VeriSign Looks Set to Retain Management of .Net Registry
VeriSign is likely to continue to operate .net, ICANN said Mon. The registry, which runs .net and .com, was ranked #1 by Telcordia in a study of 5 applicants vying to manage the top-level domain (TLD). VeriSign edged out Sentan Registry, a joint venture between Japan Registry Services Co. and NeuLevel, which runs .biz. The next 3 rankings were: Afilias (the .info registry), DENIC Domain (Germany’s country-code TLD manager), and CORE++.
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All applicants “have the capability to run” .net, the Telcordia report said. “The distinguishing characteristics are largely difference in experience, risk and price.” Evaluators said competitors fell into 3 groups, with VeriSign and Sentan in the lead, Afilias and DENIC 2nd, and CORE++ 3rd. Differences between the lead group and the other contenders were statistically significant, the report said.
All applicants exceeded requirements in priority criteria -- such as technical competence and registry operations -- aimed at ensuring Internet systems’ stability and security, the report said. Evaluators weighed medium criteria, including availability of support in more than one language, revenue and pricing models, and per-domain-name prices to registrars. Afilias ranked best in price, with Sentan and VeriSign tied for number 2, followed by CORE++ and DENIC. Less critical criteria included matters like the extent that an applicant’s proposal would improve implementation of Generic Domain Name Supporting Organization policies.
The Assn. for Competitive Technology (ACT) lauded VeriSign’s retention, saying it will ensure the reliability and security of .net. VeriSign has shown it can manage the TLD effectively, ACT said, because .net provides the backbone for more than $700 billion in e- commerce and 300 billion e-mails every year.
ICANN invited the Internet community to review the Telcordia report and said it soon will begin negotiating a registry agreement with the winning bidder.
Also unveiled Mon. were draft corporate governance guidelines describing principles for: (1) Board independence and leadership. (2) Board processes and evaluations. (3) Executive compensation. (4) Individual director characteristics. (5) Staff and board-staff interaction.
One item in the last category sparked heated criticism from some. It reads: “Having given the chief executive delegated authority, Board members should be careful -- individually and collectively -- not to undermine it by word or action.” The provision should be stricken, Internet attorney Bret Fausett said in comments to ICANN. “The idea that a board member should not ‘undermine’ the Chief Executive Officer strikes me as antithetical to the Board’s obligation to exercise independent judgment,” Fausett said. “The board’s duty runs to the corporation itself, not the executive. There could be many scenarios where a director’s perceived duty to the corporation conflicts with this ‘loose, undefined obligation’ not to undermine the CEO”, he said. “Under the law, the CEO always loses that fight.”
Former director Karl Auerbach called the proposed principle “fatally flawed.” Neither the board nor any director should have to “refrain from critical thought, particularly if that critical thought might bring into question the acts or decisions of a member of corporate management,” he said. In fact, Auerbach said, a director who behaves as “a bowing and curtsying courtier who simply flatters and never contradicts or raises potentially unpleasant questions” would be derelict in his fiduciary duties.
“What’s weird is we were all asking for a user bill of rights… and instead we got a CEO bill of rights,” said U. Miami law prof. Michael Froomkin. Calls for a user bill of rights have “come from all over the ICANN Watching community,” he said, but “I have not seen any requests from anywhere for a statement of this type… One has to wonder what need it is filling.”
Meanwhile, external review of comments on ICANN’s draft strategic report has noted a “ tension between (and confusion about ) policy or strategy issues and management issues.” The need for ICANN to be open and transparent doesn’t mean any ICANN community member has the right to tell staff what to do, the report by Patrick Sharry said. There must be trust in management to carry out task it has been assigned, he said.
Sharry urged that future strategic planning be guided by several principles, including: (1) Involving the community early on in the process in discussion, not just in reviewing documents. (2) Putting a process in place to encourage conversation about the common good of ICANN as a whole. (3) Using existing board governance processes to provide accountability, with staff given managerial discretion within those limits.