VeriSign Retains Eminent Domain
Mar 02 2001
This was the deal: VeriSign , which bought former domain-name monopolist Network Solutions , was to spin off its business of registering new customers if it wanted to keep control of the database for .com, .net and .org names for another four years. The May 1 deadline for the spinoff was looming.
Yesterday VeriSign announced what InternetNews ringingly called the new economy's "New Deal": VeriSign reached an agreement with the domain-name overseer ICANN, allowing it to retain the .com database indefinitely while staying in the business of registering new names. VeriSign will divest the database for .org names by the end of 2002 and the database for .net names by January 2006. The company will operate the .com registry until 2007, at which point it will enjoy a "presumption of renewal" for the registry.
The Wall Street Journal broke the story yesterday, and everybody had coverage by this morning. The Journal's story outlined the deal but offered no reaction from analysts or competitors. Today's New York Times story noted the Street's happy reaction to the deal: VeriSign's stock shot up 13 percent.
The Register's piece, which came out yesterday, was short on impartial reporting and long on over-the-top editorial opinion. The Reg's Kieren McCarthy concluded with this imaginary dialog between, presumably, the public and VeriSign: "That was a tenner we gave you. No, it wasn't, it was a fiver. It was a tenner. Well I'm only giving you change for a fiver."
The outlets used different metrics to convey VeriSign's position in the market for domain names. The Journal said the company "currently sells fewer than half" of the world's .com, .net and .org names. The Register said "about 40 percent of new registrations." The Times cleared it all up this way: "VeriSign's share of total registered domains is 50 percent; its share of new registrations 40 percent."
Both ZDNet's Interactive Week and InternetNews ran more in-depth coverage today, with reactions from VeriSign competitors and ICANN critics. Both outlets talked to Elana Broitman at No. 2 registrar Register.com . For insider coverage, look to the independent site ICANNWatch, where University of Miami law professor Michael Froomkin did a quick dissection of the terms of the proposed deal. In a clause overlooked by the traditional media, Froomkin discerned an ICANN threat that "in effect puts a gun to the U.S. government's head."
ICANN itself has posted a forum for public comments on the proposed VeriSign deal. It reads like a Slashdot discussion without the moderation. Suffice it to say that few of the comments so far posted are complimentary to either party.
VeriSign, ICANN Draw Up Domain Deal
The Industry Standard
VeriSign to Surrender Control Over 'Org,' 'Net' Web-Address Suffixes, Keeping 'Com'
Wall Street Journal
VeriSign May Get Control of .com Registrations Until '07
New York Times
VeriSign Loses Control of .org Domain
The Register
VeriSign Stays Whole, Could Win Name Game
InternetNews
Verisign Inks Complex Deal With ICANN
ICANN Watch
ICANN Melbourne Meeting Topic: Proposed Revisions to VeriSign Agreements
ICANN
Proposed Revisions to NSI Agreements Forum
ICANN Public Comment Forum