Question: If ICANN has not approved the other TLDs, will the names already sold still be valid for people who have paid? Will the companies who sell these names be fined or reprimanded in some way? Does the ICANN have the power to implement such fines? Basically codify internet law.

Nominee Replies

Lyman Chapin - posted on 2000-10-09 18:06:35 ICANN has no power to fine anyone. The status of domain names registered under TLDs that have been set up outside the official system is unclear; from ICANN's standpoint, the people who registered those names did so with no valid expectation that they would be usable within the ICANN-managed Internet DNS. Unapproved TLDs don't have resource records in the root zone database for which IANA has traditionally been responsible, but many people have successfully used those TLDs by instructing their DNS resolvers to consult alternative root servers. There are good reasons to prefer a single root for the Internet DNS, but ICANN has no legal authority to prevent the operation of alternative root servers. Emerson Tiller, J.D., Ph.D. - posted on 2000-10-07 14:45:36 NO, I do not believe that ICANN has the power to fine anyone. I do not believe the names being sold under un-issued TLDs will be valid. Lawrence Lessig - posted on 2000-10-07 06:26:09 ICANN has no power to fine anyone. The problem of existing TLDs in alternative systems is a difficult one, which should been worked out to secure legitimate expectations. But I can't pretend to have that solution planned just now.