[NA-Discuss] Dotless domains

[Evan Leibovitch]

In an attempt to getting NARALO back onto discussion of domain name issues
that we are mandated to understand (hopefully enough to comment upon in the
public interest), I would like to bring your attention to the issue of
"dotless domains".

Ie, "http://domain" or "http://example"

Dotlesss domains were explicitly ruled out of the new gTLD expansion,
according to 2.2.3.3 of the Applicant Guidebook. The SSAC has come out
strongly against them, in this round or any others, in SSAC-053. Yet Google
wants to designate .search as
dotless<http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/10/google-wants-to-operate-search-as-a-dotless-domain/>,
having applied originally based on the premise that it would not be.
Apparently, the issue is still being considered and has not been abruptly
rejected as one might have thought.

I am still learning about the issue, though at first glance I am puzzled by
any move that would seem to retroactively contravene the application rules.
I further don't see any great benefit to the public interest that would
offset the SSAC's concerns about stability. I would like to know what
others know or think on the matter.

-- 
Evan Leibovitch
Toronto Canada

Em: evan at telly dot org
Sk: evanleibovitch
Tw: el56