what problem are we solving? (was Re: ICANN opens up Pandora's Box of new TLDs)

Sat Jun 28 12:40:55 UTC 2008

On Jun 27, 2008, at 6:11 PM, Jean-François Mezei wrote:
> But my uneducated opinion is that this current project appears to let
> the .TLD loose and this will result in top level domains being
> meaningless, without any trust.

Given the complexity of the new gTLD process, I think it safe to say  
that there will be quite significant vetting of pretty much all  
aspects of new TLD applications.  The press reports that say 'the  
floodgates have been opened' simply aren't true.

> There should have been an evolution from a tightly controlled small  
> set
> of TLDs towards alowly growing set of TLDs done fairly and openly.

There has been.  There was an initial set of 7 new TLDs (biz, info,  
name, museum, coop, aero, pro) back in 2002.  There was much  
(justifiable IMHO) unhappiness about the process that created these  
TLDs.  ICANN went back to the drawing board and came up with a new  
process ('sponsored' TLDs) which resulted in travel, cat, jobs, mobi,  
tel, and post (xxx was in this crowd but was shot down).  There was  
much (justifiable IMHO) unhappiness about the process that created  
these TLDs.  ICANN went back to the drawing board and came up with a  
new process.  And here we are.  I'm sure ICANN got it exactly right  
this time... (OK, maybe not :-)).

Regards,
-drc