Re: [ga] "Ongoing Programs" Mechanism
The Staff Report described one of these mechanisms as follows: "On-going programs where baseline criteria for the establishment of new gTLDs are published and maintained. Applicants can, at any time, apply for a new gTLD. If the applicant meets the criteria, they will enter negotiations to execute an agreement that provides for the establishment of a new gTLD registry." Why the ^%!~ should there be "negotiations"? From the point of view of ICANN all TLD operators should meet the same terms/conditions. However, those terms and conditions should not concern themselves one whit about business practices, products, prices, and other materials not clearly of direct relationship to the technical ability of the operator to provide a working set of TLD name servers. Whether they use a registrar tier, whether they publish whois, whether they offer registrations for one month or 500 years, all of that is irrelevant to ICANN's purpose and must not be among the terms/conditions. As I said, the only obligations must be those that are clearly and demonstrably directly related to the technical ability of the TLD to answer DNS queries. --karl--
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