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Re: [ga] Geographic and Geopolitical Names in .info
Alexander - excellent post on a complicated topic.
The tactical situation is traceable back to a continuing ambiguity
about the extent to which the DNS namespace is a public resource to
be allocated through governmental processes versus a private resource
recently opened to investment and commercialization.
Obviously, what we have today is some of both in a fairly confused
mix and no well defined boundary line between the two. In addition
to the confusion generated by varying national law and culture
differences, there are philosophical differences. In the US, we have
long had the assumption that if a resource has not specifically been
placed or retained under government management, then it's open for
private exploitation. In many parts of the world, the tradition is
that resources are public unless placed in the private sector.
The newly elected black majority government of South Africa firmly
believes it is entitled to control of the name of its country in the
DNS namespace and it is currently litigating an existing registration
in a US court. If it loses, I have no doubt that it will seek other
remedies through national law and international treaty. If it wins,
there will be an immediate effect on DNS registration policies.
There are deeply felt national identity issues here, and the ICANN
community against developing country governments is an unequal
contest, especially when the counter-argument, in the view of the
governments concerned, is an excess of commercial greed in first
world countries.
So I think the challenge is to see if we cannot find a middle ground
which is responsive to the desires of these governments and can
attract their support, or at least their acquiescence, without unduly
compromising the flexibility and availability of domain names through
private sector mechanisms.
- Mike
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