Editing InterNIC (section)

==Network Solutions==
In 1990, the [[Internet Activities Board]] proposed changes to the centralized NIC/IANA arrangement.<ref name="iab90">{{cite web |title= IAB Recommended Policy on Distributing Internet Identifier Assignment |author= Vint Cerf |author-link= Vint Cerf |date= August 1990 |work= RFC 1174 |url= http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1174.txt |access-date= 2011-04-08 }}</ref> The [[Defense Information Systems Agency]] (DISA) awarded the administration and maintenance of DDN-NIC, which had been managed by SRI since 1972, to Government Systems, Inc (GSI), which subcontracted it to the small private-sector firm [[Network Solutions]].

On October 1, 1991, the NIC services were moved from a [[DECSYSTEM-20]] machine at SRI to a [[Sun Microsystems]] [[SPARCserver]] running [[SunOS]] 4.1 at GSI in [[Chantilly, Virginia]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Transition of NIC Services |author= Scott Williamson and Leslie Nobile  |date= September 1991 |work= RFC 1261 |url= http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1261.txt |access-date= 2011-04-08 }}</ref>

By the 1990s, most of the growth of the Internet was in the non-defense sector, and even outside the United States.<ref name="iab90"/> Therefore, the US Department of Defense would no longer fund registration services outside of the {{mono|mil}} domain.

The [[National Science Foundation]] started a competitive bidding process in 1992; subsequently, in 1993, NSF created the Internet Network Information Center, known as InterNIC, to extend and coordinate directory and database services and information services for the NSFNET; and provide registration services for non-military Internet participants.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/stis1992/nsf9224/nsf9224.txt | title=NSF9224--Network Information Services Manager(s) for NSFNET and NREN|date=1992-03-19|work= Division of Networking and Communications Research and Infrastructure|publisher=[[National Science Foundation]]}}</ref> NSF awarded the contract to manage InterNIC to three organizations; Network Solutions provided registration services, AT&T provided directory and database services, and [[General Atomics]] provided information services.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg01645.html|title=NSF Network Information Services Awards (InterNIC)|date=1993-01-05}}</ref> General Atomics was disqualified from the contract in December 1994 after a review found their services not conforming to the standards of its contract.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.domainhandbook.com/9412InterNIC.Review.pdf|title=InterNIC Midterm Evaluation and Recommendations: A Panel Report to the National Science Foundation|date=December 1994}}</ref> General Atomics' InterNIC functions were assumed by AT&T.

===Inappropriate domain names===

{{See also|Scunthorpe problem}}

Beginning in 1996, Network Solutions rejected domain names containing [[English language]] words on a "restricted list" through an automated filter. Applicants whose domain names were rejected received an email containing the notice: "Network Solutions has a right founded in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to refuse to register, and thereby publish, on the Internet registry of domain names words that it deems to be inappropriate." Domain names such as "shitakemushrooms.com" would be rejected, but the domain name "shit.com" was active since it had been registered before 1996.<ref>{{cite news|title=Food domain found "obscene" |first=Paul |last=Festa |date=1998-04-27 |work=[[CNET]] |url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-210566.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716142634/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-210566.html |archive-date=2012-07-16 }}</ref>

Network Solutions eventually allowed domain names containing the words on a case-by-case basis, after manually reviewing the names for obscene intent. This profanity filter was never enforced by the government and its use was not continued by [[ICANN]] when it took over governance of the distribution of domain names to the public.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju63594.000/hju63594_0.HTM#54|title=Internet Domain Names and Intellectual Property Rights|date=1999-07-28|publisher=[[United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property]]}}</ref>