[comments-gtlds] WG-C Position Paper Comments

["Ross Wm. Rader" <ross@tucows.com>]

I would like to formally add our corporate voice to the support for
position paper B, as proposed by Milton Mueller.

TUCOWS.com Inc. strongly feels that ICANN must continue to act strictly in
a technical capacity and allow commerce to continue to freely conduct
business within well-established technical guidelines.

We sincerely hope that through this process, ICANN provides new registry
operators with the same liberal grant of determination that they did when
they outlined the initial Registrar accreditation guidelines.

As long as the new gTLD registries meet a set of minimum acceptable
technical standards, regardless of how liberal or strict they may be, that
the registry be allow to determine their own business model and
operational standards.

This philosophy has allowed;

        * CORE to extend on their initial operating goals and provide
        their constituents with a viable alternative to the promised
        gTLDS.  

        * Namezero to offer free SLD registrations in exchange for
        "eyeball time".

        * Register.com to move from NSI Premier Partner status to a
        viable, IPO bound entity

        * Melbourne IT to conduct one of the most promising offerings that
	the ASX has seen.

        * TUCOWS.com to launch OpenSRS which allows hundreds of ISPs
	to participate in the revenue stream that SLD registrations
	represents.


This truly has created *real* competition in the current gTLD namespace.
We can only pray the the current ICANN board eventually allows for these
same freedoms with new gTLD additions.

As a result, we strongly endorse position paper "B" and the view that new
gTLD registries should be allowed to determine the charter for the gTLDs
that they operate.

Sincerely,


Ross Wm. Rader
Director, Assigned Names Division
TUCOWS.com Inc.






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Ross Wm. Rader                     http://www.domaindirect.com
Director, Assigned Names Division       http://www.opensrs.org    
TUCOWS.com Inc.                     http://www.domainwatch.com
ross@tucows.com                    http://www.domainsurfer.com
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t. (416) 531-2697 x 335                      f. (416) 531-5584
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