huridocs-tech Why Domains Affect Freedom of Speech, Access and Privacy

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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!




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