Friday, July 7, 2000

7/7/2000 3:44:08 PM

• Bland GAO report on ICANN issued. The General Accounting Office has been investigating the legalities and proprieties of the US government's relationship with ICANN. GAO was directed to do so last fall by a conference report that accompanied the fiscal year 2000 budget. The GAO report has now been released in PDF format. In 45 pages the report says little that changes the status quo. One of the few surprises is a statement (page 4) that the Commerce Department has no plans to transfer the DNS root server to ICANN's control. This may only reflect the reality that NSI's contract with Commerce runs for another three years before the question of control of the root server even comes up again.

  From the questions (below) that Congress asked and the report answers, one can infer that Congress was looking for any points of leverage by which ICANN could be restrained, if that were deemed necessary. The GAO report does not provide any comfort to ICANN's adversaries.

  1. whether the formation of ICANN was in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act and the Government Corporation Control Act;
  2. how ICANN's interim board was selected and what role the Department [i.e., Commerce] played in the selection of board members;
  3. whether the Department has the authority to enter into agreements with ICANN and to participate in ICANN activities;
  4. what the legal basis is for the expenditures of funds by the Department for its participation in ICANN proceedings;
  5. whether, under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-25, ICANN, as a "project partner" with the Department, has authority to impose fees on Internet users to cover ICANN’s operating costs; and
  6. whether the Department has the legal authority to transfer control of the authoritative root server to ICANN.

  Many thanks to TBTF Irregular Ted Byfield for timely notice on this GAO report's availability.

7/7/2000 10:53:05 AM

• New at Jargon Scout: glocalization. John Carlyle-Clarke proposes this term, which refers to the work that Web sites, particularly US-based sites, will need to do as the Internet's population becomes increasingly non-English. Read glocalization as market-by-market localization across a global scope of operations. Visit the Jargon Scout for more background and a link.

Wednesday, July 5, 2000

7/5/2000 6:27:20 PM

• Lloyd Wood's Jaundiced Eye on Richard Stallman. This must set some kind of record. Irregular TBTF columnist Lloyd Wood favors us with his ascerbic observations on the father of the Free Software movement -- 15 months after the occasion. (Lloyd, you'll be pleased to note that the publication process was faster by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude.)

Sunday, July 2, 2000

7/2/2000 1:11:39 PM

• Russian company patents the bottle. TBTF Irregular Justin Mason sent word that a Russian IP company has trumped all those American dot-coms who are busily making hay out of software and bizmeth patents. The company, Intellect, has secured the Russian patents on all manner of containers. Here's the beginning of the story from the Moscow Times (thanks to Bill Statler for running down the lost link):

  Company Claims Patent on the Bottle

  By Lyuba Pronina

  A company has managed to take out patents on all glass, plastic and metal containers and is demanding that breweries throughout the country pay it 0.5 percent royalties on every bottle or can they sell.

  Intellect, a company specializing in legal advice on industrial property rights, secured the patents from state patent agency Rospatent and has sent letters to breweries offering a license so brewers can continue to use bottles and cans.

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  Note added 2000-07-07: Turns out Jamie McCarthy ran this item in Slashdot on 26 June. What can I say, scooped is scooped.

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