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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "La clé de la proportionnalité pour établir l’équilibre des obligations, pouvoirs et droits -  Exemple de l’inclusion technique  assurée par les  opérateurs des noms  de domaine" (The key to proportionality in balancing obligations, powers and rights - Example of technical inclusion by domain name operators), in M.-A. Frison-Roche et G. Loiseau (dir.), Durabilité de l'Internet : le rôle des opérateurs du système des noms de domaine (Sustainability of the Internet: the role of the operators of the domain name system. Compliance and regulation of the digital space). Compliance et régulation de l'espace numérique, 21 février 2025, organisé par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance et l'Institut de la Recherche en Droit de la Sorbonne (André Tunc - IRDJS), 12 place du Panthéon, Paris.

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🧮see the full programme of this colloquium (in French)

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► Summary of this conference:  The domain name operators operate in a liberal system and have internalised the tasks being technically inherent in the very architecture of the Internet, while the Public Authorities, because they recognise this nature, ensure in Ex Ante that there are no global failures.

This translates into a system of obligations. All the more so since domain name operators not only bear multiple obligations but also, by order of the laws and regulations, impose them on others, for example on their co-contractors and users.

It is from this perspective that  the Principle of Proportionality, which is central here, must be considered. It is another expression of the legal Principle of Necessity, which must be conceived in terms of goals: what is proportionate is what is necessary to achieve the objective with regard to which the duties and prerogatives are entrusted and/or exercised. This is why it is first necessary to recall and explain what the Principle of Proportionality is with regard to the operators obligations covered by Compliance Law, which goes beyond jurisdictional powers such as sanctions or dispute resolution, to explain the teleological control of obligations and powers (I). 

From this practical framework, the most relevant example is the technical obligation of inclusion (II) In the technical sense, Inclusion means that anyone who wants to enter the digital space must be able to do so and must be able to reach those who are there and be reached by others. This gives everyone the right to reach and be reached.

Is it possible to go  further and ask for comfort for everyone and equality in this comfort and advantages to rebalance this accessibility? For instance, to know everything about everyone beyond this simple digital adresse? To ask domains names operators to help everyone to develop his/her personality in the digital space, compensating his/her lack of initial chance?  This is social and political inclusion. It is not the same thing. It does not have the same sources. It does not follow the same paths. Not the same forces. The Sustainability that is then projected can be cumulative. A distinction has to be made on the one hand, and a link made on the other. Moreover, in the name of mistreated social inclusion, can we mistreat technical inclusion, i.e. exclude a person from the digital space?  (III).

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, La qualification juridique du système de noms de domaine comme infrastructure et ses conséquences juridiques ("The legal status of the domain name system as an infrastructure and its legal consequence"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche et G. Loiseau (dir.), Durabilité de l'Internet : le rôle des opérateurs du système des noms de domaine (Sustainability of the Internet: the role of the operators of the domain name system. Compliance and regulation of the digital space). Compliance et régulation de l'espace numérique, 21 février 2025, organisé par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance et l'Institut de la Recherche en Droit de la Sorbonne (André Tunc - IRDJS), 12 place du Panthéon, Paris.

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🧮see the full programme of this colloquium (in French)

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► Summary of this conference:  "Domain names" are a technical reality. This technical reality has come to the fore, seeming to have been both little "thought out" and little "conceived" in Law and, perhaps because it is little coveted, Competition Law, which neutralises the concreteness of things and services in order to focus on exchange, hardly qualifies them. It is rather from the 'Competition Policy' perspective that 'domain names' are apprehended. However, Competition Policy expresses wishes and perspectives, while Competition aw must make way for the perspective of Regulatory Law inside the liberal economic system.

Looking at the technicalities of the domain name system, we can proceed in 3 stages.

Firstly, if a domain name is taken in isolation, it may appear as property and/or a projection of a person, and has rightly been described as such by the courts. But domain names only exist in relation to each other, the addressing system on which the Internet itself and the digital space that enables everyone to spread, reach and be reached were built. In this way, they constitute an Infrastructure in their plurality, in a uniqueness (I). The legal system must take account of this technological reality through the concept of Essential Infrastructure, which is well known in Regulatory legal perspective(I).

Secondly, the legal consequences of this legal qualification of Infrastructure must be detailed (II). Regulatory Law does not necessarily imply institutions, a regulatory authority being an indication rather than a criterion. Rather, it requires specific charges, powers and controls to ensure that the Infrastructure is established and operates to fulfill, now and in the future, the function that is crucially expected of it. Because the digital space was born of the Internet, an a-sectional and a-territorial space, Compliance Law, which is an extension of Regulatory Law, outside the sectors and internalised in the crucial operators, is essential as it is appropriate without diminishing the public dimension of the organisation.

Thirdly, the evidential dimension should be emphasised (III). Indeed, because we need to ensure that the Domain Names Infrastructure is always solid and reliable, so as not to risk a systemic failure of the Internet, and therefore of the digital space, we must not remain with the traditional system of burden of proof that rests on the person making the complaint. Because there is a Compliance Obligation, it is up to the crucial operators to credibly show their ability to ensure the technical sustainability of this infrastructure on which the digital space in which we live is based.

It shall be different if the issue is one of non-technical Sustainability, for example that which is linked to a particular societal project, in which the operators of the domain name system are not at the origin and are required on an ad hoc basis because they are in a good position to help the Authorities or because they wish to do so.

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche & G. Loiseau (dir.), Durabilité de l'Internet : le rôle des opérateurs du système des noms de domaine. Compliance et régulation de l'espace numérique (Sustainability of the Internet: the role of the operators of the domain name system. Compliance and regulation of the digital space), Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne (André Tunc - IRJS), Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, 21 Fabruary 2025

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► General presentation of this symposium: The digital space has been built on and as a system. Its primary interest is of a negative nature: it consists of to be preserved against the prospect of systemic failure, of not collapsing. Like all other systems, this 'Monumental Goal' specific to the digital system justifies resources that incorporate this concern for the future. As with all systems, it integrates and relies on the specific technical nature of this system.

The digital space is largely based on the invention, technology and architecture of domain names. Domain names, as an addressing system, enable users to enter the digital space and find other Internet users. The uniqueness and solidity of the domain name system, entrusted to a single root and decentralisation, makes this community possible for those who use the digital space and ensures the technical durability required, without which the digital space would be compromised.

The architecture, operation, operators and what they do under the control of legislators, regulators, judges and legal subjects are therefore examined from a dual technical and legal perspective, in the light of the imperative of sustainability.

This allows to progress in 4 stages.

Firstly, to examine the permanence in time and space of the domain name system, insofar as it is the foundation of the Internet and the digital system. This technical construction gives rise to legal qualifications, not only for the present but also for the future, since the Web3 offers new technical solutions.

Secondly, this technical sustainability is an imperative that is built into the operators of the domain names themselves, which are inter-linked not only at national level but also at global level, this cross-linking being necessary for the security of the system. The State is present through public law techniques that enable surveillance, control and possible recovery.

Thirdly, it imposes constraints on the operators subject to them in order to serve this monumental goal of technical sustainability, and these constraints themselves generate as many powers as they need to usefully achieve this mission. This proportionality must be at the heart of the method and the requirements. The relationship between constraints and powers also stems from it.

Fourthly, this imperative of technical sustainability, which is global in nature, gives way to imperatives of societal sustainability, more localised in space and time, when domain name operators are called upon by the legitimate authors of binding standards, legislators in the first instance, to express concerns such as the protection of people involved in the digital space and whose rights are compromised or who are in danger.

This second type of sustainability, which is more localised and less inherent in the architecture of the Internet, is justified by the available power of the operators concerned and their adherence to social imperatives. The resulting constraints and powers are therefore not the same.

The 2 sustainabilities must then be articulated in a conception that is both teleological and pragmatic.

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► Speakers (they will speak in French, but the book to be published will be in English): 

🎤Pierre Bonis, Chief Executive Officer of the Association française pour le nommage Internet en coopération (Afnic)

🎤Lucien Castex, Adviser of the Afnic Chief Executive Officer for Research internet and society and Internet governance

🎤Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, Full Professor of Regulatory and Compliance Law, Director of the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC)

🎤Claire Leveneur, Senior Lecturer at Paris-Est Créteil University

🎤Grégoire Loiseau, Full Professor at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University

🎤Samir Merabet, Full Professor at the University of West Indies

🎤Antoine Oumedjkane, Senior Lecturer at Lille University

🎤Frédéric Sardain, attorney at law, Jeantet law firm

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read below a detailed presentation of this event⤵️

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, The legal status of the domain name system as an infrastructure and its legal consequences, Working paper, February 2025

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🎥 This working paper is the basis of the contribution to the symposium co-organised by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and the Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne (André Tunc - IRJS),  Durabilité de l'Internet : le rôle des opérateurs du système des noms de domaine. Compliance et régulation de l'espace numérique (Sustainability of the Internet: the role of domain name system operators. Compliance and Regulatory Law in the Digital Space).

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📝 It will also form the basis of the forthcoming📕.

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► Summary of this Working Paper: Les "noms de domaine" sont une réalité technique. Cette réalité technique s'est imposée, semblant avoir été à la fois peu "pensée" et peu "conçue" en Droit et, peut-être parce qu'elle fait peu l'objet de convoitise, le Droit de la concurrence qui neutralise la concrétude des choses et prestations pour se concentrer sur l'échange, ne les qualifie guère. C'est plutôt dans une perspective de "politique de concurrence" que les noms de domaine" sont appréhendés. Or, la politique de la concurrence exprime des souhaits et des perspectives, tandis que le Droit de la concurrence doit faire place au sein du système économique libéral à la perspective de Régulation.

► Summary of this Working Paper: "Domain names" are a technical reality. This technical reality has come to the fore, seeming to have been both little "thought out" and little "conceived" in Law and, perhaps because it is little coveted, Competition Law, which neutralises the concreteness of things and services in order to focus on exchange, hardly qualifies them. It is rather from the 'Competition Policy' perspective that 'domain names' are apprehended. However, Competition Policy expresses wishes and perspectives, while Competition aw must make way for the perspective of Regulatory Law inside the liberal economic system.

Looking at the technicalities of the domain name system, we can proceed in 3 stages.

Firstly, if a domain name is taken in isolation, it may appear as property and/or a projection of a person, and has rightly been described as such by the courts. But domain names only exist in relation to each other, the addressing system on which the Internet itself and the digital space that enables everyone to spread, reach and be reached were built. In this way, they constitute an Infrastructure in their plurality, in a uniqueness (I). The legal system must take account of this technological reality through the concept of Essential Infrastructure, which is well known in Regulatory legal perspective(I).

Secondly, the legal consequences of this legal qualification of Infrastructure must be detailed (II). Regulatory Law does not necessarily imply institutions, a regulatory authority being an indication rather than a criterion. Rather, it requires specific charges, powers and controls to ensure that the Infrastructure is established and operates to fulfill, now and in the future, the function that is crucially expected of it. Because the digital space was born of the Internet, an a-sectional and a-territorial space, Compliance Law, which is an extension of Regulatory Law, outside the sectors and internalised in the crucial operators, is essential as it is appropriate without diminishing the public dimension of the organisation.

Thirdly, the evidential dimension should be emphasised (III). Indeed, because we need to ensure that the Domain Names Infrastructure is always solid and reliable, so as not to risk a systemic failure of the Internet, and therefore of the digital space, we must not remain with the traditional system of burden of proof that rests on the person making the complaint. Because there is a Compliance Obligation, it is up to the crucial operators to credibly show their ability to ensure the technical sustainability of this infrastructure on which the digital space in which we live is based.

It shall be different if the issue is one of non-technical Sustainability, for example that which is linked to a particular societal project, in which the operators of the domain name system are not at the origin and are required on an ad hoc basis because they are in a good position to help the Authorities or because they wish to do so.

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🔓read the developments below⤵️

► Référence complète : Organisation des Nations Unies (ONU), Le Pacte pour l'avenir, 22 septembre 2024, 67 p.

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📓lire le document

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► Référence complète : NETmundial+10, Déclaration multipartite NETmundial+10. Renforcement des processus de gouvernance de l’Internet et de politique numérique, 30 avril 2024, 20 p.

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📓lire la déclaration

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► Référence complète : D. Chelly, Stratégie web. Le rôle central des noms de domaine, Gecop, 2020, 253 p.

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📗lire la 4ième de couverture

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📗lire la table des matières de l'ouvrage

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► Résumé de l'ouvrage (fait par l'éditeur) : "Simple outil technique avant 2000, le nom de domaine est devenu un élément-clé de la stratégie internet.

Les entreprises sont à la recherche de référentiels pour les questions juridiques, paramétrages informatiques, optimisation pour le référencement et choix marketing.

L'ouvrage propose un état des bonnes pratiques pour l'utilisation des noms de domaine, dans une démarche multidisciplinaire.". 

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► Référence complète : Association française pour le nommage Internet en coopération (Afnic), Peut-on casser l'internet ?, dossier thématique, 2017, 8 p.

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📓lire le dossier

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► Référence complète : H. Klein, "ICANN et la gouvernance d'internet. La coordination technique comme levier d'une politique publique mondiale", LCN, 2002, vol. 3, n° 2, pp. 91-128

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► Résumé de l'article : 

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🦉Cet article est accessible en texte intégral pour les personnes inscrites aux enseignements de la Professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

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