[ALAC] [GTLD-WG] Re "Introduction of Two-Character Domain Names in the New gTLD Namespace" Public comment

Sat Jul 12 17:11:05 UTC 2014

There may not be massive changes to the ISO 3166 list by the ISO 3166
Maintenance Agency, but there have been additions and deletions
in the past 10 years.

For example in 2010,
http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_3166-1_newsletter_vi-8_split_of_the_dutch_antilles_final-en.pdf

BQ, CW and SX were added for Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba , Curaçao
and Sint Maarten (Dutch part) in the Caribbean.

My thinking is, why deny new countries and territories from the protections
established by Specification 5, Section 2 intended to protect the 2
character ASCII labels of countries and territories?

Interesting idea that end users may mistake a 2 character ASCII label for
their country or territory e.g "AN" could be interpreted for Angola or
Antigua and Barbuda when it used to be for the Netherlands Antilles (now
removed as this territory no longer exists). Perhaps this was a reason for
having Specification 5, Section 2 in the gTLD Registry agreement to block
all 2 character ASCII labels.

There are many reserved names at the second level denied to new gTLD
operators.
See page 68 of the baseline registry agreement at
http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb/agreement-approved-09jan14-en.pdf
 under Specification 5 "Schedule of reserved names"

---
Dev Anand

On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 3:41 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva <Kivuva at transworldafrica.com
> wrote:

> Thank you Maureen.
>
> Actually my argument on the matter is, from AA to ZZ, there are 676
> permutations. We will never have so many territories anyway since we
> currently have less than 200 countries. Why deny new gTLD operators
> from accessing even the two letter second level domains that will
> never be used by countries?
>
> On 10/07/2014, Maureen Hilyard <hilyard at oyster.net.ck> wrote:
> > Hi Mwendwa
> >
> >
> >
> > There is nothing wrong with putting forward an argument about the other
> > matter anyway. Because of my still growing understanding of the issue, I
> > too
> > misread it. Still learning.
> >
> >
> >
> > Maureen
> >
> >
> >
> > From: lordmwesh at gmail.com [mailto:lordmwesh at gmail.com] On Behalf Of
> Mwendwa
> > Kivuva
> > Sent: Thursday, 10 July 2014 4:38 a.m.
> > To: Dev Anand Teelucksingh
> > Cc: Mwendwa Kivuva; Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond; gTLD WG; Maureen Hilyard
> > Subject: Re: [GTLD-WG] [ALAC] Re "Introduction of Two-Character Domain
> > Names
> > in the New gTLD Namespace" Public comment
> >
> >
> >
> > I'm just realizing the folly of my argument. :)
> >
> >
> >
> > Actually, the call is for second level e.g us.wiki or uk.gop so that
> > argument may not stand.
> >
> >
> >
> > Regards
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ______________________
> > Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> > twitter.com/lordmwesh
> >
> > "There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on
> > higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson
> >
> >
> >
> > On 10 July 2014 17:21, Maureen Hilyard <hilyard at oyster.net.ck> wrote:
> >
> > +1 Mwendwa
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: gtld-wg-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> > [mailto:gtld-wg-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Mwendwa
> > Kivuva
> > Sent: Thursday, 10 July 2014 2:26 a.m.
> > To: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond
> > Cc: gTLD WG; ALAC Working List
> > Subject: Re: [GTLD-WG] [ALAC] Re "Introduction of Two-Character Domain
> > Names
> > in the New gTLD Namespace" Public comment
> >
> > Thanks Dev for those constructive comments. I hope I'm coherent enough in
> > my
> > response :-).
> >
> > On keeping with Specification 5, section 2, I think that clause should
> not
> > be cast in stone, even if we we are to protect the interests of unborn
> > territories. The way I see it, we can preemptively reserve names of new
> > territories to be formed in the next 20 years based on the information on
> > either of these lists
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_limited_recognition
> > We find that there are just about 10 territories that might be formed in
> > the
> > near future.
> >
> > We find many countries not getting ISO 3166-1 codes which are more
> logical
> > to their alphabetical country names. For example, UK and US are really
> > perfect names with no confusion at all. But look at these names Angola -
> AO
> > Antigua and Barbuda - AG
> > [Austria - AT and   Australia -AU] - Very similar country names but
> Austria
> > was shortchanged
> > [Congo - CG and Colombia - CO]
> >
> > Based on the above, new territories can still get "not very appropriate"
> > names when their desired names have been taken, but we should not reserve
> > two character names indefinitely if innovators have use for them.
> >
> > After all, even when a new gTLD is applied for, it will still have to
> > comply
> > with the guidebook, and go through community advice.
> >
> >
> > Warm Regards
> > --
> > ______________________
> > Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> > twitter.com/lordmwesh
> >
> > ______________________
> > Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> > twitter.com/lordmwesh
> >
> > "There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on
> > higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson
> >
> >
> > On 10 July 2014 10:08, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl at gih.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks for this, Dev.
> >> You'll note that the Statement is currently marked "No Statement" but
> >> if there is interest and your comments gain traction, the ALAC could
> >> indeed make a Statement.
> >> Kindest regards,
> >>
> >> Olivier
> >>
> >> On 10/07/2014 08:06, Dev Anand Teelucksingh wrote:
> >> > Regarding the public comment on "Introduction of Two-Character
> >> > Domain
> >> Names
> >> > in the New gTLD Namespace" at https://community.icann.org/x/VqzhAg
> >> > which ends July 10 2014, I've posted the following at
> >> > https://community.icann.org/x/VqzhAg
> >> > for consideration:
> >> >
> >> > "Various registries for multiple gTLDs are applying for exceptions
> >> > to Specification 5, Section 2 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement
> >> > ("Specification 5") with some registries suggesting the release of 2
> >> > character ASCII labels not on the current ISO 3166 standard would
> >> suffice.
> >> >
> >> > While this seems harmless, there is a possibility of new countries
> >> > and territories being created, and then allocated a new two
> >> > character ASCII label by ISO 3166/MA (see
> >> >
> >> https://web.archive.org/web/20111101141651/http://www.iso.org/iso/coun
> > <https://web.archive.org/web/20111101141651/http:/www.iso.org/iso/coun>
> >> try_codes/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm
> >> > ).
> >> >
> >> > Any new country or territory created after 2014 would therefore not
> >> receive
> >> > the same protection as those in the 2014 ISO 3166-2 list and would
> >> > find that their new 2 character label is "given away", should they
> >> > wish for their 2 character ASCII label to be protected, as per
> > Specification 5.
> >> >
> >> > Now, should the principle established by Specification 5 protecting
> >> > 2 character ASCII labels even be in the New gTLD Registry Agreement?
> >> > Many would say, especially given the prevalence of two character
> >> > labels in existing TLDs like .com, .org and .net that this principle
> >> > shouldn't be applied to new gTLDs.
> >> > However, this (IMO) is a separate issue to the question being asked
> >> > for
> >> in
> >> > the public comment.
> >> >
> >> > If Specification 5 is meant to defend the principle that country
> >> > codes in ISO 3166-2 should be protected in new gTLDs, then it should
> >> > be enforced
> >> to
> >> > ensure future countries and territories with new 2 character ASCII
> >> > labels are protected in the same way as those territories and
> >> > countries in
> >> today's
> >> > ISO 3166-2 list.
> >> >
> >> > Therefore, the proposals by Donuts for 143 of its new gTLDS, .kred
> >> > by KredTLD Pty Ltd, .best by BestTLD Pty Ltd and .ceo by CEOTLD Pty
> >> > Ltd.
> >> > should be turned down in keeping with the principle of Specification
> 5.
> >> >
> >> > The proposal by .wiki by Top Level Design LLC which specifies that
> >> > the
> >> two
> >> > character ASCII labels will only be used for languages identified by
> >> > ISO
> >> > 639-1 does appear to meet the threshold that the use will not be
> >> > confused with the corresponding country codes, as per Specification
> >> > 5 and could be approved.
> >> >
> >> > Similarly, the proposal by .globo by Globo Comunicação e
> >> > Participações
> >> S.A
> >> > which proposed the use of two character ASCII labels that are not
> >> > letters or by two characters where only one of the character is a
> >> > letter are
> >> labels
> >> > that would not be used by ISO 3166-2 and could be approved."
> >> >
> >> > Thoughts?
> >> >
> >> > Kind Regards,
> >> >
> >> > Dev Anand Teelucksingh
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > ALAC mailing list
> >> > ALAC at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> >> > https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac
> >> >
> >> > At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org ALAC Working Wiki:
> >> https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Advisory+Committe
> >> e+(ALAC)
> >> >
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> GTLD-WG mailing list
> >> GTLD-WG at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> >> https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/gtld-wg
> >>
> >> Working Group direct URL:
> >> https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/New+GTLDs
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > GTLD-WG mailing list
> > GTLD-WG at atlarge-lists.icann.org
> > https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/gtld-wg
> >
> > Working Group direct URL:
> > https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/New+GTLDs
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> ______________________
> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> twitter.com/lordmwesh
>
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