Network Solutions Inc’s senior VP Don Telage on Friday alluded to an informal workshop that the company has been invited to join, that is looking to establish a framework for the non-profit corporation to assume the responsibility of overseeing the internet domain name system. The government’s white paper has left the formation of such a corporation entirely up to the private sector. Telage only said that the workshop comprised internet service providers, commercial interest groups, potential registrars and individuals. But a little digging reveals that Professor Tamar Frankel, a world-renowned corporate a fiduciary expert offered her services to serve as a chair of the workshop and ComputerWire has exclusively learned the identities of most of the parties involved thus far. We hear that once it became clear within the industry that the government was not planning to charter the new corporation itself, questions began to be asked about how it might come about. And that’s when Frankel began first talking to the Department of Commerce (the part of the government most involved with the white paper) before putting herself forward to the workshop. That move spurred various companies and interested parties to get involved, including NSI. Others include the Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX), Domain Name Rights Coalition (DNRC), Private Sector Working Group (a collection of concerned trademark holders including AT&T Corp, Bell South, Microsoft Corp, RJR Nabisco, PacTel, SBC Communications Walt Disney Co, Virgin Group Plc, though we’re not sure if all of those are involved here), IBM Corp, the Open Root Server Consortium, Iperdome Inc, Image On- Line, Prince Plc and the Association of Interactive Marketing. However, there’s no word yet on whether the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority’s (IANA) Jon Postel is involved, which would seem to be key to its success. Apparently every company that commented on the green paper process will be contacted in an attempt to build a consensus. Frankel is a professor at Boston University law school and last year was a visiting scholar at the Securities and Exchange Commission. She has also served as a consultant to Bankers Trust Co and is the author of numerous books on corporate law and fiduciary.
