[governance] Re: New TLDs

[Milton Mueller]

>>> "Bertrand de La Chapelle" <bdelachapelle at gmail.com> 4/18/2007 5:27
AM >>>
>This demonstrates that TLDs cannot be treated with 
>the same freedom as (second-level) domain names, 
>just allowing any submission on a first come-first serve basis. 

What, Bertrand, "demonstates" that? Was there a logical proof in your
message that I missed, or some kind of technical impossibility shown? 

I would refrain from casting out your policy opinions as
"demonstrations," please. 

One fact which completely overturns your proposed conclusion is that
there are many, many people, including governments and tradmeark
holders, who believe that second-level names (e.g., country names)
should be subject to the same kind of prior claims as you proposed for
top-level domains. In other words, the same political forces that prefer
not to have TLDs registered freely also militate for not having SLDs
registered freely.

So in fact your discussion, if it proves anything at all, shows once
again that there is _no relevant difference_ between the second and top
level. The only difference is the accident of history that NSI in 1995-6
was too busy/understaffed to do anything but use first come, first
served to register SLDs in .com, .net and .org (95% of all domains at
the time) and there was no process in place for registering TLDs.  

Freedom happens by accident, always.
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