Milton, I see your point and am of two minds here on your second comment.

ICANN already imposes complex requirements on its contracted parties 
(registries) and indirectly on registrars. I would like ICANN, as in the 
issues raised by African registrars, to "take ownership" of the 
consequences of those requirements, to engage in real dialogue with the 
registrars, and hopefully come up with better contract language.

As for the DotCity auction issue simply insisting that registries follow 
the same auction rules as ICANN imposes on itself does not seem a 
politicizing move to me, but there is another option here. That involves 
carrying out a proactive education and awareness campaign, targeted at 
city governments, so that they approach the DotCity gTLD opportunities 
as well informed as the commercial interests offering the manage their 
gTLD application and run their registry. That is something that ISOC and 
its chapters could consider doing.

Sam L.

On 30/09/2015 1:49 PM, Mueller, Milton L wrote:
>
> My main point was to argue that applicants need to get into the game 
> (come to the table with commercial partners from wherever (domestic or 
> foreign, developed or developing regions)) with greater knowledge, so 
> that they strike a more informed and better deal. We should not just 
> focus on access to greater financial resources where there is a risk 
> that they are simply captured by clever commercial partners.
>
> MM: Yes, indeed. Well put.
>
> Had that stakeholder mobilization not happened a community 
> constituency, the mental health agencies, would have had to spend 
> donor funds, and probably tax payer dollars, to secure the domain name 
> in competition with unknown parties. Here is a situation where ICANN 
> could play a proactive simple role. In its  registry contracts it 
> could insist, as part of its public interest commitment, that multiple 
> applicants for dotCity domain names have the information necessary for 
> them to negotiate among themselves.
>
> MM: But there again you get into a highly politicized process in which 
> ICANN imposes complex requirements on its contracted party (the 
> registry). Won’t the same politics exist at the local level? Why not 
> let them sort it out?
>
>
>


-- 
------------------------------------------------
"It is a disgrace to be rich and honoured
in an unjust state" -Confucius
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Dr Sam Lanfranco (Prof Emeritus & Senior Scholar)
Econ, York U., Toronto, Ontario, CANADA - M3J 1P3
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blog:  http://samlanfranco.blogspot.com
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