[NA-Discuss] ​New York Internet Society Urges Public Hearing on Renewal of .nyc TLD Contract

[Joly MacFie]

ISOC-NY's informal resolution for 2017 was "DO MORE ADVOCACY" or, as one
might say, "IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!" and here is the first
result. We invite comments and endorsements, either by replying to this
message, or on http://isoc-ny.org/p2/8959

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joly posted: "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New York Internet Society Urges Public
Hearing on Renewal of .nyc TLD Contract The Internet Society New York
Chapter (ISOC-NY)  is concerned about the future of the .nyc Top Level
Domain (TLD). At its January 31, 2017 meeting, the"



*[image: ISOC-NY] <http://isoc-ny.org>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:*


*​​*
*New York Internet Society Urges Public Hearing on Renewal of .nyc TLD
Contract*



The *Internet Society New York Chapter* <http://isoc-ny.org> (ISOC-NY)  is
concerned about the future of the *.nyc Top Level Domain *(TLD). At
its *January
31, 2017* meeting, the Chapter passed the following resolution:

*“The Internet Society’s New York Chapter urges the city of New York to
provide robust outreach and engagement opportunities for the city’s
Internet stakeholder community prior to renewing the contract that will
guide the operation of the .nyc TLD registry for the next 5 years.”*

A *letter (pdf <http://isoc-ny.org/misc/2017-02-06_isoc-ny_dotnyc.pdf>)*
 has been sent by ISOC-NY President *Joly MacFie* to *Mayor DiBlasio*, *Public
Advocate Letitia James*, and other City officials, demanding a public
consultation before the .nyc contract is renewed.

*Borough President Gale Brewer* deserves much credit for, as Chair of the
City Council’s Technology Committee back in 2008
<http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=441>, initiating a public process to manage the
acquisition of the .nyc TLD, and continuing to champion it. However, in
2012, as the ICANN deadline approached,  the Bloomberg administration
rushed through a contract with minimal public participation. As a sop, when
.nyc finally launched in 2014, a ‘Community Advisory Board’ was named. But
it was never given any teeth, and it was eventually disbanded.
Nevertheless community pressure had been sufficient to a) ensure
neighborhood names were reserved, and b) institute a robust nexus policy. -
i.e. only New York City denizens could register domains.

In 2015-2016 the DeBlasio regime, to its credit, made some moves to roll
out the neighborhood names, including model websites based on NYC open
data. Sadly, these efforts appear to be flagging of late. Meanwhile the
contractor Neustar is doing it’s best to recoup its investment by
auctioning off ‘premium’ names to the highest bidder. Our research shows
that many of these names are just being ‘parked’ by speculators rather than
providing a real service to New Yorkers.

Today, in New York City, no direct channels exist to enable our city’s
Internet community to participate in shaping the future of this important
and vital aspect of the City’s identity. In the wider world it has become
accepted practice that Internet Governance succeeds via the
multistakeholder governance process. As the initial 5 year operating
contract comes to an end, it is vital that the city’s Internet stakeholders
 - businesses, government, civic organizations, academia, individual
Internet users, and residents - be provided with an opportunity to comment
on the quality of service provided under the original 5 year term, and
voice their hopes and expectations for .nyc’s operation in the coming
years.

In our call for public engagement in a contract review, we’d like to hear
community input on issues such as:

   - Should there be a ‘use it or lose it’ policy, especially as applied to
   premium names?
   - Currently the public has the right to report nexus or whois
   violations, should they be able to report other abuses?
   - Neustar is being bought. Should the contract be renegotiated? Or put
   out to competitive bid?
   - How can the neighborhood and other reserved names be used to be
   improve civic life?
   - Should a portion of the name sales income be dedicated to support
   those efforts?
   - Can we get clear reporting on just how much money is changing hands?
   - Should there be some proxy system that protects the privacy of
   individual registrants, while preserving nexus?
   - How can .nyc be integrated into the future Internet of Things and
   Smart City functions to give them better public accessibility?
   - How do we make nexus enforcement efforts more transparent?
   - How can the .nyc tld best serve immigrant communities, especially
   those with limited language skills?
   - How can the .nyc tld best serve as a living repository of City
   communal knowledge/memory?
   - And more!

*Only a robust public discussion can ensure that the interests of New York
City, and its people, are best served.*

*Internet Society* *New York Chapter (ISOC-NY)* is one of more than 100
Internet Society Chapters around the world. Founded in 1997 ISOC-NY’s
mission to assure the beneficial, open evolution of the global Internet,
and to promote local initiatives and maximize the societal benefits which
the Internet can bring to the New York community. http://isoc-ny.org

*The .nyc Top Level Domain* or TLD is like .com, .org, .edu, and .gov but
just for use by New York City’s residents and organizations. The city’s
Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication oversees its
operation, via its contractor, Neustar Inc. http://ownit.nyc

*Follow-up* questions may be addressed to Joly MacFie, President of the New
York Internet Society via president at isoc-ny.org
<../../?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=president at isoc-ny.org>, (218) 565 9365 or
subject matter expert Thomas Lowenhaupt at Tom at connecting.nyc
<../../?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=Tom at connecting.nyc>.


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