Community and Geo Rules Ought to be Nixed from Fresh TLDs
ICANN’s guidelines for community sponsors and location names ought to be removed from fresh TLD process.
I’ve read the second version of the fresh TLD applicant guidebook from ICANN from cover to cover, and there’s one (OK, more than that) thing I still don’t understand: why are their special guidelines for “community” based TLDs and locations such as cities and states?
If you represent a limited “community” you get special treatment. If you want to launch a TLD such as .paris or .texas, you need appropriate permission from an ill-defined government representative.
This is in the agreement since of special interests, and it ought to be scrapped. Here’s why:
1. A “communityâ€, as defined by the process, or a local government may not be the best organization to launch a particular TLD. For example, a city may wish to launch .city, but a private group may do a better job of launching .city. Bias ought to not be given to official government compared to the private sector. In the case of a private party working with the government, this scenario is open to bribery, lobbying, etc. TLDs ought to be allocated based on general string contention guidelines (or a last resort auction), not political influence.
2. Loose definitions of who within that community or location can provide authority on behalf of the community will lead to confusion.
3. In the event of two communities using the same name, it seems that bias may be given to the larger of the communities.
The guidebook states that a city name will be considered a location “where the applicant declares that it intends to use the gTLD for purposes associated with the city name.” There’s a big loophole here. I can say I want to launch .Austin, but the name is based on people named Austin and not the city.
Community based TLDs will be required to enforce restrictions, such as only registering domains to entities within the community. This is another mistake. We all remember what happened with the restricted .pro domain: the registry found a loophole to sell the domain to more people.
I say scrap the whole idea of “community” and “location” domains. Make every fresh TLD an “open” TLD.
