A followup post to the Summary of GNSO report on policy for introducing new generic Top Level Domains.
The controversy (as I see it), is the meaning that people associate with certain letter combinations. For example, if the North American Zookeeper’s Institute wanted its own top level domain and met the technical requirements for a registry gTLD, then a .nazi gTLD could be created. Hmmm…….
The list of gTLD that could offend someone based on their thoughts of morality, religious beliefs are potentially limitless. Governments which object to expression of certain ideas could also object to creation of certain gTLDs because of the ideal the gTLD gives recognition to. Some examples :
- Should a group be allowed to get a .god gTLD for example? Or .jesus gTLD? Or a .mohammed gTLD?
- What about a .casino gTLD? Lots of persons object to gambling.
- Or a .freetibet gTLD?
- Or .gay?
- Or .porn?
- Should a group outside Trinidad and Tobago create a .tnt or .trinidad gTLD?
- Should a group/country outside Trinidad and Tobago object to a local group here applying for say a .trinidad being formed? What if the word “tnt” is a racial slur in another language? What if it offends religious sensitivities in other country?
How to make this equitable to all? That’s want the policy for introducing new gTLDs is trying to do. As such, the proposed recommendations #6 and #20 re: new gTLDs are the ones generating the most controversy
- #6 : “Strings must not be contrary to generally accepted legal norms relating to morality and public order that are recognized under international principles of law.”
- #20 : “An application will be rejected if an expert panel determines that there is substantial opposition to it from a significant portion of the community to which the string may be explicitly or implicitly targeted.”
What are your thoughts on this? Read the reports on the proposed policy and edit the wiki page
at http://ttcsweb.pbwiki.com/New-gTLDs with your proposed questions for the ICANN workshop for October 29th, 2007 (edit the page by clicking on the “edit page button” ; the password is “ttcswebwiki”)
If you’re willing to meet in person to debate/discuss this issue over the 20-21 October weekend, email me at admin a.t ttcsweb d,ot org. If enough persons are interested, the TTCS could arrange to meet on a Saturday or Sunday.
Relevant links :
- TTCS New-gTLD wiki page
- The summary of the report on the Introduction of new Top Level Domains (PDF ; 191K)
- The Actual Report on the Introduction of new Top Level Domains is available in two parts :
- A working group mailing list has been setup at : http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/gnso-liaison_atlarge-lists.icann.org
- NCUC/At-Large – gTLDs – Freedom of Expression meeting at ICANN San Juan 2007
- Full transcript of NCUC/At-Large gTLD – Freedom of Expression meeting at ICANN San Juan 2007.
- New Geo-TLDs – More Consumer Choice or More Consumer Confusion? at ICANN San Juan 2007
- IP Justice campaign re: gTLD at http://ipjustice.org/wp/campaigns/icann/gtlds/
