[governance] implications of private TLDs

[parminder]

Today 'The Hindu' carried its own editorial on this issue, simply titled 
'No, ICANN'....

  parminder

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/no-icann/article3932668.ece


Return to frontpage <http://www.thehindu.com/>


      Opinion <http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/> » Editorial
      <http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/>

Published: September 25, 2012 01:02 IST | Updated: September 25, 2012 
01:02 IST


  No, Icann

The impending sanction of generic Top-Level Domains by the Internet 
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers poses serious questions on 
equity and competition. The importance of domain names to digital 
commerce cannot be overstated, and the power of the .com or .net is well 
understood. What Icann proposes to do is to add several hundred gTLDs, 
starting next year, including those that encompass a wide range of 
activity in the creative arts, publishing, lifestyle and even community 
activities. Any entity that is assigned a domain becomes the equivalent 
of a landlord in cyberspace, with the ability to extract rent from other 
users. Such control may not pose problems where corporates such as 
Google are assigned domains that are specific to their companies or 
brands, .google or .android, for instance. But giving companies 
monopolistic control over generic words such as .book, .site, .news, 
.beauty or .app even through an auction process would distort the 
openness that characterises the Internet. A more equitable arrangement 
would be to keep such resources accessible in a non-discriminatory way. 
It is such a broad open culture pioneered by Tim Berners-Lee and others 
that aided the growth of the Internet in the first place, and not one 
that narrowly focused on profits.

Internet gTLDs are affected by the digital divide, as the pattern of 
applications with Icann indicates. Most are from the developed world, 
and North America dominates; Africa is at a disadvantage due to the 
complexity and cost. Not many have the resources to pay the $ 185,000 
fee for registration and the hardware and infrastructure necessary to 
run the domain. Even the concessional fee for public interest applicants 
in the ‘supported’ category remains too steep for most organisations. 
Governments in such countries could consider aiding national 
corporations, cities and public institutions to acquire the gTLDs that 
are of domestic concern. This can prevent monopolies. Equally important 
is the possibility of fraud. Unless Icann can credibly ascertain 
ownership of a top level domain, it could be hijacked and used to commit 
online fraud. Clearly, the more contentious issue is that of domains 
that are truly generic, such as .book. They require some anti-monopoly 
safeguards, such as a “no refusal” clause to be incorporated into the 
registration to protect the interests of all players in the field. In 
general, a set of predictable consequences for anti-competitive 
practices should be worth considering for inclusion. More so, since 
Icann has the stated objective of promoting competition in the gTLD 
scheme. Where there are credible objections to the distribution of 
important domain names, Icann would do well not to award them in haste.



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