[governance] Global trade in medicines - we have a new regulator

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

Ah thanks Adam.  And no Parminder, this does not appear to be any sort of regulator or even an effective monopoly. Nothing stops pharmacies using .com, .biz, .co.in or whatever else.

--srs (iPad)

> On 22-Jul-2014, at 18:32, Adam <ajp at glocom.ac.jp> wrote:
> 
> WHO staff were involved in the new gTLD process, and also in previous gTLD application rounds. WHO quite aware of the process.  They were concerned about .health and had considered applying, but (if I remember correctly) there wasn't time for agreement within WHO (admin processes) to make an application.  I don't remember them showing any interest at the time in .pharmacy or any likely drug/health etc string.
> 
> Adam
> 
> 
> 
>> On Jul 22, 2014, at 9:03 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:
>> 
>> My focus here was not on spam except as an indicator of the number of bogus online pharmacies.
>> 
>> Ok WHO might be a viable registry for such a TLD, but I don't recall it coming out with an application to operate it, and the only governmental objection I recall was the EU.  
>> http://domainincite.com/11130-europe-rejects-icanns-authority-as-it-warns-of-problems-with-58-new-gtlds
>> 
>> --srs (iPad)
>> 
>>> On 21-Jul-2014, at 22:46, Barry Shein <bzs at world.std.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> From: Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh at hserus.net>
>>>> One undeniable fact, unfortunately, is that the number of scam artists enga=
>>>> ged in selling ,education online, often without proper prescriptions, is fa=
>>>> r higher than the number of legitimate online medicine stores.   You might =
>>>> think back to the amount of spam you receive that advertises virility pills=
>>>> , or even controlled drugs such as steroids and narcotics.
>>> 
>>> I believe we need to move beyond this old notion that the problem with
>>> spam in particular is limited to the unscrupulous.
>>> 
>>> Certainly the unscrupulous are an easy target, who would defend
>>> sinners?
>>> 
>>> But we have created this notion that if someone is of the acceptable
>>> (business) class then other than some superficial and almost never
>>> enforced notion that they must have a business relationship with you
>>> they can send email etc without limit or (effectively) cost.
>>> 
>>> Meanwhile email has become almost as useless as a medium due to
>>> so-called "legitimate" email as unscrupulous.
>>> 
>>> I have scripts which delete almost everything commercial unless I have
>>> some very specific expectation of a useful message, such as an open
>>> business order.
>>> 
>>> I have to, I get one to two thousand messages a day.
>>> 
>>> I'm sure I'm not unique in this regard.
>>> 
>>> The current conventions (they're mostly conventions) say, for example,
>>> that if I have my car insured with BigCo insurance then every one of
>>> their 100,000 worldwide agents has legitimate access to my mail box to
>>> pitch life insurance, financial instruments, etc, anything really, if
>>> they sold toothpaste they could pitch toothpaste.
>>> 
>>> The only practical limit seems to be that each company individually
>>> tries to figure out how much would so annoying that I might ignore
>>> them entirely.
>>> 
>>> Which is of limited comfort when there are thousands and thousands of
>>> "legitimate" companies.
>>> 
>>> I may be a little ahead of the curve on this but I see this rising
>>> tide of corporations discovering exactly what motivated the
>>> "unscrupulous": They can send literally a billion messages per day for
>>> almost no incremental cost.
>>> 
>>> It's a big, complex subject but I think we will soon be due for a sea
>>> change in thinking regarding this entire topic.
>>> 
>>> Merely focusing on the "unscrupulous" will be insufficient as
>>> end-users try to sort through thousands of completely uncoordinated
>>> and seemingly unlimited emails from the "scrupulous".
>>> 
>>> What drives spammers is the free advertising.
>>> 
>>> But that might drive anyone. And, as we see, it does.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>>       -Barry Shein
>>> 
>>> The World              | bzs at TheWorld.com           | http://www.TheWorld.com
>>> Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 800-THE-WRLD        | Dial-Up: US, PR, Canada
>>> Software Tool & Die    | Public Access Internet     | SINCE 1989     *oo*
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