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Friday October 01, 2010 |
The EFF reports
that the proposed legislation targeting domain names and allegations of
infringement has been delayed. I wrote about the bill earlier this
week.
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Tuesday September 28, 2010 |
Governments have long sought ways to regulate Internet activity,
whether for the purposes of taxation, content regulation, or the
application of national laws. Effective regulatory measures have
often
proven elusive, however, since, unlike the Internet, national laws
typically end at the border. Earlier this month, the United States
began to move aggressively toward a new way of confronting the
Internet’s jurisdictional limitations - the domain name system.
Domain names are widely used to ensure that email is delivered to the
right inbox or to allow users to access a particular website. The
system includes a large database that matches the domain name (e.g.
michaelgeist.ca) to a specific IP address (i.e. the location of the
computer
server). The system is used billions of times every day to route
Internet traffic to its intended destination.
As every Internet user knows, inadvertently entering the wrong email or
web address typically means that the email bounces back or takes the
user to an unexpected destination. As my weekly technology law column
notes (Toronto
Star version, homepage
version), legislators have now begun to
consider the possibility of intentionally stopping access to certain
sites by ordering Internet providers to block access to their domain
names.
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Monday September 27, 2010 |
Appeared
in the Toronto Star on September 27, 2010 as U.S. Uses Domain Names As
New Way to Regulate the Net
Governments have long sought ways to regulate Internet activity,
whether for the purposes of taxation, content regulation, or the
application of national laws. Effective regulatory measures have
often proven elusive, however, since, unlike the Internet, national
laws typically end at the border. Earlier this month, the United States
began to move aggressively toward a new way of confronting the
Internet’s jurisdictional limitations - the domain name system.
Domain names are widely used to ensure that email is delivered to the
right inbox or to allow users to access a particular website. The
system includes a large database that matches the domain name (e.g.
thestar.com) to a specific IP address (i.e. the location of the computer
server). The system is used billions of times every day to route
Internet traffic to its intended destination.
As every Internet user knows, inadvertently entering the wrong email or
web address typically means that the email bounces back or takes the
user to an unexpected destination. Legislators have now begun to
consider the possibility of intentionally stopping access to certain
sites by ordering Internet providers to block access to their domain
names.
The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, recently
introduced in the U.S. Senate, would potentially force Internet
providers, domain name registrars (companies that register domain
names) and domain name registries (organizations that maintain the
domain name database) to block access to specified domain names.
This domain name block list - already being dubbed the Great Firewall
of America - would be created through a censorship court order obtained
by the U.S. Attorney General. The court order could be used to
shut down a site located within the U.S. or to order Internet providers
to block access to the domain name if the site resides outside the
country.
Moreover, the Department of Justice could identify additional domain
names that are "dedicated to infringing activities." Despite the
absence of any court oversight, this second list would also likely
involve blocked domains since Internet providers would be immune from
liability provided they curtail access to them.
This notably targets websites located anywhere in the world, since any
domain - wherever located - may placed on the list. In fact,
since the core of the domain name system resides in the U.S., it is
possible that the site could be blocked at a global level if it was
removed or rendered inaccessible from the "master" domain name database.
This is not the first time the U.S. has used its control over the
domain name system to establish a home field regulatory advantage. In
1999, it enacted the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act to deal
with cases of domain name cybersquatting.
The drafters of that law recognized the jurisdictional challenges
inherent in resolving domain name disputes by granting trademark
holders the right to file a lawsuit against the domain name itself,
rather than against the domain name registrant. That approach,
known as in rem jurisdiction, treats the domain name as property that
can be sued. This led to cases where U.S. courts ruled that they are
entitled to order the transfer of a domain name even where a foreign
court has issued an order barring the transfer.
The net effect of these laws is to create a two-tier regulatory
structure for the Internet. Domain names may be global - more
than 200 million have been registered worldwide - yet the U.S.
continues to retain effective control over much of the system. As
the recent moves to use the domain name system to address online
concerns demonstrates, that control raises serious concerns about its
jurisdictional reach and the misuse of a system intended to route
Internet traffic without regard for its content or destination.
Michael Geist holds the Canada
Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of
Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online
at www.michaelgeist.ca.
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Monday September 27, 2010 |
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority, the agency that
administers the dot-ca domain, is currently holding its annual board of
directors election. This is a particularly important year
since there are five positions open (virtually guaranteeing
considerable change at the board level) and the organization has
finally begun to address the public interest side of its mandate.
I'll be posting more on some of its announced plans soon, but I want to
encourage all CIRA members to vote before the September 29th deadline.
In this election, CIRA members can vote for one member-nominated
candidate and up to four nominating committee candidates. I
should note that this is a broken system as the nominating committee
has created signicant board upheaval and loss of institutional
memory. Meanwhile the CIRA members are left to select only one of
their nominated candidates.
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