The Internet is now the greatest medium of communication ever created. It carries political and personal speech, research and scientific information, and substantial commercial speech of many varieties. The cost of creating and maintaining a website is so low that individuals have access to it, and Thomas Paine's vision of personal printing presses has now been achieved through the diversity of personal, family and community websites being created. Of course, this diversity of communication and convergence of speakers of all varieties creates many problems such as pornography and trademark infringement. To the world struggling to understand the Internet, it was this Circuit that captured its essence and protected its independence.
Domain names have an unusual place on the Internet.
At their core, they are technical, but in practice they are generally used as speech. Domain names have evolved into a level of communication in their own right. They are the titles of the Internet, and a critical short-hand guide for finding speech and communication. Domain names often describe the content that can be found on a website, and help browsers to decide whether to take the time to stop, click and download a website. The DNRC was founded in 1996 to fight against rules governing domain name and trademark disputes that favored large commercial players over all other users of domain names.