[ncdnhc-discuss] About Marketing Practices in .ORG

[Kent Crispin]

On Fri, Dec 28, 2001 at 12:48:12AM -0800, Dave Crocker wrote:
> At 11:19 PM 12/27/2001 -0800, Kent Crispin wrote:
> >   Without some kind of
> >sponsor/charter, there is nothing to keep .org from becoming a heavily
> >marketed commercial TLD.
> 
> let's see if I've got this right:
> 
> You are not suggesting restrictions on REGISTRANTS in .org.

To some extent, I am.

The model I am suggesting is that there be a charter for .org; that
charter fundamentally states that a new .org domain should nor be used
to support a primarily commercial enterprise; that the tld's policy
mechanism, which is used resolve policy issues for the tld, should be
delegated to a reasonable sponsoring organization, probablycreated for 
the purpose; that the sponsoring organization be structured in such a 
way that it is accountable to non-commercial registrants in .org.  The 
policy enforcement I favor is through a dispute resolution process that 
explicitly favors non-commercial use of .org domains, details to be 
worked out by the sponsoring organization and the community.

I have been watching the development of policy with .museum, and it has 
been going very well -- both the level of participation by the museum 
community, and the level of agreement on policy, have been growing 
steadily. 

> Rather, you are suggesting that the restrictions on .org be restrictions on 
> the REGISTRY and on its REGISTRARS, to PREVENT marketing the domain?  That 
> is, to prevent registry and registrar efforts that would force .org into 
> the marketing mold of a commercial gTLD like .com?

The contract between ICANN and the sponsor would specify a number of
conditions on the sponsor.  I don't think it would say "thou shalt not 
market" -- but the combination of those contractual limitations and the 
charter would probably make any emphasis on marketing fairly difficult. 

But, IMO, a key ingredient in that mix is that there be policy that
explicitly favors non-commercial use, and that there be some teeth to
it.  Again, the exact details would be worked out through a combination 
of public debate and work on legal documents.

> I sure hope that IS what you meant, because it strikes me as a very 
> interesting idea.

The ICANN contracts with sponsoring organizations have a number of
interesting restrictions; since no one has done this before there is a
certain level of experimentation involved, but so far the general scheme
seems to be working fairly well.

Kent

-- 
Kent Crispin                               "Be good, and you will be
kent at songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain