The .net registry had been up for grabs because VeriSign's
existing registry agreement with ICANN expires on 30th June
2005.
But the award is controversial, not least because it ensures
that control of one of the most successful top-level domains
remains with a company that already controls the .com registry – by
far the most popular in the world. Critics fear that retaining the
.net registry will make the company more powerful still.
As the registry for the .com and .net domains, VeriSign routes
more than 14 billion domain name system (
DNS
)
inquiries every day, four billion of which are .net queries. It
also acts as registry for the lower profile domains .cc and
.tv.
Reports suggest that the .net domain will net VeriSign around
$20 million a year, on top of the $225 it is reputed to make
annually for the .com domain.
There have also been questions raised about the evaluation
process used by ICANN to assess the five applicants who put
themselves forward as potential .net operators.
In an attempt to assuage concerns, ICANN stressed yesterday that
it had considered the entire bidding process, an independent
evaluator's report, internet community comments and the terms of
the new agreement before reaching its decision.
It has also published a
paper detailing the entire decision making process (25-page
PDF).
The US Department of Commerce is expected to approve the
appointment without objection.
