Is ICANN’s new gTLD program ready to roll? Is it ready for everyone?
As the San Francisco meeting comes into sight, the anticipation of those waiting for new gTLDs is becoming palpable. Maybe this time, the Board will actually give the program the go ahead.
Much has been said and done. For the most part the overarching issues have been handled and for those that have not yet been handled, there are expected negotiations between the Board and the GAC, which in the best of all worlds would enable the program to start in Q3 2011. And I still believe in the best of possible worlds.
As one of those who has argued for the ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’ strategy for new gTLDs, this should excite me. And it would, if I believed that there would be a diversity of blooms in this first round. Unfortunately, I do not believe that there will be a global diversity of new gTLDs as the program currently stands.
Despite the GAC’s early and continued advice on the prohibitive nature of the cost model for applicants and despite the recommendations of the JAS WG for way in which to provide help to applicants from developing areas, the likelihood that a diversity of gTLD applicants will be able to apply seems very unlikely at this point.
There were recommendations for price reductions for applicants from developing economies, but these have been rejected. There were proposals for starting a program to raise funds that would allow for loans and grants to help applicants from the developing economies, but the work needed to do this in the JAS WG has been banned by a decision of the GNSO Council.
It appears very unlikely that ICANN, in the normal course of its activities, will solve the problem of how applicants from developing economies can be enabled to apply in this first round.
But if we, the ICANN community, do not provide realistic material support to new applicants from the developing economies, this new start will not be in keeping with ICANN’s principles and its mandate as a corporation in the public good - not just the public good of California, the US and the rest of the developed world, but the public good of the entire world including those on the other side of the digital divide. It is up to the ICANN community to make this a fair round of gTLD application.
A campaign of fund raising must be started. I call on ICANN to lead the the way by making a pledging to contribute to the start of a fund for applicants from developing economies. I don’t know if ICANN is paying a fee to President Clinton to speak to the ICANN meeting in San Francisco, but if so, I would like to see a pledge of at least that amount from ICANN to such a fund - there must be a line item for this in the budget.
I also call on the registries, registrars, domainers and others whose businesses who have made fortunes from a myriad of TLD related activities to pledge significant sums to such a fund. I call on all who can afford to do so to pledge to contribute to a properly established and well regulated fund to assist applicants form developing economies.
It is all well and good to support the work of the JAS WG which is developing the mechanisms for administering aid to applicants from developing countries. But the common wisdom in that group and in the GNSO related to funding is that there isn’t any money. I do not believe that. I have seen the profit that many companies make. I have the salaries that people working in this industry make. And I have seen, and enjoyed, many of the parties we hold at ICANN meetings.
We all know that there is lots of money circulating in the ICANN community. If enough of this is pledged to a campaign to help applicants from developing economies, then perhaps the common wisdom will step aside and allow for solutions to bring forth a globally diverse set of blooms.
Please think about it. And please pledge to this yet to be created fund. Be the first!
