[lac-discuss-en] [At-Large] gTLD Review Group decisions regarding the comments by IT for Change, India

Carlton Samuels carlton.samuels at gmail.com
Sat Oct 13 21:55:58 UTC 2012


On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 11:54 AM, Evan Leibovitch <evan at telly.org> wrote:

> Let's face some reality: The private right to control a common-language
> word, by having enough money and/or being first to get it, has been a
> founding philosophy of ICANN.
>

+1

This IS the heart of the issue.  And a fact for which there is no
successful contradiction.

Maybe it wasn't such a bright idea in hindsight.  But the entire domain
name system is predicated on private ownership of common words. Hell, the
registry gets to 'own' them even before you 'think' them!  The system even
allows one to redefine the meaning of a word by adjustments to
generally-accepted meaning. [I can hear some nods and murmured 'this is a
process well known to language development, Columbus!'].

What is rich about this latest boomlet is other than one [IMHO]
genuinely ideologically motivated naysaying, what we have here is a
shameless arrogation of the 'public interest' in this argument.

I love a good argument as the next fella.  And so wish I could be Sancho
Panza on this one.  But that would be too overtly quixotic.

- Carlton


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Carlton A Samuels
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