Ben Edelman

Ben Edelman Technical Analyst (May 1998 - Sept. 2002) Student Fellow (Sept. 2002 - Jan. 2004) [ Bio | Publications | Media Coverage | Invited Presentations ] [ email ]

Ben is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Economics at Harvard University and a student at the Harvard Law School. He previously studied economics and statistics as a student at Harvard College.

Ben's recent research agenda includes evaluation of registrations in new TLDs, a quantitative comparison of commercial and non-commercial uses of the Internet, and an examination of Internet filtering efforts by governments worldwide.

When at the Berkman Center, Ben's projects included analyzing the formative documents and continued activities of ICANN, running Berkman Center webcasts, and developing software tools for real-time use in meetings, classes, and special events. Ben previously oversaw ICANN Public Meeting webcasts and operated the technology used at ICANN's quarterly meetings. More recently, he wrote about domain name politics, particularly in the context of expired domain names subsequently used for pornography and registered with false WHOIS data.

Ben has served as a consulting and testifying expert for a variety of clients, including the ACLU, the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Football League, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Wells Fargo.

Visit Ben's current web site.

Selected Publications

Domain Names and ICANN

• Domains Reregistered for Distribution of Unrelated Content: A Case Study of "Tina's Free Live Webcam", documenting 4500+ reregistered domains used for distribution of sexually-explicit content (March - April 2002)
• Large-Scale Intentional Invalid WHOIS Data: A Case Study of "NicGod Productions" / "Domains For Sale". (April - May 2002)
• Alternative Perspectives on Registrar Market Share: The Fortune 1000, the Forbes International 500, and the Yahoo Directory - Revisited (2003 Update). (November 2003)
• Alternative Perspectives on Registrar Market Share: The Fortune 1000, the Forbes International 500, and the Yahoo Directory. (May 2002)
• Technical Responses to Unilateral Internet Authority: The Deployment of VeriSign "Site Finder" and ISP Response. (October 2003)
• Survey of Usage of the .BIZ TLD. (June 2002)
• .NAME Registrations Not Conforming to .NAME Registration Restrictions. (May 2002)
• Large-Scale Registration of Domains with Typographical Errors. (January 2003)
• Compliance with UDRP Decisions: A Case Study of Joker.com. (June 2003)
• Survey of Usage of the .US TLD. (August - September 2002)
• Registrations in Open ccTLDs. (June - July 2002)
• DNS as a Search Engine: A Quantitative Evaluation. (June - July 2002)
• Survey of Domain Registration Services. (August - November 2003)
• Intentionally Invalid Whois Data. US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Oversight Hearing on Internet Domain Fraud & US Government's Role in Ensuring Public Access to Accurate Whois Data. (September 2003)
• A Case Study of Disputed Registrations in .BIZ. (May 2002)
• Analysis of Registrations in the ARNI .BIZ Top-Level Domain and Analysis of Registrations in the IOD .WEB Top-Level Domain. (June 2001)
• ICANN Substantive Analysis and Conference Briefing Books: IFWP Consensus Summary and Working Drafts Comparison (July - November 1998), Executive Summaries of Formative Documents (July 1999), ICANN and the Public Interest: Pressing Issues (November 1999), Pressing Issues II: Understanding and Critiquing ICANN's Policy Agenda (November 2000) (co-author and co-editor).
• TLD Registration Enforcement: A Call for Automation - Part I and Part II. CircleID. (September - October 2002)
• Invalid WHOIS Data: Who Is Responsible? CircleID. (November 2002)
• Domain Name Typosquatter Still Generating Millions. CircleID. (February 2003)
• Jurisdiction over Domain Names: Too Much Law Or Too Little? CircleID. (March 2003)
• Quantifying Traffic to VeriSign SiteFinder. CircleID. (September 2003)
• Defensive Registrations: Why They're Still Needed, and How to Make Them Earn their Keep. Verisign Digital Brand Management Services - Digital Branding Bulletin. (December 2002)
• Experimental Cross-Registrar WHOIS Client. (July 1999, obsolete)

Filtering the Internet

• Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China and Real-Time Testing of Internet Filtering in China. (March-November 2002)
• Internet Filtering in China. IEEE Internet Computing. (March-April 2003)
• Documentation of Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia. (May-July 2002)
• Expert Report and Appendices for Multnomah County Public Library et al., vs. United States of America, et al. challenge to the Children's Internet Protection Act. (October 2001 - April 2002)
• Localized Google Search Result Exclusions. (October 2002)
• Empirical Analysis of Google SafeSearch. (April 2003)
• Edelman v. N2H2, Inc., seeking declaratory judgement for extraction and reporting of N2H2 "block list." (July 2002)
• Web Sites Sharing IP Addresses: Prevalence and Significance. (February 2003)
• Replacement of Google with Alternative Search Systems in China: Documentation and Screen Shots. (September 2002)
• When the Net Goes Dark and Silent. The South China Morning Post. (October 2002)
• Blocked Sites Will Return, but with Limited Access. The South China Morning Post. (January 2003)
• Documentation of Internet Filtering Worldwide. Spreading the Word on the Internet: 16 Answers to 4 Questions. OSCE Representative of Freedom of the Media Conference Reflections. (November 2003)

Electronic Commerce

• Documentation of Gator Advertisements and Targeting. (May 2003)
• The Effect of Editorial Discretion Book Promotion on Sales at Amazon.com - Introduction & Table of Contents; body available upon request. (September 2001 - March 2002) (summa cum laude)
• Earnings and Ratings at Google Answers - working draft. (October 2003 - January 2004)
• Expert Declarations in Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Company, LLC, et al. v. the Gator Corporation. (June 2002)
• The Effect of Geographic Location on Economics Journal Citations - available upon request. (December 2001 - January 2002)
• Documentation of Buy.com security breach. (October 2000)
• Using Trumpet Winsock on Netcom Netcruiser Accounts (June 1995, obsolete)

Retransmission and Geographic Restrictions

• Expert Memorandum attached to National Association of Broadcasters submission to Industry Canada re retransmission of commercial television content over the Internet. (September 2001)
• Initial and Supplemental Expert Declarations in National Football League, et al., v. TVRADIONOW Corporation (iCraveTV). (January - February 2000)
• iCravetv.biz/Entervision Retransmits CNN, Cartoon Network, PAX TV, California NBC Affiliate. (June - July 2002)

Testimony transcripts and additional publications are available upon request.

Media Coverage

Selected media coverage of recent projects