The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2014 17 operation of the “root file” of the Inter- net’s domain-name system, which could be devolved to regional registries. It also calls for the Internet Gover- nance Forum, a “multistakeholder” talk- ing shop the United Nations convened in 2006, to be shored up by extending its five-year mandate, which expires next year, and guaranteeing “stable and pre- dictable funding.” Meanwhile, another hot topic is ICANN’s ongoing initiative to expand the current Internet address system, which is based on 21 generic top-level domains. As the FSJ explained in an April 2011 Cyber- notes item (“Stake Your Claim!”), the new gTLDs will eventually include a potentially infinite array of websites with subject- specific suffixes. That process has been delayed by various technical and political issues, however. For instance, does the Internet domain name for a country belong to its government—or to anyone else? Stephen Lawless reports for PCWorld that plaintiffs who successfully sued Iran, Syria and North Korea as spon- sors of terrorism now want to seize the three countries’ country code top-level domains—the two-letter code at the end of a country-specific Internet address—as part of financial judgments against them. (There are more than 280 ccTLDs, all of which need to have managers, administra- tive contacts and technical contacts who live in the countries they represent. The domains in this case are .ir for Iran and .sy for Syria, plus Arabic script equivalents for each, and .kp for North Korea.) But domains aren’t property and don’t belong to the countries they point to, ICANN says in its motion to quash the court order. Instead, they’re more like postal codes: “simply the provision of routing and administrative services for the domain names registered within that ccTLD,” which are what let users go to websites and send email to addresses under those domains. Reassigning themwould disrupt every- one who uses a domain name that ends in those codes, including individuals, busi- nesses and charitable organizations—and that, in turn, “could lead to fragmentation of the Internet.” n —Steven Alan Honley, Contributing Editor You Are Our Eyes & Ears! Dear Readers: In order to produce a high-quality product, the FSJ depends on the revenue it earns from advertising. You can help with this. Please let us know the names of companies that have provided good service to you — a hotel, insurance company, auto dealership, or other concern. A referral from our readers is the best entrée! Ed Miltenberger Advertising & Circulation Manager Tel: (202) 944-5507 E-mail: miltenberger@afsa.org