Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 14:17:16 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: Republican Explanation of GOP.gov To: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor)
From: "Diamond, Richard" <Richard.Diamond@mail.house.gov> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@wired.com>, CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM, fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu, cypherpunks@cyberpass.net, farber@cis.upenn.edu, freematt@coil.com, FOI-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU, Jim Warren <jwarren@well.com> Cc: gnu@toad.com Subject: RE: Republican Leadership's dot.gov Scam? Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 11:52:44 -0400
Most of the opposition to the domain name gop.gov seems to be based on misunderstandings. First, the web server for GOP.gov is physically located within the offices of the House Republican Conference. The private vendor you see in the WHOIS listing merely handles the DNS hosting (which is all that the WHOIS listing tells you). As someone pointed out already, it wouldn't really make a difference if it were outsourced to a private company. I just want to point out that it isn't.
Second, there are only two parties in Congress. The only "independents" (Virgil Goode and Bernie Sanders) caucus with either the Republican and Democrats. So, yes, whether you like it or not "Republican" and "Democrat" are part of the institution that is the U.S. Congress. This top level domain reflects the institution. If the flat earth society can get a majority in Congress, they can have their own .gov -- but not until then -- and that's what the RFC says.
Third, although gop.gov currently only hosts information for the majority party in the House of Representatives, it may offer information from the Senate in the future. That's one reason why it does not have "house" in the domain. Another reason is simplicity -- www.gop.gov is easier to remember. If you want to complain about us not using hierarchical domain names, then start your complaint with the administration. After all, "www.irs.gov" should be "www.irs.unitedstatestreasurydepartment.whiehouse.gov" if you follow that line of thought.
Richard Diamond Office of the Majority Leader US House of Representatives www.freedom.gov
-----Original Message-----
>From: Jim Warren <jwarren@WELL.COM>
>Subject: Re: fwd: www.gop.gov ??!!!
>To: FOI-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>
>Ahah! The plot thickens.
>
>On the one hand, www.gop.gov -- by its dot-GOV domain-name -- pretends to
>be an official government site. And from what those who've accepted its
>cookies say, it *says* it's an official site of anofficial caucus within
>the official House of the official Congress.
[snip]
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