<p dir="ltr">Hello parminder,</p>
<p dir="ltr">I happen to also be on the other list you referred but I am trying to understand what you mean by ICANN violating public interest in this context. Is the public interest the policy by which ICANN allocate names or the community developed policy? Generally in the naming world (both cctld and gTLD) there are reserved names (names recognised to be unique) and they are usually reserved by the operator for 2 main reasons:<br>
- To make more money<br>
- To serve specific community.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Usually both of those goals may not be achieved for a particular string. So .baby I presume was reserved on reason 1 and they did business. On a lighter note though, what I wonder is how an organisation can be so dumb to spend so much to get a domain but again business strategy can look dumb on paper until implemented.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cheers!</p>
<p dir="ltr">sent from Google nexus 4<br>
kindly excuse brevity and typos.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 19 Dec 2014 04:00, "parminder" <<a href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net">parminder@itforchange.net</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Forwarding an email exchange from another elist, highlighting some facts about a serious violation of public interest by ICANN, and lack of any engagement and response from the involved civil society... parminder<br>
<br>
McTim<br>
<br>
See the .baby gtld proposal from J&J at <a href="https://www.101domain.com/applications/1-1156-50969.htm" target="_blank">https://www.101domain.com/<u></u>applications/1-1156-50969.htm</a><br>
<br>
GAC advice on closed generics where it lists .baby among others as the 'problematic' kind, at <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/gac-to-board-18apr13-en.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.icann.org/en/<u></u>system/files/correspondence/<u></u>gac-to-board-18apr13-en.pdf</a><br>
<br>
GAC advice made a very valid point, any exclusive access to a gtld 'should serve a public interest goal', or that closed generics should only be allowed if they specifically serve a public interest goal.<br>
<br>
And J&J's response to GAC advice is at <a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/sites/default/files/applicants/23may13/gac-advice-response-1-1156-50969-en.pdf" target="_blank">http://newgtlds.icann.org/<u></u>sites/default/files/<u></u>applicants/23may13/gac-advice-<u></u>response-1-1156-50969-en.pdf</a><br>
<br>
Which is really no response, and shows nowhere how a public interest goal is served by allowing an exclusive access to J&J and its partners, plus whoever it likes, to the gtld .baby .<br>
<br>
So, yes, indeed, not only is .baby a closed generic, GAC explicitly objected to having closed generics unless a clear public interest could be established in such an allocation.<br>
<br>
J&J obviously could not show any public interest served by giving .baby to it as a closed generic.<br>
<br>
Still, ICANN goes ahead and gives .baby to J&J as a closed generic, and pockets a cool $3,088,888.<br>
<br>
So much so for ICANN being a public interest body. It is simply a key node of the global Internet illegitimately captured by some people and some interests, and the only actor who can do something about it, the US<br>
gov, looks the other way because it serves a huge lot of its strategic interests to do so... One cannot understand what and how public interest will be served now with the proposal that ICANN becomes more or less<br>
accountable to none, which is the direction of the IANA transition process.<br>
<br>
parminder<br>
<br>
On Thursday 18 December 2014 06:27 PM, McTim wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Parminder,<br>
<br>
It is indeed a sorry state when one jumps to conclusions.<br>
<br>
Specification 11 of the Registry Agreement, says, in part:<br>
<br>
<br>
d.Registry Operator of a “Generic String” TLD may not impose<br>
eligibility criteria for registering names in the TLD that limit<br>
registrations exclusively to a single person or entity and/or that<br>
person’s or entity’s “Affiliates” (as defined in Section 2.9(c) of the<br>
Registry Agreement). “Generic String” means a string consisting of a<br>
word or term that denominates or describes a general class of goods,<br>
services, groups, organizations or things, as opposed to<br>
distinguishing a specific brand of goods, services, groups,<br>
organizations or things from those of others.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
So unless you have evidence that the winner of .baby has successfully<br>
stricken this from the RA, I would suggest that you are incorrect<br>
about this being a closed generic.<br>
<br>
--<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
McTim<br>
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A<br>
route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 1:52 AM, parminder <<a href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net" target="_blank">parminder@itforchange.net</a><br>
<mailto:<a href="mailto:parminder@itforchange.net" target="_blank">parminder@itforchange.<u></u>net</a>>> wrote:<br>
<br>
<br>
It really hurts deeply to my public and political convictions when<br>
a generic term of language like 'baby' is auctioned off to the<br>
highest bidder for a certain, extremely important, exclusive use.<br>
What public interest has been served here? Is there anyone to ask<br>
this question? And I direct this question specifically to that<br>
part of the civil society which the rest of the world would trust<br>
should be asking the questions in the ICANN's context.<br>
<br>
Any trademark authority would have rejected out of hand if Johnson<br>
and Johnson had sought 'baby' as a trademark for itself. The<br>
reasons are obvious. But those reasons do not mean anything to<br>
ICANN, and perhaps neither to civil society groups associated with<br>
ICANN.<br>
<br>
But the trademark authorities are expressly public interest<br>
bodies, under public authorities, which are in turn subject to<br>
institutionalised public oversight and accountability.<br>
<br>
ICANN on the other hand is a system captured by a group of people,<br>
who have developed the perfect means and system to keep all those<br>
close by and powerful happy in different ways - it uses the<br>
euphemism 'stakeholders' for them.<br>
<br>
Most of all, it keeps the big daddy, the US happy, by employing<br>
various means to support its reign over theglobalInternet - it<br>
keeps a boisterous IG circuit in play that supports the status<br>
quo, and drowns out every other voice. This has been done very<br>
effectively till now. Btw, which technical governance mandate<br>
ICANN was pursuing to propose and set up the World Economic Forum<br>
based new Net Mundial Initiative, which is simply a way to divert<br>
global demands for addressing pressing Internet related public<br>
policy issues. This is done directly to appease US government's<br>
political interest, which ICANN has no business to be doing.. And<br>
then it keep the domain name industry happy and prospering, and<br>
also other major industries.... This group of people, which goes<br>
in the name of ICANN, does all this using the enormous funds that<br>
it illegally collects as a tax from global public using the<br>
Internet. This is where the money goes, and it produces conditions<br>
for further extraction.<br>
<br>
It is a sorry state.<br>
<br>
parminder<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On Thursday 18 December 2014 11:18 AM, Seun Ojedeji wrote:<br>
<br>
How long that will continue/last will be a question to answer<br>
in near<br>
future.<br>
<br>
Cheers!<br>
<br>
sent from Google nexus 4<br>
kindly excuse brevity and typos.<br>
On 18 Dec 2014 02:02, "Carlton Samuels"<br>
<<a href="mailto:carlton.samuels@gmail.com" target="_blank">carlton.samuels@gmail.com</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:carlton.samuels@gmail.com" target="_blank">carlton.samuels@gmail.<u></u>com</a>>><br>
wrote:<br>
<br>
The money pile grows...<br>
<br>
-Carlton<br>
<br>
==============================<br>
Carlton A Samuels<br>
Mobile: 876-818-1799 <tel:876-818-1799><br>
*Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround*<br>
=============================<br>
<br>
<br>
[image: ICANN] <<a href="http://www.icann.org/" target="_blank">http://www.icann.org/</a>> News Alert<br>
<br>
<a href="https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-3-2014-12-17-en" target="_blank">https://www.icann.org/news/<u></u>announcement-3-2014-12-17-en</a><br>
------------------------------<br>
Results Available for 17 December 2014 New gTLD Program<br>
Auction<br>
<br>
17 December 2014<br>
<br>
On 17 December 2014, Power Auctions LLC<br>
<<a href="http://www.powerauctions.com/" target="_blank">http://www.powerauctions.com/</a><u></u>>,<br>
ICANN's authorized auction service provider, conducted a<br>
New gTLD Program<br>
Auction to resolve string contention for two new generic<br>
top-level domain<br>
(gTLD) strings: .BABY and .MLS. Applicants for these<br>
strings were unable to<br>
resolve contention among themselves; thus their contention<br>
sets proceeded<br>
to auction, which is the method of last resort to resolve<br>
string contention<br>
as prescribed in Module 4 of the New gTLD Program<br>
Applicant Guidebook<br>
<<a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb" target="_blank">http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/<u></u>applicants/agb</a>>. Subject to<br>
payment of the<br>
winning price and meeting all other criteria for<br>
eligibility, the winner<br>
will enter ICANN's contracting process to sign a Registry<br>
Agreement to<br>
operate the respective gTLD.<br>
<br>
Six applicants participated in the auction for .BABY.<br>
Johnson & Johnson<br>
Services Inc. prevailed with a winning price of $3,088,888.<br>
<br>
Two applicants participated in the auction for MLS. The<br>
Canadian Real<br>
Estate Association prevailed with a winning price of<br>
$3,359,000.<br>
<br>
All proceeds from the Auction are being segregated and<br>
withheld from use<br>
until ICANN's Board of Directors define a plan for an<br>
appropriate use of<br>
the funds through consultation with the community.<br>
More Information<br>
<br>
- Auction Results webpage<br>
<<br>
<a href="https://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/auctionresults" target="_blank">https://gtldresult.icann.org/<u></u>application-result/<u></u>applicationstatus/<u></u>auctionresults</a><br>
<br>
:<br>
<br>
Auction reports on this page on the New gTLD Microsite<br>
provide<br>
additional<br>
information on bidding.<br>
- Auction proceeds and costs<br>
<br>
<<a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/auctions/proceeds" target="_blank">http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/<u></u>applicants/auctions/proceeds</a>>:<br>
A detailed<br>
summary of the proceeds and costs of all auctions<br>
conducted through<br>
November 2014. This information is updated at the end<br>
of each month.<br>
- Auctions schedule<br>
<<br>
<a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/auctions/schedule-12dec14-en.pdf" target="_blank">http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/<u></u>applicants/auctions/schedule-<u></u>12dec14-en.pdf</a>><br>
[PDF, 253 KB]: Subsequent auctions are scheduled to<br>
occur on a monthly<br>
basis throughout 2014 and into early 2015. Auction<br>
events are intended<br>
to<br>
resolve multiple contention sets simultaneously.<br>
- General New gTLD Program Auctions<br>
<<a href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/auctions" target="_blank">http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/<u></u>applicants/auctions</a>><br>
information.<br>
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