Why ICANN should think (Re: Re[2]: [ga-roots] RE: [ga] Can you giveme some arguments, why is it a bad idea?)

[Marc Schneiders <marc@schneiders.org>]

On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, at 17:18 [=GMT-0700], William X. Walsh wrote:
> Friday, June 01, 2001, 6:33:46 AM, Bruce James wrote:
> 
> > ""another root "" Would be asking for trouble from the other Alternate
> > Roots. The whole idea is to come to an "understanding" with the Alternate
> > Roots so we can co-exist.
> 
> The alternative roots are in competition with each other, Bruce.

Are they really 'at large'? Some may be. Most are not, and if
they are, it has nothing to do with making money, this
competition. There is a lot of work on the way moreover to get rid of
the very few colliding TLDs.

> Anything they are doing together is more like a group of smaller
> competitors co-operating to make themselves more competitive against
> the larger competitor.

Many are not into making millions, really. Some even have idealistic
backgrounds and motives. Not all people on the Net want merely to make
money. Some alt roots sites have no banners, did you notice that?

> There is no reason for competitive root systems to come to any
> accommodation with competitors, unless they gain something from the
> relationship.

Stability, stability, stability?

> What would ICANN possibly gain from any sort of agreement with the
> competitive alternative roots?  

Stability, stability, stability?

> What do they have to offer ICANN that
> makes ICANN giving them what amounts to HUGE concessions a worthwhile
> consideration?  ICANN would be giving up a lot in that kind of a deal.

Like what? Power, pride, prejudice?

> There is really no reason for ICANN to do so.  And there is certainly
> no legal obligation to.

Until ICANN is no longer able to make enough people believe it is
legitimate to the world, as opposed to the US. They may succeed in
their attempt to crush alt roots, through the force of companies they
sell TLDs to, who will do the dirty job for them. But in the end they
will only survive if and only if they satisfy all those people asking
for some sort of real "community", "bottom-up", "consensus" processes.
Not to mention "democracy". Dropping these words all the time in
documents that do the exact opposite (like the ICANNs president's
attempt to kill any discussion on the roots initiated by a SO a few
days back), may fool a lot of people, but not all. I see a lot of
momentum in other directions in this respect. And not only from alt
root people, but from political scientists, ngo's, journalists.

Did I just hear that the ccTLDs want 3 board seats? Things are
moving. It might get messy.



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