issues changes literally daily, and some of it may be out of date by the time it reaches print. The Next Generation Internet ( NGI ) program, for example, has been the subject of continuing negotiation among the Clinton administration, participating federal agencies, and Congress. In the last few months, the formation of the American Registry of Internet Numbers ( ARIN ) 3 has effected major changes in the way fundamental components, such as the assignment of network number address space, are managed. Important issues about the administration of the domain naming system ( DNS ) still remain unresolved. 4 The structure of the commer-3 See www.arin.net. ARIN is a new not-for-profit organization that will take over the administration and registration of Internet Network Numbers, formerly handled by Network Solutions, Inc. under contract to the National Science Foundation. ARIN is responsible for the Americas, the Carribean, and for sub-Saharan Africa; there are similar organizations that handle other geographic regions. 4 The policy debate about the management of the domain naming system, and in particular the creation of additional top-level domain names to supplement the familiar ''.com,'' ''.org,'' and the like, has had good coverage in the press, notably The New York Times. The essence of the issue is this: Historically, these have been managed by the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) and implemented by a company called Network Solutions, Inc. under contract to the