Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 22:48:46 -0700 From: "Marcia Blake" Subject: Re: ARIN [from TBTF for 1/21/97: Sleeping with the fishes] To: dawson@world.std.com First, allow me to note that of the many newsletters/bulletins I receive, yours probably provides me with more useful information, more of the time. It's good work, and good sourcing. On to my comment, wrt NSI's ARIN proposal... InterNIC is having trouble collecting domain name registration fees because their A/R system protocols are not functioning as advertised. In my case, the promised hardcopy of the statement for registration of OPTOCOMM.COM never did arrive. I followed up with an email querying the lack of a statement, but received no response. When InterNIC distributed copies of an e-dunning note to all OPTOCOMM.COM contact points, including my ISP, I responded with an irate letter snailed to InterNIC Registraton Services in Herndon, VA and Network Solutions in Baltimore, MD (and to my ISP). I also called InterNIC and paid the account with a credit card -- and listened to quite a tale of woe from the telerep, who was very tired of all the irate calls she was getting. Frequent checks of the InterNIC registry still show the OPTOCOMM.COM account not marked "PAID," and additional queries to InterNIC as to how I might get this account's status upgraded correctly continue to go unanswered. I've emailed clips about the new ARIN proposal to a number of wired colleagues and friends, along with my comments to the effect that (a) although only ISPs are targeted for the new fees, those ISPs will have to recover the additional expenses and that will mean additional fees for the owners of sites and/or pages maintained on their servers; (b) until and unless Network Solutions can prove it's doing business in a businesslike manner, I will lobby against _any_ proposal that enables the company to assess new fees. Yes, the Internet and the Web are going to need serious restructuring to sustain the new burdens of commercial traffic -- but it needs to be done in a manner that's cost effective, and by an entity that is truly _accountable_ -- something that, IMO, NSI so far has not proven to be. :: Marcia Blake :: OPTO COMMUNICATIONS :: Print and Online Communications Management ::