Re: [wg-c] Next question: Which gTLDs? How many?

[Rod Dixon <rod@cyberspaces.org>]

The process is moving slowly, but that is warranted given the task
before us. I think it is nice to hear from all of the institutional
memories that are on this working group. Certainly, knowing the history
of this debate is useful in avoiding unnecessary steps. I hope that
people really are open to discussing the question of new gTLDs. 

I think we need to address process a little more. I would like to go on
record, for the moment, favoring implementing a mechanism for
establishing new gTLDs rather than specifying what those new gTLDs
should be. The important factor, I think, is that the new unrestricted
gTLDs ought to be selected, in some manner, by a consensus of the
Internet community. I am open to arguments that this working group can
play that role, but I doubt that.

Ivan Pope wrote:
> 
> >I really can't see the point of having a
> > working group if input
> > >is ignored and we default to a reflex position.
> >
> > Nobody has objected to you leading a discussion in the
> > direction that you
> > want, why do you object to others leading other discussions?
> >
> > Asking the question that agree with the model you want does
> > not mean that
> > others cannot work in other directions, which are probably
> > more open and
> > further in agreement with the desires of the community, not
> > only of those
> > who see the DNS as a business.
> 
> OK, fair point. But I would encourage us to discuss the structure and
> concept of a system of creating new gTLDs rather than jump back to what with
> the best will in the world is an arbitary and untested system.
> Sure, there may well not be much wrong with the CORE/POC structure and gTLDs
> or there may be, but if we don't come up with a logical and understandable
> structure which allows us to understand this, where does it leave us?
> Personally, I hoped we would step back from previous positions and try to
> learn from the past.
> I think I have some rights to be heard here. I am a founder and Director of
> Nominet in the UK which is now struggling with some of the effects of
> success and also starting to search for a vision and worldview that will
> take Nominet into the next few years.
> This will entail listening to the commercial and political communities and
> finding out a way forward that works and is flexible enough to last.
> Just to say: this was proposed a few years ago and still sounds alright to
> me, frankly, doesn't get us very far. We have to understand what it is we're
> doing and why and what the outcome might be and then we need to propose
> structures and institutions that can take us there.
> I know we're all in a hurry to get some new gTLDs created, but if we just
> take a little more time we will create something this time that works - and
> we can't say that about previous attempts.
> For those who are new(ish) to this debate, I was involved in CORE from the
> start and was on the management committee for a while. However, I was always
> critical of the centralist 'we know best, take it or leave it' attitude of
> those who 'founded' CORE. My view is that the POC/CORE approach failed for
> many reasons and that an attempt to ressurect it is also doomed to failure.
> However, that's not to say that there isn't a lot of value that I would
> support in the approach.
> If we can create an institution or propose the creation of an institution
> that would have management of new gTLDs, I would support that. If that
> institution has the power to create as few or as many gTLDs as it saw fit
> consistent with guidelines drawn up by us and agreed to by the wider
> community under ICANN guidance, then I would really like that.
> I think it would be good at this stage for more of the members of WG-C to
> make input on how they think this process is going. Otherwise, we are going
> to end up with a non-legitimate process!
> Ivan

-- 


Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
Rutgers University School of Law - Camden
rod@cyberspaces.org
http://www.cyberspaces.org