<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; color: black; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">Dear(s) Ivar, Coordinators and all IGC CS Members,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span"
face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">In fact ICANN has become an organization on which the Internet Community depends on.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">Referred article seems the biased response.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right:
0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">>I don't agree with all of the arguments stated, but I find it is good that there's social pressure for the app fee to be lower. This way, when it can be lowered (if ever), it's guaranteed we'll have some forces (including in CS) pushing for that.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify;
line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">However, as you asked for the influence of the Civil Society for the reduction of the Application fee to new gTLDs. It’s a good Idea to invite the CS support, however, this is a forum of Multi Stakeholders’ and Application fee does not matter for those members who may belongs to or representing to the big profitable companies, like VeriSign, IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Sony, Yahoo or Google etc. who would be ready to pay any cost to reserve the namespace that may represent their Trademark or Brand Name more better.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">Even after getting the new gTLD registry as the namespace of their brands, who will allow others to register the second level domain name? for example “anything.ibm”, “other-OS-is-better.microsoft”, excellent-brand-is-apple.ibm or even igc-cs.verisign or hotels.varisign? Even if they allow only to the relevant business partners or clients, imagine what will be the cost per domain (just to adjust the recovery of the expenses + huge application fee)? Comparing the existing example to today that anyone can register .com .net with $6.99 to $35 and ccTLDs from $9 to $120. After all this cost will
be transferred to the end users.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">So, do you think its uniform policy to facilitate the Internet Community members or common internet user or just to facilitate the International brands owners for their own commercial business growth?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">So, we have to work hard and quick to oppose or extended support ICANN’s JSA WG proposal submitted to the ICANN’s board for the discount offer of 76% (of $186,000) for the developing economies. None of the non-for-profit (and not supported with huge-funding) organization belonging to developing countries is capable to pay US$44K + Registry Setup+ Insurance Guarantees+ Hiring Technical
Resources.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">I would suggest creating a new discussion thread and inviting CS Support through a relevant subject for example:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 12pt; "><font
class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">i.<span> </span>“Campaign to reduce gTLD Application Fee for Non-Commercial namespace”, or</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family:
Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">ii.<span> </span>“Categorize Commercial and Non-Commercial gTLDs”, or</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); "><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">iii<span> </span>“Let the DE participate in new gTLD Program” <span> </span>DE=Developing Economies</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); "><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom:
0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">If you agree to do this, we can share some thoughts and experience and being a member of IGC Strategy WG, I vote and request to develop a common IGC strategy to support your idea with condenses. Subject title modification is being proposed to bring more people into the information sharing and to invite inter CS comments to work together and for a greater positive influence to a common initiative.</span><span
style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; "><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; color: black; font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">Your prompt reply and review comments will be highly appreciated.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; color: black; font-size: 10pt;
font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; "><br></span></p></div><div style="color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; ">Thanking you </div><div style="color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; "><br></div><div style="color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; ">Regards</div><div style="color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; "><br></div><div style="color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; ">Imran Ahmed Shah</div><div style="color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; "><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><span
style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">Founder & Executive Member<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">Urdu Internet Society (UISoc)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">Internet Governance of Pakistan (IGFPAK)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">email: <a
href="mailto:imran@uisoc.org" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; ">imran@uisoc.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black; ">Cell: +92-300-4130617</span></p></div></div><div style="font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><br><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Ivar A. M. Hartmann <ivarhartmann@gmail.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> governance@lists.cpsr.org<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sat, 25 June, 2011 3:57:08<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [governance] Can Icann
really be necessary?<br></font><br>Some people don't really understand what it means to "be accountable to everyone and no one" =)<br>I don't agree with all of the arguments stated, but I find it is good that there's social pressure for the app fee to be lower. This way, when it can be lowered (if ever), it's guaranteed we'll have some forces (including in CS) pushing for that. <br>
Best, Ivar<br><br><br>(via Berkman Buzz)<br><div id="main-article-info">
<h1>Can Icann really be necessary?</h1>
<p id="stand-first" class="stand-first-alone">It's a question worth asking as the body that oversees internet domain names will now permit any suffix you want – at a price</p>
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Thursday 23 June 2011 18.00 BST
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<img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/6/20/1308568672617/icann-vote-007.jpg" alt="icann vote" width="460" height="276">
<div class="caption">Icann
board members vote in a plan to expand the number of possible domain
endings, currently limited to just 22. Photograph: Roslan
Rahman/AFP/Getty Images</div>
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<p>Are you ready for .xxx, .coke and .insertyournamehere? You'd better get ready, because an <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/20/internet-domain-wave-new-suffixes">organisation with significant authority and scant accountability says you must</a>.</p>
<p>That organisation is Icann: the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Internet">Internet</a>
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It supervises the naming
system for internet domains. With a budget north of $60m, Icann's board
members and staff – who strike me as well-meaning, if too often unwise,
in their actions – have embedded their work into the DNA of modern
cyberspace. One would expect no less from an enterprise that can
essentially tax the internet and is simultaneously accountable to
everyone and no one. </p><p>Like Icann's operations, its rules are
complex. The organisation's key role, boiled down to the basics, is to
oversee the domain name system (DNS) – a role that gives Icann the
authority to decide what new domain-name suffixes may exist, and who
can sell and administer them. The best known "top level" domain
suffixes, at least in the US, are .com, .org and .edu; <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains">they are among 22 generic suffixes</a>, along with about 250 country-level domains such as .uk, (United Kingdom), .de (Germany) .and cn (China). </p>
<p>Two recent Icann initiatives highlight its reach. The <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/222793/icann_approves_xxx_domain_for_adult_entertainment_industry.html">first was the approval earlier this year</a> of the .xxx domain, intended to be a red-light zone for cyberspace. The other, <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/20/icann-domains-expansion-annnounced">announced just this week</a>,
is a plan to let people and enterprises create domain names of any kind
– for example, .Apple or .CocaCola or .treehugger – reflecting their
trademarks or specific interests. </p><p>Contrary to <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/draft-icm-rationale-18mar11-en.pdf">Icann's rationalisations (pdf)</a>,
.xxx is a terrible idea. Should it succeed, it will enrich its
promoters. But it will also likely lead, should the domain actually be
adopted widely, to widespread censorship and manipulation. Governments
are keen to restrict access to what they consider to be pornography or
block it altogether; look for laws requiring adult sites to use the
.xxx domain, so they can be more easily fenced in – or out. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-24/news/29181495_1_new-domain-internet-corporation-websites">India has already announced</a> it will block .xxx entirely.</p>
<p>I
hope this wretched move fails for practical reasons. Adult content
providers possessing common sense will hesitate to move their
operations into a censor-friendly zone of this kind. Indeed, the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://business.avn.com/articles/technology/FSC-Launches-Anti-XXX-Campaign-Just-Say-NO-430172.html">Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment trade group, is urging</a> its members to boycott .xxx and stick with the tried and true .com suffix that most of them already use.</p>
<p>The
success of .com helps explain why the latest Icann move, expanding the
domain system in potentially infinite ways, is at best problematic.
It's not entirely misguided, however. In principle, the idea is
inoffensive; why not have internet addresses that fully match reality
and might (repeat: might) be more secure under certain circumstances?
And why would a company with a valuable trademark <em>not</em> want to reserve a domain suffix reflecting its trademark? </p><p>Because,
as noted, the current system isn't all that broken. Trademark disputes
already get resolved in the .com world with laws and rules of various
kinds. So, who wins by inviting every enterprise with a trademark or
valuable name to register with multiple domain suffixes? The registrars
win, of course, and so does the organisation that decides who can be a
registrar; that would be Icann, which, in effect, taxes the registrars
based on how many people they sign up for domains.</p><p>Speaking of
fees, if you want one of the new domain suffixes and are not a wealthy
individual or company, get ready to put a major dent in your bank
balance. The Icann application alone will be $185,000, with an annual
fee of $25,000. Who sets this fee? Why, Icann, of course. Is it
reasonable? Icann says it is. Why is it reasonable? Because Icann says,
based on evidence that is less than persuasive, that it needs the money
for things like legal costs. So much for small business registrations,
much less domains for individuals with relatively common last names –
how about .JohnSmithWhoWasBornInDallasOnMay51983? – which want to be as
unique in their domain name as they are in the real world.</p><p>Esther Dyson, former board chair at Icann (and a friend), <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.npr.org/2011/06/21/137308306/not-just-dot-com-but-dot-yournamehere">told NPR she considered the new domains "a useless market"</a>.
She is right, but I'd go further: Icann itself is unneeded, or should
be made to be so. Clearly, it would be unworkable to simply pull the
plug on Icann, because it has become a key link in the digital chain.
But the internet community should be working on a bypass, not
controlled in any way by governments, that is both secure and robust.</p><p>A
partial bypass already exists for end users. It's called Google –
though this also applies to Bing and other search engines. Internet
users are learning that it's easier, almost always with better results,
to type the name of the enterprise they're searching for into the
browser's search bar than to guess at a domain name and type that guess
into the address bar. Google isn't the DNS, but its method suggests new
approaches. To that end, some technologists have suggested creating a
DNS overlay, operated in a peer-to-peer way that incorporates modern
search techniques and other tools. Making this workable and secure
would be far from trivial, but it's worth the effort.</p><p>A few years
ago, I was a candidate for a post on the Icann board. During an
interview, I was asked to describe what I hoped to achieve, should I be
asked to serve. A major goal, I replied, was to find ways to make Icann
less necessary. My service was not required.</p>
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</div>--<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/23/icann-internet-domain-names">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/23/icann-internet-domain-names</a><br>
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