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THE DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY TRUST

THE DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY TRUST

The DOT in .US

The Benton Foundation* with legal support from the Media Access Project (MAP)* is exploring the opportunities for managing the .us domain space for the benefits of all US citizens, especially those on the wrong side of the Digital Divide. The Benton Foundation believes that the .us domain space is a public resource that should be utilized to help bridge the Digital Divide. We further believe that the existing Commerce Department request for comments on this issue misses an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the public .us domain space creatively to the benefits of all U.S. citizens. Below you find a brief overview of the Digital Opportunity Trust project and talking points of the key issues that highlight the great opportunities and responsibilities for managing the .us domain space. For further information please contact the Benton Foundation.

What?

The Benton Foundation proposed to narrow the "digital divide" in a new and innovative way. We want to see the nation make use of its national top-level domain resource (.us) to advance the goal of universal access and participation in our networked society. In order to make the .us space more valuable and attractive for commercial development and public interest use, we are proposing to improve how the space is administered and used. Furthermore, we are proposing to set up a Digital Opportunity Trust, financed through auctioning of the .us top level domain space and sponsorships, that will invest in projects enabling the widest possible participation and access to information and communications technologies.

Communications technologies are central to

how business is transacted, how goods and services are consumed, how work is organized, how education is delivered, how health care is managed, how government responds to its citizens, and how citizens participate in their community.

In other words, access to and the ability to use these technologies have become essential to full participation in contemporary life. It is time for a forceful push to make the networked society a reality for all. The Digital Opportunity Trust will not aim to duplicate the many ongoing and successful initiatives in both the public and private sectors. Instead, the Trust will provide leadership identifying the greatest needs and missing pieces of the various projects as a whole, building on existing progress, and will devote the proceeds raised by the redesigned .us domain space to widening participation in the new economy and society.

Why?

There is a great need to overcome the "digital divide" and ensure broad participation in the digital economy and society. Contrary to common notions about the "digital divide," the gap will not be narrowed by simply providing access to a computer and the Internet in every school and home, i.e. by building out the hardware infrastructure. This in itself is a huge task. To truly close the gap, however, a concerted effort must be made to develop what some refer to as the Îsocial infrastructure:â literacy and research skills and motivation among users, content for and by all users, systems and organizational structures that encourage knowledge sharing and building communities of users, learners and mentors, with access to tools and know-how as needed.

The task ahead is formidable and it will be accomplished more quickly through a funding organization endowed with considerable resources that are sustained over a long period. Currently, there are hundreds of separate "digital divide" efforts across the country, funded by both the public and private sectors. An organization that consolidates and coordinates these various efforts and that applies a long-term funding perspective will ensure that new resources are used to their fullest potential.

A redesigned country code top-level domain name space provides a unique opportunity to generate private capital derived from the perceived value of newly available "real estate" on the network. This public resource should be used to increase public participation in the economy and society at large. The .us space until recently has been unattractive for commercial users and individuals, who are only permitted to register as fourth-level domains under localities. By changing how .us is made available for commercial and non-commercial development, this proposed plan would make the domain more attractive to users and hence more valuable. In addition to generating new resources from auctioning generic domain names under .us, a redesigned .us space should also be used to promote non-commercial public interest uses. Channeling this newly generated value to further social goals and to benefit all of society is consistent with longstanding US policy.

How?

The proposed plan would auction new generic second-level domain names under .us (.e.g. business.us, loans.us), the proceeds from which would fund a "Digital Opportunity Trust" that connects, educates, and empowers people to participate in the networked society. Until now the .us space has been unattractive for commercial users and individuals because of its cumbersome registration system under geographic localities, e.g. ibm.armonk.ny.us. The new .us system we propose will auction generic names as an efficient way to allocate scarce resources and would be restructured to facilitate non-commercial uses in the public interest.

As the United States country code top-level domain space is redesigned, we believe that the .us name space should be managed mindful of the history of US communications policy and in accordance with the principle that the .us name space is a public resource that must further the public interest through both commercial and non-commercial development. In particular, the following principles must be adhered to:

- The .us name space is a public resource, and must be managed in the public interest.

- As a public resource, .us name space must be managed to promote access by all Americans to communications services and to expose its citizens to a diverse marketplace of ideas and to foster civic discourse and the arts.

- The private sector should continue to play an important role in promoting these polices through commercial development of public resources. In particular, the tradition of making commercial development subject to conditions designed to foster the public interest, such as conditions of non-discrimination or service to the local community, should be continued.

- Noncommercial organizations equally should continue to play an important role in developing our national resources for the public good. Communications in particular, the set aside of spectrum for non-profit educational uses, and the funding of such enterprises by the public and private sector, have vastly increased the publicâs exposure to diverse ideas and benefited the cultural life of all Americans.

To fulfill these principles, the plan envisions the creation of two independent nonprofit organizations. The Digital Opportunity Trust will focus on charitable, programmatic goals to narrow the "digital divide," using proceeds raised from auctioning generic second-level domain names. A separate nonprofit operating corporation, the National Domain Corporation, would handle the policy and administrative functions of .us. This Corporation will focus on policy and strategy while outsourcing routine operations, including the auctioning of second-level domain names. The operator would work to gain broad acceptance for the plan and to brand .us as a premium domain. The Corporation will establish policies that ensure that the .us space stays free of cybersquatters and other domain name space abuses. As a registrar to ICANNâs Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the .us space remains subject to that policy.

The Digital Opportunity Trust will use the fees generated through auctions and other forms of sponsorship by corporations and philanthropic foundations to fund projects that aim to narrow the "digital divide." Its charter will be broad, flexible and evolving over time as deemed necessary by its independent board. Potential funding criteria are:

- new technical approaches to addressing hardware infrastructure/access constraints

- creation of content for and by underserved communities

- building web-based networks to support communities of volunteers

- curricula development and other tools that proof effective with specific targeted audiences

- mentoring and other efforts that encourage informal learning

- seeding venture funding for technologies or firms devoted to expanding access and participation

Who?

The Benton Foundation with the Media Access Project are proposing this new approach to narrowing the Îdigital divide.â The Media Access Project is providing legal counsel for this project and is preparing filings with the NTIA.

What Next?

Benton believes that there is great urgency to address the "digital divide" and that the most recent Commerce Departmentâs Request for Comments on the .us space provide an opportunity to move our proposal forward. MAP and Benton also strongly believe that the framework provided by the RFC is too narrow and that it must be broadened based on the aforementioned principles to allow for the .us public resource to become a unique asset that can truly serve the interests of the nation as a whole. MAP on behalf of the Benton Foundation will be filing comments in response to NTIAâs RFC. We are looking forward to working together with other organizations to produce a joint filing. We encourage interested parties to support this important project and to contact us for further information.