Max Knoblauch did a post entitled “A Brief History of the Domain Name” Starting off with Symbolics.com owned by Aron Meystedt, to 1995 and the end of free domain names. 1998 and the privatization of the DNS and ICANN.
1998: Privatization of the DNS and ICANN
In 1998, the Department of Commerce, under President Clinton’s urging, issued a proposal for privatizing the Domain Naming System (DNS), which was then controlled by the U.S. government. The document — known as the “Green Paper” — was created with the goal to both increase competition in the market and encourage more participation internationally. Public criticism of the proposal led to the creation of the “White Paper,” which addressed many concerns with the original document and led to the formation of ICANN.
The article goes to mention Mike Mann and his registering of 14,962 domains in one day and some other facts and tidbits.
Read the full article here
