[choachukang]

Controversy as VeriSign selected to retain.net Registrations

VeriSign will continue to manage registration of the .net TLD for the next six years, it was revealed recently. The registry beat four other bidders to the post, following an independent report compiled by Telecordia Technologies. The decision is coming under scrutiny from many corners within the domain industry, and it could spark off some heated debates at the ICANN quarterly policymaking conference in Argentina this month.

The controversy stemmed from several unsuccessful bidders who have publicly and privately condemned the outcome of the report, saying that it was botched together at the last minute and subsequently many basic facts were ignored. The loudest complaints are coming from Denic eG, the non profit organisation that currently runs the .de TLD. Denic is astonished that it was placed fourth out of five bidders, and that its 'home made' database system was cited as one of its main shortcomings, although Denic actually uses a commercial product from one of the world's top suppliers.

Telecordia's report claims that both VeriSign and fellow candidate Sentan (a joint venture of NeuLevel and Japan Registry Services) would be capable of administering the .net TLD, while the other registries in the running had serious inadequacies.

Although it's not completely clear how much the right to operate the .net TLD is worth, VeriSign has hinted that the TLD is linked to $US 700 billion in e-commerce activity, and around 3 trillion web page views.

VeriSign's current contract ends on June 30th, and while many had hoped that the registration of .net would be handed to another registry (since VeriSign already governs .com), the web community will just have to hold its breath for a final decision on whether VeriSign's current contract will actually be extended, after the current dispute. Whatever the outcome, this chain of events has refuelled the debate about whether ICANN has too much power in the industry and how governance of the web should be managed. Watch this space?