[ncdnhc-discuss] Resolution on ORG Divestiture

[Chun Eung Hwi]

Dear Milton Mueller and others,

Thank you for your good job in .ORG TF and this subsequent careful
proposal to NCDNHC! I agree to most of your proposal but make some
comments on that.


On Sun, 14 Oct 2001, Milton Mueller wrote:

> Resolution on .Org Divestiture
> 
> Whereas:
> a) The .org TLD is the TLD where most members of
> the NCDNHC with global generic domain names register; 
> and
> 
> b) The .org TLD now contains a wide variety of 
> Internet users, including individuals; unincorporated 
> organizations, alliances, and groups; and some 
> informational sites and defensive 
> registrations from commercial organizations; and
> 
> c) There is no single, globally applicable, clearly 
> defined and easily applied standard for determining 
> who should be eligible to register in the .org TLD; 
> and
> 
> d) Advance restrictions on who can register raise the 
> costs of domain name registrations; also, dispute 
> initiation procedures designed to impose restrictions 
> after registration also raise the costs and risks of 
> registering a domain; and

Most other paragraphs are specific statements on .org, but this phrase
seems to be very general statement. It must be a good argument that .org
should be unrestricted if it is to hold the character of non-commercial
and non-profit community's name space. And to count the efficiency for the
cost could also be reasonable. But still in gTLD name space, we don't have
enough experiences as to how some restrictions could be applied or whether
it is good or bad. And in some cases when restricted name space is used, I
think, it could be valuable. Therefore, this kind of general statement
should be avoided or carefully articulated. Or it should be specifically
limited to the present case of .org.


> e) Evicting current registrants in the .org TLD or 
> cancelling their registrations upon expiration would 
> destabilize user expectations, raise the costs of 
> administering the TLD, create needless legal 
> conflict and contribute little of value to the 
> noncommercial Internet community or the domain name 
> system;
> 
> Be it Resolved:
> 1. That the Noncommercial Domain Name Holders 
> Constituency fully supports the concept of making .org 
> into a "sponsored, unrestricted domain" as proposed by 
> the Names Council Task Force on .ORG Divestiture.
> 
> 2. That sponsorship of the .org TLD should
> be placed in the hands of an organization that has
> strong support from the NCDNHC and that will use 
> revenues from the sale of registrations to support 
> the participation of noncommercial interests in the 
> ICANN process.

Given those comments of Anupam Chander and Mike Todd, what about "to
support the fair and equitable participation of noncommercial interests in
the ICANN process"? Because digital divide encompasses the scope of
noncommercial interests as well as commercial interests. Maybe, the
implication of "fair and equtable" is too comprehensive but could cover
the whole meaning of their comments.


Regards,

Chun Eung Hwi
------------------------------------------------------------
Chun Eung Hwi
General Secretary, PeaceNet | phone:     (+82) 2- 583-3033
Seoul Yangchun P.O.Box 81   |   pcs:     (+82) 019-259-2667 
Seoul, 158-600, Korea       | eMail:   ehchun at peacenet.or.kr   
------------------------------------------------------------