Re: domain name speculation

From: Muhammad Lee <lee_at_adgconsulting.com>
Date: Thu 26 Aug 1999 12:20:16 -0400

JOEL GEHMAN WROTE:
>Fact is Congress is painting with a much wider brush and
>Muhammad Lee's white washed version of what this bill
>purports to do might be giving some of you a false sense of
>security. Senate bill S.1255 (visit http://thomas.loc.gov
>for full text) is not merely an attempt to get domain
>holders to stop playing a loop-hole in Network Solutions'
>billing system. This piece of legislation is all about
>protecting large, slow moving companies who ignored the Web,
>woke up one morning and realized just how asleep at the
>wheel they were.
>
>It is the outright legalization of a digital land grab.
>It's like McDonalds having the legal right to sue for a
>piece of land I own because their restaurant would serve the
>public better than whatever I want to do with it. Wrong!
>Whoever gets the domain first wins. Period. That a
>resource is scarce doesn't give Congress the right to
>apportion it.

Well this is rather disturbing, based on the information I
had previously, I was under the impression that congress was
looking to stop cybersquatting, not giving large companies a
leg up on domain registration. But this nonsense about the
person who gets the Domain is the one who can best serve the
public is hogwash. Who is going to be this person who knows
which company can serve the public better, and what is going
be his/her criteria? Methinks, the company with the most
expensive lawyers will be the one that is always going to
get the Domain.

Well it is time for all of us to write our congressmen and
give them an earful. I don't want to imagine the chaos that
will ensue, when large companies just start trying to take
other people's domains, because they feel they deserve them
more. People depend on their domains for their livelihood,
and no one should be able to take another man/woman's
livelihood, just because they feel that they deserve that
piece of cyberproperty more than the original owner does.


Best Regards,


Muhammad Lee
President/CEO
Advanced Design Group, LLC
"Web Development Specialists"
http://www.adgconsulting.com



Received on Thu Aug 26 1999 - 11:20:16 CDT