activity ofthe California Attorney General, who one wouldthink has better things to do."

Additional objections were raised in a publiccomment sent to the Department of Commerce by J.William Semich, President and CFO of .NU DomainLtd., a domain name provider.

"If the bylaws are approved unchanged by theWhite House as the basis for the Internet's firstindependent governance mechanism, the new ICANNInternet Authority would be able to set a widerange of Internet-related fees of any amountwithout constraint," Semich wrote.

In an official position statement released lastweek, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), anInternet advocacy group, also criticized theproposal for lacking due process and free speechprotections. As ICANN would be a private entityrather than a government contractor, EFF argued,groups or corporations denied domain names wouldhave little recourse. Dyson is a board member ofEFF as well as the new corporation.

However, the bylaws of the new corporationattempt to prevent these problems through a systemof open decision-making. According to theproposal, the board is required to "operate to themaximum extent feasible in an open and transparentmanner...consistent with procedures designed toensure fairness."

Activities of the corporation must "be broadlydisclosed and widely publicized on the Internetand otherwise, including the prompt publication ofminutes of all meetings," the proposal stated.

The bylaws also prohibit officials ofgovernments or multinational organizations such asthe United Nations from sitting on the board.

"This organization," Postel wrote, "will beunique in the world--a non-governmentalorganization with significant responsibilities foradministering what is becoming an important globalresource.

While the proposal's author, Jon Postel,director of the Internet Assigned NumbersAuthority, described it in a cover letter ascommanding "the support of a broad consensus ofInternet stakeholders, private and public,"opposition to the proposal has surfaced.

Foremost is concern that the board of directorsof ICANN would have too much discretion inchoosing their successors.

"The corporation is relatively closed," Lessigsaid.

If the board is reorganized from an interim toa permanent body, nine of the members would benominated from three supporting umbrellaorganizations, each concerning different aspectsof Internet administration.

However, the board would have to approve therepresentatives of these organizations. Inaddition, the board would elect nine other"at-large" members; No other bodies would vote forthe members.

"That violates a principle of separation ofpowers between the supporting organizations andthe board," Lessig said.

"As it exists right now," he said, "the onlycheck on its activities would be the activity ofthe California Attorney General, who one wouldthink has better things to do."

Additional objections were raised in a publiccomment sent to the Department of Commerce by J.William Semich, President and CFO of .NU DomainLtd., a domain name provider.

"If the bylaws are approved unchanged by theWhite House as the basis for the Internet's firstindependent governance mechanism, the new ICANNInternet Authority would be able to set a widerange of Internet-related fees of any amountwithout constraint," Semich wrote.

In an official position statement released lastweek, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), anInternet advocacy group, also criticized theproposal for lacking due process and free speechprotections. As ICANN would be a private entityrather than a government contractor, EFF argued,groups or corporations denied domain names wouldhave little recourse. Dyson is a board member ofEFF as well as the new corporation.

However, the bylaws of the new corporationattempt to prevent these problems through a systemof open decision-making. According to theproposal, the board is required to "operate to themaximum extent feasible in an open and transparentmanner...consistent with procedures designed toensure fairness."

Activities of the corporation must "be broadlydisclosed and widely publicized on the Internetand otherwise, including the prompt publication ofminutes of all meetings," the proposal stated.

The bylaws also prohibit officials ofgovernments or multinational organizations such asthe United Nations from sitting on the board.

"This organization," Postel wrote, "will beunique in the world--a non-governmentalorganization with significant responsibilities foradministering what is becoming an important globalresource.