[ga] Historical Perspectives on new TLD Introduction: The NCC Resolution

[Danny Younger <dannyyounger@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/nc-tlds/2000-July/000215.html

Noncommercial Constituency Resolution in Response to
ICANN Staff Notice of June 13, 2000, regarding
"Introduction of New Top-Level Domains"


Introduction: 

On June 13, 2000, the ICANN staff issued a notice
asking for input on the Introduction of New Top-Level
Domains.  This resolution is a response by the
Noncommercial Constituency to certain high level
concerns raised by the notice and its proposed
policies for new gTLDs.

I. Procedural Objections

To meet its goal of introducing new gTLDs as quickly
as possible, it is time for the ICANN staff to propose
specific rules, in a notice of proposed rulemaking,
and allow the noncommercial community and all other
ICANN communities to comment upon it.  The NCC
requests that such specific rules be issued subject to
a reasonable public notice to allow
review and input about concrete and specific rules.

II. The Need for New gTLDs to be Opened by ICANN is
Real and Substantial

The limited number of general Top Level Domains
creates an artificial scarcity of domain names for
noncommercial, commercial and individual use and
limits and threatens the
robustness and activity of the Internet.   

Domain names are conduits for posting and finding
noncommercial and commercial speech.  The current gTLD
structure imposes an artificial scarcity at the
expense of noncommercial speech.  There is inadequate
space in the current TLD structure to put the domain
names of individuals, families, clans, political
organizations, religious groups, labor groups,
libraries, consumer groups, environmental groups, free
speech and open communication groups, professional
associations and
philanthropic institutions.  The need by these
organizations and
individuals is real and substantial; the speech that
these organization and individuals provide to their
communities and to the Internet is tremendously
valuable. It is up to ICANN to act now.

III.  New gTLDs Must Be Adopted Without Excessive
Intellectual Property Regimes - Either Public or
Private

A.  ICANN Should Not Regulate Intellectual Property
Rights;  It has neither the mandate nor the expertise
to do so.

ICANN should not introduce restrictions on the
registration of new TLDs based on their connection
with famous marks because ICANN does not have the
Authority to regulate property rights.  The NCC
submits that policy-making over intellectual property
is inappropriate for ICANN.

ICANN was required by the U.S. Govt. White Paper to
ask WIPO to convene an international process to
develop a set of recommendations for trademark/domain
name dispute resolutions. However, ICANN is an
institution for technical coordination of the
Internet, not property rights policy-making. ICANN has
already created Uniform Dispute Resolution Process
(UDRP) to resolve trademark disputes, and it should
not expand its role in restricting the use of
trademarks in domain names. Additional regulation of
property rights, such as famous mark restrictions or
other forms of trademark protection in domain names -
either in an express ICANN rule or in any private
registry rules
approved by ICANN -- risks dragging ICANN into public
policy-making in an area where it has neither
competence nor a mandate. Institutions with relevant
authority already exist for such matters.

The NCC notes the DNSO Working Group B Report (17
April 2000), which reports the consensus view that:
"There does not appear to be the need for the creation
of a universally famous marks list at this point in
time."

B.  The NCC Supports Use of Corporate and Product
Names in Connection with Expressions of Concern and
Criticism.

The NCC adds that it supports the use of a company,
product or service name in connection with a TLD or
its domain names that is designed to facilitate
organization of consumers or workers for comment,
concern and criticism. We call on the appropriate
institutions - legal authorities with jurisdiction
over trademark disputes -- to permit this use of
names.

We call on ICANN not to create policies that would
limit the use of company, product or service names by
domain name holders seeking to use them in for
legitimate and protected expressions of concern and
criticism.

There should be an adequate number of TLDs and
diversity of registries to satisfy the needs of the
Internet community by region, language, culture, and
point of view.

IV.  ICANN Should Make Clear Its Intention To Continue
the Development of New gTLDs in the Near Future.
    
The Current Debate over new gTLDs is one based largely
in developed countries. However, with the rapid
development of other regions, the need for new gTLDs
and their domain names is growing in developing
countries in a similar manner to that of developed
countries, with a slight time delay.  Rather than
indicating its willingness to pursue the corporate
agenda of extremely slow growth of gTLDs, the NCC
resolves that ICANN should adopt a schedule of rapid
and substantial expansion of
new gTLDs today to meet the existing need.  The NCC
further resolves that ICANN should also formally
commit itself to the sustained and substantial
expansion of new gTLDs in the future so that the
developing countries will be able to fulfill their
needs for new gTLDs as these needs arise.

There should be a recognition that as new multilingual
character sets become available for the DNS, there
should be adequate resources for TLDs to satisfy the
needs of the new domain space.

The NCC recommends that ICANN adopts the DNSO Working
Group C
recommendation that new gTLDs be followed by an
evaluation period. This evaluation period should
include a study of the impact of new gTLDs on
developing countries, to ensure that the benefits of
new gTLDs are not gained by the developed countries
alone.


V.  Need for Noncommercial and Civil Society gTLDs
Must Be A Paramount Concern In This First Round of
Openings

ICANN should consult with the NCC as a part of the
efforts to create new gTLDs.
 
The NCC submits that granting noncommercial gTLDs
today will begin to address the critical need for new
gTLDs discussed in Section II above, and complement
existing domains that are increasingly oriented
towards business. Existing gTLDs are predominantly
utilized by commercial entities (most notably ".com"
but increasingly ".org" and ".net.")
Noncommercial gTLDs would serve the "third sector" of
private,
non-commercial institutions.

A "noncommercial or civil society gTLD" model should
include generic gTLDs and/or chartered gTLDs to cover
a range of activities and interests within the
noncommercial arena.

The specific character strings of the TLDs that the
NCC hereby proposes are not addressed here.  These
proposals should come from the communities themselves,
working with registries who will submit proposals to
ICANN.  Further, just as in other avenues of
communication, the NCC resolves that noncommercial and
civil society groups must be free to continue using
domains in other TLDs as appropriate, as they do now.


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