Live8*
ROLE INFORMATION FOR
MANAGER OF INTERNET DEVELOPMENT, L.C.A. INC.
June, 2005. It is exactly two weeks before the staging of the world's largest musical event ever - the Live8 concerts. At ten locations around the globe, one hundred of the world's hottest performing artists and groups will participate in an event that would not only make musical history, but also promote social justice on a global scale.
The event's organizers hope that income from ticket sales, sponsorships, concessions, revenue from commercials and broadcasting, proceeds from CD and online music sales and donations will reach two hundred million (200,000,000) dollars to be used to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development in Africa.
Beyond economic gains, the organizers are "aiming" the event and its worldwide support at the leaders of the G8 countries, who would be gathering in Edinburgh, Scotland four days after the concerts. They will demand that the world's richest nations cancel the African states' debts, double current aid packages for Africa and provide a fair system of trade laws for developing Africa's economy. The event will culminate in a mass pilgrimage to Edinburgh, with a huge concert taking place to coincide with the G8 summit.
L.C.A (Lights, Camera, Action!) Inc. is the production firm handling the technical arrangements and public relations issues for the event, charged with everything from booking stadiums for the concerts to making sure Elton John's plane arrives on time. As the manager of the L.C.A.'s Internet Development Department, you play a key role in the event's coordination.
For the past year, you have designed the perfect network capable of supporting the event, centering on the event's website at www.live8live.com. The event's success is dependent on the Internet in numerous ways. The organizers hope to have two billion viewers on TV and Internet broadcasts, and the only way to reach that many people is through the Net. The website also enables people to learn about the event and its goals, to see the lineup of artists taking part and to view media clips about the effects of poverty in Africa. It enables them to learn about the different ways to participate in the event, and offers different kinds of online information. It provides information on how to obtain tickets, and most importantly (on the financial side), serves as a portal for the intake of requests to buy concessions, offers to donate money, equipment or time, inquiries from the press, and just about everything else. You have linked the domain name in with every major search engine and news service; nobody can type in "concert" or "Live8" without immediately being linked to your site. In addition, the website serves as the hub for the organizers' internal communication network, serving the thousands of people working on the project.
Last week, disaster struck. A Detroit band named Live8Live challenged your use of the domain name live8live.com, claiming rightful ownership of the domain name under the rules of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body which governs the use of Internet domain names. The band filed suit with ICANN to evict you from the domain and have it transferred to them. Thinking it was a nuisance suit, you tried to buy them off for a few thousand dollars, but you found out that the band members were furious at the Live8 organizers for refusing their offer to appear at the U.S. concert. Refusing your conciliatory offer of a joint performance with Bon Jovi, they continued with their claim. The ICANN arbitrator decided in their favor, and according to his verdict, you must stop using the domain one week from today. There is no appeal process - the verdict is final.
Losing the domain name could be disastrous, endangering the success of the entire event. The site is receiving "hits" from 60,000 visitors a day, with this number expected to double every week until the concerts. Web visitors will now find it difficult to navigate through broken links to another site. Just as the event is climbing towards its climax, it could virtually disappear. The only way to control the damage is to immediately obtain a domain name as clear and simple as possible (e.g., live8.com or live8.org), and work 24/7 rebuilding paths leading Internet wanderers to the website. This work can't begin until the new domain name is registered as yours; each day it takes to do so will cost you thousands of people unable to find the site.
The owner of live8.com offered you free use of the domain name, but warned that he himself has had a claim filed against him at ICANN; the right to use the domain name might be taken away from him any day. While perhaps you might use this site to send Net traffic to your own new domain, you cannot depend on it as your main Internet address. The owners of a couple of other domain names you checked out had heard of your predicament, and each asked for five million dollars for use of the domain. This infuriated you. You are willing to pay for the site, but this is sheer ransom! The financial success of any musical event is always in doubt; this one is already in a severe predicament and could turn into the biggest financial flop of the decade. Your company would be only one of several that would go under. You refuse to make things worse by paying so much money for second-rate domain names, worth no more than a couple of hundred dollars at most under ordinary circumstances.
It also angers you that the owners are so greedy when they know that every penny you pay them is, in effect, taken away from starving children. You have one million dollars left in your department's budget, and are willing to spend it all if necessary - although it would be nice to save as much as you can. Your boss has told you he could come up with two hundred thousand dollars more from other departments' budgets. The event's board of organizers would probably give you any amount of money you need in order to save the event. However, this would be viewed as a professional failure on the part of you and your company. While it might save the event, it might also spell the end of your career.
Time is running out as you turn to your last option, Live8.org. The address takes you to an "under construction" page, but you find out that the domain name was registered by someone in Turkey. You sent them an e-mail, saying you are interested in the site and asking whether they were indeed the owner. You receive an answer that yes, you have reached the owner and what did you want. Prepare to initiate correspondence with the owner of live8.org.
* Although this exercise alludes to the "LIVE8" concerts that actually occurred in July 2005, the circumstances involved in the exercise itself, including information in these role instructions, are fictitious.