I must say I agree with Amr....and in the final analysis, the anxiety
about all of this stems from a successful marketing campaign to sell
more domains. Quite frankly, if I am the best plumbing doctor in the
world and have a great website, folks are going to search their way to
my door....wherever that door happens to open.
Maybe I have just not succumbed to ICANN groupthink yet....
cheers Stephanie Perrin
On 2015-03-18 9:14, Amr Elsadr wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Honestly, I’m not convinced that any of the issues regarding so-called
> regulated strings concerning healthcare are issues of real concern.
> I’ve been looking into this for quite some time; trying to take in the
> arguments on both sides of the fence. My personal opinion is that
> there is a great deal of unwarranted FUD on the matter.
>
> ICANN isn’t actually regulating Web content when imposing policies
> restricting who can register domain names under certain gTLDs. At
> best, it’s only restricting access to certain strings to a limited
> number of exclusive registrants. This is not justifiable because there
> is no empirical data that suggests this is actually necessary. It’s
> also not fair for registrants who want to register names under those
> TLDs, and not fair to registries who have a commercial interest in
> selling them.
>
> If a PhD (or any other registrant) can’t register a domain name under
> .doctor, he/she will still be able to register one under a different
> TLD, and can still publish the same content on the Web. Having the
> domain name registered under one TLD or another will not influence the
> credibility of the registrant. Those who claim it will are only
> speculating.
>
> As an example, webmd.com <http://webmd.com> and mayoclinic.org
> <http://mayoclinic.org> will continue to be trusted sources of health
> information regardless of whether or not they register domain names
> under .health. Other registrants who register domain names under
> .health are unlikely to suddenly become more trusted sources of health
> information than Mayo Clinic is. Furthermore, I can think of many
> reasons why someone who isn’t a doctor at all would want to register a
> name under .doctor, or someone who doesn’t have any intention of
> publishing health information online may wish to register a name under
> .health.
>
> That is not to say that the manner in which DotHealth LLC are
> advertising .health as a trusted source of health information is
> false. There is very little to nothing in their policies that ensure
> such a claim. But how a registry advertises its gTLD is not ICANN’s
> business.
>
> Still…, although this is true:
>
>> "If this edict is allowed to stand, 'doctors' of all stripes – except
>> for those ICANN finds worthy – would be frozen out of a useful gTLD,"
>
> This certainly isn’t:
>
>> "Juris doctors, doctors of dental surgery, Ph.D.s of every sort, even
>> veterinarians… all could be censored on the Internet because they
>> earned the wrong version of the title."
>
> Thanks.
>
> Amr
>
> On Mar 18, 2015, at 1:39 PM, Sam Lanfranco <[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>> On 18/03/2015 7:56 AM, Timothe Litt wrote:
>>> Doctor, doctor give me the news:
>>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/15/icann_doctors/
>>> Sigh.
>>
>> What I do not understand is why ICANN could not see these problems
>> coming from the start. There are problems similar to .doctor for many
>> of the other regulated profession gTLDs, claims to the contrary. Even
>> "legitimate medical practitioners." is an ill-defined category
>> covering a wide range of human skills and different certification
>> practices around the globe. Here in Ontario we now have standards for
>> Chinese homeopathic practitioners. Some practitioners qualify and
>> others do not, using criteria that include length of practice as well
>> as formal training. Are they "legitimate medical practitioners"? Yes!
>> Do they qualify for a .doctor domain name? ....ICANN....yea or nay?
>>
>> The regulation of the use of words for professional designations, and
>> definition of scope of practice, are problematic enough at the
>> national level. Trying to impose a global regulatory regime on a gTLD
>> is in the final analysis like trying to herd cats. My bets are that
>> in the long run ICANN will be reduced to a binary decision and simply
>> say no for some problematic gTLDs, and when it says yes, it leaves
>> the fights over domain name use to other jurisdictions. This would
>> not be an abdication of responsibility on the part of ICANN. It would
>> be a recognition that other than denying a gTLD, the regulation of
>> domain name use at this level is beyond ICANN’s own abilities.
>>
>> Sam L.
>>
>
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