gTLD for developing regions

[Milton L Mueller]

> -----Original Message-----
> Of course if you and MM are right, and no one in their right mind would
> want one of these things anyway, then it might be a waste of time.

[Milton L Mueller] That is not my position. At all. I see many reasons for a variety of players to have one, and believe that I was advocating that ICANN open the root to new additions since 1996 - before there was an ICANN. 

I have always maintained that IDN TLDs in particular refute any claims that there is no need for new TLDs.

What I am saying is that new TLDs are a species of what economists call a "superior good"; i.e. goods which make up a larger proportion of consumption as income rises. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_good 

To expect poorer and developing economies to exhibit as much demand per capita for new TLDs as highly developed and richer internet economies is just not realistic. That will, of course, change gradually over time as these economies catch up, perhaps faster than we think (given the way our own economies seem to be stagnant or sinking). I just don't believe we can or should force-feed it in order to make outcomes conform to unrealistic but ideologically attractive expectations. 

> So tell me, how many people who are into major IPC and IPC4D in
> developing regions know about the opportunities for IDN gTLDS?

[Milton L Mueller] first tell me what IPC and IPC4D mean. Intellectual Property for Development? Have you switched constituencies on us? ;-)