Re: [wg-c] STRAW POLL

["Philip Sheppard" <philip.sheppard@aim.be>]

WG-C STRAW POLL

Here follows replies of Philip Sheppard AIM.

QUESTION ONE
Please select from the following possibilities, *as applied to the
deployment of new gTLDs in the name space over the medium to long term*:

1. All new gTLDs must have charters that meaningfully limit the universe of
people who can register in those gTLDs.

BUT TAKE HEED  Limit is not the right descriptive. A charter need not be a
restriction! The key is not limitation but differentiation. Dot biz could be
fine is it can differentiate itself from dot com. EG: It may wish to be for
registered business only or for businesses who wish to trade across national
borders.
(See answer to Q3 for more on differentiation.)


QUESTION TWO
The working group has reached and reaffirmed a recommendation that the
initial expansion of the name space should consist of six to ten new gTLDs,
followed by an evaluation period.  Please select from the following
possibilities, *as applied to that initial rollout*.

1. All of the gTLDs in the initial rollout must have charters that
meaningfully limit the universe of people who can register in those gTLDs.

BUT SEE ABOVE. The concept that 6-10 is about right is flawed.

QUESTION THREE
The issue of chartered gTLDs is tied up with the larger issue of how ICANN
should select new gTLDs -- in particular, whether (a) ICANN itself should
be the final arbiter of new gTLDs' names and charters, or (b) ICANN should
simply select new registries and leave the choice of names and charters to
them.  I think that at this point we can't avoid confronting the larger
question of how ICANN should pick new TLDs in the initial rollout.
(Actually, we're returning to the question; part of last summer's straw
poll spoke to the same issue.  The results then were inconclusive.)  Please
select from among these possibilities:


6. Other
The Names Council and ICANN must establish principles for domain names (a
little like the criteria option you had). I propose the following
principles/criteria (also under discussion in WG B and co-authored by myself
and Kathy Kleiman):
1. Trust – a gTLD should give the net user confidence that it stands for
what it purports to stand for.
2. Semantics – a gTLD should be meaningful in a language with a significant
number of net users.
3. Findability – a gTLD should assist a net user to find a particular domain
name.
4. Differentiation – a gTLD should differentiate from all other gTLDs so as
not to confuse net users.
5. Honesty – a gTLD should not unnecessarily increase opportunities for
malicious or criminal elements who wish to defraud net users.
6. Simplicity - a gTLD should not impose an overly bureaucratic procedure on
a registry.
7. Competition – new gTLDs should foster competition in the domain name
space.
8. Diversity - new gTLDs should foster the expression of views, both
commercial and non-commercial.
9. Multiplicity - new gTLDs should become available as needed to meet the
needs of an expanding Internet community.

THEN, a registry proposes a new gTLD and the NC judges it against the above
principles. If it passes it happens.
This leads to the market proposing names it wants but there is a first-mover
advantage as new names will exclude others. For example: If dot cars was
accepted for "everything to do with automobiles" then another party wanting
dot autos for " everything to do with automobiles" might not be accepted
unless they offered something to differentiate.

Philip Sheppard