>> Henceforth I recommend we propose protection of any .org or .org.country domain name in active use by "Any organization operating globally in the public interest and enjoying International Legal Personality in the country where its Headquarters are located, and its members." as of January 1 2012. This means that ICANN would prohibit the creation of a gTLD that is the same as a domain name of an NGO in use 1/1/12 and active. Down this path lies madness. Why a 2012 cutoff date? Is this just another way of providing the established NGOs with a monopoly on the public interest? I'd be surprised if the last global public interest NGO has been created. This doesn't even protect existing NGOs - Set aside the question of what happens when an NGO materializes a domain name for the first time. (e.g. can it cancel existing TLDs? Sound silly? Not really. We still have parts of the world with limited/no internet connectivity - are they to be precluded from developing NGOs? What about the ever popular www.2138-eventof-myfavoriteNGO or www.disaster-relief-for-city-to-be-named-later-NGO, say in 2015: olympiaRelief - Are they to be unable to "protect" themselves just because we don't know what disasters will happen in the next few hundred years? Step back an look at this from a global perspective. This proposal is tailored to fit a few existing organizations under the guise of a broad policy initiative. "International legal personality" is hardly well-defined. Why should NGOs be special? Shouldn't the Gates Foundation have similar protection? It claims to be a charitable organization working internationally in the public interest? What if NCSG/NCUC/NPOC decides to register a domain? Seems odd that an organization with our charter doesn't have one - but we aren't "protected." In fact, why .org? Many organizations have picked .com - to my frustration - because of the perception that .com is expected by the public. And .net. Are they to be exposed simply because of their choice of TLD? And why shouldn't the same theory of "cheap protection" apply to other interests - from scouting groups to religious groups to - gasp: corporations. Corporations have been known to do good :-) Naturally, I need to validate this note by my usual point that domain owners who are "individuals" (natural persons) get no protection under any of these schemes. I'm tempted to remark that "protection" has been used as a term of art by organized criminal groups as a synonym for extortion - but as the parallels are somewhat loose, maybe we should simply note the word association... So why was a universal list of protected names created in the first place, if not to be hijacked for creating protected classes of organizations? The answer is simple: For the efficient development and operation of the network. .example, example.*, .invalid and invalid.* allow documentation to be written with uniform conventions that protect sites from people who try examples literally. (RFC 2606) The ISO 3166 (2-letter) domains allow any country - at any time - to have a domain. Domain-specific rules generally make sense - e.g. geographic names under country domains (such as .no, .us), though these suffer from the new/retired name problem. Call me idealistic if you like, but I think we need to stop attempts to game the system to advantage narrow interests, and go back to the notion that policy should support the efficient development and operation of the network as a whole. We can still argue about how to apply that principle in specific cases, but hopefully can dampen the squabbling over how some group's interests trump others. --------------------------------------------------------- Timothe Litt ACM Distinguished Engineer --------------------------------------------------------- This communication may not represent the ACM or my employer's views, if any, on the matters discussed. _____ ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jean-Louis Ecochard <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 11:42 AM Subject: Re: [npoc-voice] NPOC Proposal for IOC-RC protection To: Alain Berranger <[log in to unmask]>, "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> Alain, Merci de votre proposition. One of the prime concern is the conversion of a known NGO domain name into a gTLD. This is because a domain name is an NGO brand on the internet. We also know that words like relief, cancer, heart, peace, nature, etc. cannot receive trademark protection yet they represent essential internet brands of the NGOs they represent. I believe ANY NGO with a strong internet brand presence would find it disastrous to see their domain name converted into a gTLD (e.g. In our case of nature.org seeing a .nature gTLD). Henceforth I recommend we propose protection of any .org or .org.country domain name in active use by "Any organization operating globally in the public interest and enjoying International Legal Personality in the country where its Headquarters are located, and its members." as of January 1 2012. This means that ICANN would prohibit the creation of a gTLD that is the same as a domain name of an NGO in use 1/1/12 and active. This ensures protection of the capital invested by NGOs on their brand presence without making it too complicated for ICANN to administer (I.e. Check for .org existence, check if own by NGO). I welcome thoughts and discussions on this extension of Alain's suggestion. Thanks, JL be green – read on the screen -- Jean-Louis Écochard Vice President and Chief Information Officer The Nature Conservancy New Zealand Office 126D Apotu Road, RD1 Whangarei 0185 New Zealand [log in to unmask] +1.703.212.3999 (New Zealand Office US dial) +64.9.974.8195 (New Zealand Office) +1.703.841.5342 (Arlington World Office Phone) +1.703.273.0713 (Arlington World Office Fax) +1.703.841.5304 (Executive Assistant, Jennifer Manaloto) Skype jecochard IM (MSN) [log in to unmask], (Yahoo & AIM) [log in to unmask] Facebook jecochard Twitter @jecochard LinkedIn http://nz.linkedin.com/in/jecochard The Nature Conservancy www.nature.org NetHope www.nethope.org Conservation Commons www.conservationcommons.org "An individual without information can't take responsibility. An individual with information can't help but take responsibility." - Jan Carlzon, former President and CEO of the Scandinavian Airlines Group From: Alain Berranger <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:06:11 -0400 To: <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: [npoc-voice] NPOC Proposal for IOC-RC protection Dear NPOC members: Greetings from San José. As Acting Vice Chair, I would like to consult you on an important issue: Context: Given the tension here on the IOC and Red Cross exemption (some of us call it protection) and the Drafting Committee Chair report to GNSO this morning - we find it wise, for the benefit of our current and future NPOC members, as well as the ICANN Community at large, that NPOC promotes and supports a) the proposal from the WG and b), in a broader manner, the generic extension of this protection based on avoiding the setting of a precedent, and based on objective and independantly verifiable criteria to define who or who does not qualify: Proposition: Would receive new gTLD protection: "Any organization operating globally in the public interest and enjoying International Legal Personality in the country where its Headquarters are located, and its members." Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Please respond by Tuesday 13 March 17:00 San José time. Best regards, Alain Berranger -- Alain Berranger, B.Eng, MBA Member, Board of Directors, CECI, http://www.ceci.ca<http://www.ceci.ca/en/about-ceci/team/board-of-directors/ > Executive-in-residence, Schulich School of Business, www.schulich.yorku.ca<http://www.schulich.yorku.ca> Trustee, Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation, www.gkpfoundation.org<http://www.gkpfoundation.org> NA representative, Chasquinet Foundation, www.chasquinet.org<http://www.chasquinet.org> interim Membership Committee Chair, NPOC, NCSG, ICANN, http://npoc.org/ <http://npoc.org/O:+1> O:+1 514 484 7824; M:+1 514 704 7824 Skype: alain.berranger -- Alain Berranger, B.Eng, MBA Member, Board of Directors, CECI, http://www.ceci.ca <http://www.ceci.ca/en/about-ceci/team/board-of-directors/> Executive-in-residence, Schulich School of Business, www.schulich.yorku.ca Trustee, Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation, www.gkpfoundation.org NA representative, Chasquinet Foundation, www.chasquinet.org interim Membership Committee Chair, NPOC, NCSG, ICANN, http://npoc.org/ O:+1 514 484 7824; M:+1 514 704 7824 Skype: alain.berranger