Re: [ga] Karl's comments at the 2003 Senate hearings on allocation systems

[Joop Teernstra <terastra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 05:52 a.m. 20/12/2005, Sotiris wrote:
> <snip>
> > ICANN's glacial, and extremely expensive, processes
> > have not only failed to meet even the smallest portion
> > of the demand for new TLDs,
>
> How does one measure the "demand for new TLDs"?  Who is demanding the new
> TLDs?  Is the average internet user demanding new TLDs or is it a
> relatively small group of people who have some personal stake/interest in
> mind?

It is those people who have the ability to free up the whole monolithic 
structure.

The freedom of this small group can spearhead  free markets for the broader 
public.

>  Frankly, the last thing I hear from my clients is that there should
> be more TLDs in the namespace, indeed many of them are confused by the
> existing TLDs and their function(s).  Further, when they are disappointed
> in finding their first choice in a .com domain available for registration,
> they usually (though disappointedly) settle for it in the ccTLD if it's
> available; but every one of my clients prefers a .com domain before any
> other.  Indeed, most usually try permutations of their company name to get
> something in the .com TLD they can live with RATHER than going with a .biz
> or ccTLD registration that may better fit their brand/naming
> requirement(s).

I don't deny that that is the case.
The entrenched  .com preference is enhanced by the fact that the other TLD 
registries do not  offer materially different contract terms.

That is one of the things that would need to change in order to enable 
innovation.


-joop-