4/27/2016
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`Prime Internet Address Will Now Cost $50 a Year - The New York Times
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`September 14, 1995
`
`Prime Internet Address Will Now Cost $50 a Year
`
`By PETER H. LEWIS
`
`For many computer users, it is as if the Postal Service is charging them an annual fee for a mail
`address and refusing to deliver unless they pay up.
`
`Beginning today, Internet users will have to pay to register their so-called domain names -- key
`components of the Internet addresses used by tens of millions of people for electronic mail and
`other data services on the global computer network.
`
`And the federally backed group that assigns names like "ibm.com," "whitehouse.gov" or
`"harvard.edu" said that if the domain name holder forgot to pay the annual $50 fee, the mail
`would stop, the pages on the World Wide Web service would go blank and the address name
`might even be released to someone else who wanted it.
`
`The new fee does not apply to millions of Americans who get their electronic mail indirectly
`through employers, commercial on-line or Internet services, schools or other organizations.
`Rather, the fee applies only to businesses, organizations and individuals who registered domain
`names directly.
`
`For example, America Online, with 3.5 million users, must pay $50 a year for "aol.com." But
`subscribers to America Online will not have to pay, because they receive their mail through the
`"aol.com" domain, which is part of their electronic address. A domain might be considered similar
`to the street address of an apartment building, which hundreds of people might share; in this
`case, only the landlord would have to pay the fee.
`
`While it is unlikely that Kraft Foods will let the coveted names "cheezwhiz.com" or
`"wienermobile.com" fall into competitors' hands, or that Procter & Gamble will let its domain
`names like "charmin.com" or "babydiapers.com" fall in arrears, the new policy is likely to have a
`significant impact on businesses racing to claim names on the Internet.
`
`It is also expected to slow the practice of domain-name speculation, in which people have
`registered popular names like "mcdonalds.com" before companies like the McDonald's
`Corporation realized how valuable Internet addresses could be.
`
`The sudden policy shift -- which was supposed to be announced next week, but was made public
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`yesterday after word leaked out on the Internet -- is intended to save American taxpayers perhaps
`$5 million a year. The cost of registering names had been subsidized by the National Science
`Foundation, which assumed the responsibility years ago when the Internet was still dominated by
`academic and government research organizations.
`
`But in recent years, the Internet has been transformed into what is now principally a commercial
`business network. Last month, more than 14,000 businesses and individuals applied for new
`domain addresses, according to Network Solutions Inc. of Herndon, Va., which handles Internet
`registrations under contract to the National Science Foundation. Network Solutions is a unit of the
`Science Applications International Corporation of San Diego.
`
`In part because there has been no fee to discourage them, many Internet users have gone on
`domain-name binges in recent years, locking up brand names, company names, and even names
`only indirectly associated with their businesses.
`
`For example, Kraft Foods, a unit of the Philip Morris Companies, and the Procter & Gamble
`Company each staked out dozens of domain names in the last month. Kraft's other Internet names
`include "hotdogs.com" and "velveeta.com," while Procter & Gamble secured rights to
`"toiletpaper.com," "flu.com," "pimples.com," and "diarrhea.com."
`
`More than 118,000 Internet domain names have been assigned in recent years to commercial
`businesses, whose addresses end in .com; educational organizations (.edu); Government agencies
`(.gov); network service providers (.net), and nonprofit organizations (.org).
`
`All new applicants will be required to pay a $100 fee to register a name for two years, plus $50 a
`year thereafter.
`
`People who already own a domain name will be required to pay $50 a year, beginning on the next
`anniversary date of their original registration, to keep the name.
`
`Network Solutions will send out three electronic reminders -- 6o, 3o and 15 days before the due
`date.
`
`If the name holder forgets or declines to pay, all electronic mail and requests sent to the addresses
`covered by the domain name will be returned to the sender. The domain name will be suspended
`for 6o days, unless payment is made, and then released into the name pool so that someone else
`can claim it.
`
`"I think it's a good idea, and a lot of Internet veterans agree," said Michael Walsh, president of
`Internet Info, a consulting firm in Falls Church, Va. "The process is being abused right now, and
`there's no reason it shouldn't be a self-sustaining function."
`
`Mr. Walsh, noting that it costs him $36 to have a vanity license plate for his car in Virginia, said,
`"It seems reasonable that a vanity plate on the Internet would go for $50."
`
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`Michael Graves, business manager of Network Solutions, said that even with the new fee structure,
`demand for Internet addresses was expected to continue its phenomenal growth. "It could hit
`20,000 a month," he said of domain name requests. "Last December, we got 3,600 in a month."
`
`The flood of applications over the last year has overwhelmed the staff of Network Solutions and
`has led to backlogs of as much as five weeks in processing. The new payment plan will allow
`Network Solutions to hire more administrators and buy more automatic processing equipment.
`Mr. Graves said the the average backlog would be reduced to two days if all went as planned.
`
`It is unclear whether the fee will cover the costs of registering the domain names. But Mr. Graves
`said that any leftover money would be used to improve the Internet and to conduct research and
`development.
`
`In a peculiar twist that may amuse critics of the Internet, the credit-card payments for domain
`name registration can be sent by facsimile, or checks can be mailed by regular postal mail, known
`on the Internet as "snail mail" -- but payments cannot be made over the Internet.
`
`"We're not allowing electronic payment initially because of concern about the security of electronic
`transmissions over the Internet," Mr. Graves said. "We're not going to accept anything
`electronically."
`
`Graph: "Virtual Brass Plates" show total number of registered electonic address group from
`12/31/94 to 9/8/95 (Source: Inernet Info)
`
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