[WEB4LIB] keywords

[rich at richardwiggins.com]

Is the commercial company RealNames or one of their affiliates?  Their Internet Keywords product has been out for years now, and their keywords are part of the search algorithm IE goes through when you type a random word into the Address box.  Lots of search portals have deals with 'em. There's a press release from the company on August 15 that talks about MSN paid position advancement under Keywords Plus.

http://www.realnames.com/Virtual.asp?page=Eng_Corporate_PressRelease_081501

In the past RealNames has pushed Internet Keywords as a sort of parallel add-on to the Domain Name System.  In the last couple of years they've sounded as if they see it as a more primary finding mechanism, to some extent replacing the DNS, or at least hiding URLs from end users. They've set up their own global network of Internet Keywords registries and registrars, seeking marketing channels in every country.

They did make their tools open source in 1999, and they did participate in an IETF working group on Common Name Resolution Protocol (cnrp).  A draft spec came out in June:

http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-cnrp-10.txt

It's hard to sort out whether this all is a Good Thing or not.  I personally do not object to paid hit list insertions as long as they are identified, but a tie-in that works with IE and paid insertions on MSN while pretending to be open to the world is a little worrisome.

/rich



On Wed, 29 August 2001, "Yvonne Reynolds" wrote:

> 
> Hi,
> 
> We are being encouraged to register Keywords by a commercial company which promises that these "keywords" will be  used in place of the usual full url to locate websites in the near future.  Basically your  company name can function as the full address to your site
> 
> 
> I explored a bit further and found that this was an initiative supported by Microsoft and a few other large companies.
> 
> Is this about to fly?  Should we take it seriously and register our keywords/names, before someone else grabs our name/ s-   and  are there various places to register these keywords where we might get a better deal financially than the site which first mailed us?
> 
> Any comments would be welcomed.
> 
> thanks,
> Yvonne
> 
> 
> 
> Yvonne Reynolds
> Web site Manager/ Librarian
> National Botanical Institute
> Kirstenbosch.
> P/Bag x 7, Claremont 7735, South Africa
> Tel +27 21 799 8712
> Fax +27 762 0646
> email: reynolds at nbict.nbi.ac.za
> http://www.nbi.ac.za
> http://www.plantzafrica.com

_____________________________________________________

Richard Wiggins
Writing, Speaking, and Consulting on the Internet
rich at richardwiggins.com  http://richardwiggins.com