Re: Monopoly/Ologopoly

[Simon Higgs <simon@higgs.com>]

At 3:01 PM +0000 12/23/96, Stephen Harris wrote:

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> In a recent message, Leo Smith said:
> >
>
> >  Kent Crispin wrote..................
> > :
> > : It just seems to me that the goals of the internet are simply not
> > : best met by  monopoly registrars.  NSI is a huge entity, by registrar
> > : standards.  But they don't have a branch office in indonesia offering
> > : registration services in the native envirionment.  With shared
> > : registries international dispersal falls out naturally.
> > :
> > Valid point...To achieve the objective outlined above, IAHC should require
>
> But perhaps a bogus point.  If there are enough TLDs and the method
>of creating
> new ones is simple enough, then there would be nothing to stop a registry
> opening on Indonesia, primarily for Indonesian businesses.  If a company
> wants to register overseas, then that's their decision.
>

Take this one step further... the TLD is used as part of the
value-added service for an existing business. The solves the directory
service issue around domain names in that particular industry. It falls
under the Specialized TLD Class in my draft.

> In a "monopoly TLD" situation, there would be nothing to stop inter-registry
> reselling agreements, as required.  In a way, this is similar to the IP
> peering agreements we have in the UK at Telehouse (LINX).
>

Exactly. Your explanation below also explains why there needs to be the
TLD Charter defining the use and purpose of the TLD.

> Further, it would be possible for a "middle man" to arrange bulk rates
> with a registry and act as a reseller in these countries, without having
> to be a registry himself.  This parallels existing companies (such
> as Netnames) who already can register a DNS name for you in many countries
> and have even translated the documents into English from the native
> language.
>
> Thus, shared registries doesn't necessarily get you any advantage here.
>
> Counter, a situation where shared registries are bad!  Vertical markets.
> Say a large society (oh, say a professional body, such as... the medical
> profession) wanted to register a .MEDICAL domain and restrict it to
> registered professionals.  Under this, they may delegate ISO based SLD's
> to the associated medical professions governing board.  The rules for
> registering in this domain would be quite easy to enforce in this
> monopoly situation.  But if the domain _had_ to be shared, there would be
> no guarantee of a registrant meeting the criteria (hundreds of registries
> all over the world!) thus diluting the benefit of registering in the name
> space, both to the detriment of the profession and the general public.
>
> Conclusion:
> Whilst shared registries look like they solve a problem, it is not the only
> solution to it (if the problem exists at all).  Further, by enforcing the
> shared solution, a whole class of registry is prevented from operation.  I
> recommend a serious re-evaluation of the concepts of TLDs, in comparison to
> a free market where TLD's can be shared/resold/peered/restricted as required.
>
> rgds
>
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Simon

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