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Re: [wg-c] CPT/EI letter on TLDs



3/5/00 su 4:41 pm mst

Welcome Jamie,

i want to thank you for sharing your letter to Dyson with the wg-c.  
i am certain your intent in the letter is perfectly sincere and of course 
extremely correct.  However, due to my cynical opinion of icann, i found 
your letter to Dyson to be wonderfully droll.

please be sure to post her response, if any.

katie.
Kathryn Vestal, Esq.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


At 12:06 PM 3/5/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Hello, this is my first post to wg-c.  I work with various non-profit
>organizations that would like to apply for new TLDs.  This is a letter I
>wrote to Esther Dyson about this.  It is my understanding that WG-B and
>WG-C are working on this issue.  Jamie Love
>
>http://www.cptech.org/ecom/icann/tlds-march1-2000.html
>
>                         John Richard
>                         Essential Information
>                         P.O. Box 19405
>                         Washington, DC 20036
>                         http://www.essential.org
>
>                         James Love
>                         Consumer Project on Technology
>                         P.O. Box 19367
>                         Washington, DC 20036
>                         http://www.essential.org
>
>March 1, 2000
>
>Esther Dyson
>Chair
>Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 
>4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330 
>Marina del Rey, CA 90292  USA                     
>
>Dear Esther:
>
>This letter is to propose that Essential Information be permitted
>to establish a registry for new top level domains (TLDs).  It is
>our intention to create several TLDs that would facilitate free
>speech and criticism, and enable consumers, workers and others to
>organize.  Each of these TLDs will be operated under its own
>management charter.   The particular TLDs that we propose
>include:
>
>     .union
>     .customers
>     .complaints
>     .sucks
>     .ecology
>     .isnotgreen
>     .isnotfair
>     .shareholder
>     .taxpayer
>     .unite
>
>Our plans for each domain are as follows:
>
>     .union
>
>The .union TLD will be a "union label" for cyberspace.  EI is
>working with the international labor union community to develop a
>management system for .union.  Use of the domain would be
>restricted to bona fide labor unions.  Examples of use of this
>TLD would include:
>
>     nike.union
>     exxon.union
>     microsoft.union
>     
>as well as other uses, such as dcprinters.union, for links to
>union printers in Washington, DC.  EI will be holding meetings
>with members of the labor community to discuss the policies for
>the management of this domain. It is our goal to use the .union
>domain to strengthen union organizing efforts, and to make it
>easier for workers at a firm to communicate with unions that
>represent workers at the firm, or who are seeking to organize
>workers at the firm, and for unions in different countries to
>coordinate efforts with each other.
>
>     .customers
>
>EI will create a self governance management organization for
>.customers.  This domain will be used to create democratically
>managed membership organizations of the customers of particular
>companies.  The customer organizations would be able to address
>any number of consumer problems.  For example, ford.customers
>might organize to address safety, service or warranty issues on
>Ford automobiles.  Safeway.customers might organize in favor of
>labeling of genetically modified foods.  Bellatlantic.customers
>might address Bell Altantic service and pricing issues in
>regulatory proceedings.  Bankofamerica.customers could address
>ATM charges and other bank fees.  
>
>The .customers domain will be a cyberspace version of the
>"Citizens Utilities Boards" that were set up in several US states
>in the 1970s, funded by voluntary contributions from customers of
>public utilities.
>
>     .complaints
>
>EI is studying different models for the use of .complaints, to
>give consumers specific information about mechanisms to address
>product or company specific complaints, and to permit customers
>to share information about company practices with each other.
>          
>     .sucks
>
>This TLD will be used to facilitate criticism of a firm or
>organization, such as aol.sucks, wipo.sucks, or even
>greenpeace.sucks.  We would not permit the organization that
>owned an associated domain to also own .sucks, so it would expand
>the name space in an important way.  The domain would also be
>available for other uses, such as work.sucks, life.sucks or
>television.sucks.  
>
>Our plan is to create an independent non-profit free speech
>foundation that will be funded by fees from the .sucks
>registration.  The Dot Sucks Foundation (http://dot.sucks) will
>fund Internet related free speech fights. 
>
>We recognize the .sucks TLD will be offensive to some persons,
>but we do not think that this should exclude .sucks from being
>approved by ICANN.  We believe the .sucks domain will be popular
>in the marketplace, and also generate important funding for the
>free speech rights of individuals and small organizations.
>
>     .ecology
>     .isnotgreen
>
>These two TLDs will be managed by environmental groups, to create
>forums to discuss and criticize the environmental policies of
>businesses, governments and other organizations.
>
>     .isnotfair
>
>This TLD would be used by civil rights groups to discuss issues
>of discrimination or workers rights.  We will be holding
>discussions with a variety of civil rights organizations to
>determine the management structure for the TLD.  It is our
>intention to create a space where the public can quickly review a
>company's record on employment practices.  For example,
>Texaco.isnotfair or coke.isnotfair might have links to
>information about discrimination suits involving these companies,
>or to organizations working on various discrimination or fairness
>issues. 
>
>     .shareholder
>
>This TLD will be used by church groups who organize shareholder
>suits on issues of conscience.
>
>     .taxpayers
>
>The .taxpayer TLD would be given to democratically elected
>taxpayer organizations that would monitor budgets and management
>practices of governments.   Examples of this TLD would include
>Arlington.VA.Taxpayers, Anchorage.AK.Taxpayers,
>London.UK.Taxpayers, Sidney.AU.Taxpayers.
>
>     .unite
>
>EI is evaluating different models for the use of .unite.    
>                                                       
>These are serious proposals to use the power of a TLD to enable
>citizens to improve civil society.  We believe the creation of
>domains like .union, .customers, .isnotgreen, and .isnotfair will
>create powerful mechanisms to share information and organize.
>
>We would like to meet with the ICANN staff to discuss these
>proposals further.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>
>John Richard                       James Love
>Director                           Director
>Essential Information              Consumer Project on Technology
>
>
>
>-- 
>=======================================================
>James Love, Director           | http://www.cptech.org
>Consumer Project on Technology | mailto:love@cptech.org 
>P.O. Box 19367                 | voice: 1.202.387.8030
>Washington, DC 20036           | fax:   1.202.234.5176
>=======================================================
>
>