Fwd: [npoc-voice] NPOC Proposal for IOC-RC protection

Tue Mar 13 12:46:03 CET 2012

>> Henceforth I recommend we propose protection of any .org  or .org.country
domain name in active use by "Any organization operating globally in the
public interest and enjoying International Legal Personality in the country
where its Headquarters are located, and its members." as of January 1 2012.
This means that ICANN would prohibit the creation of a gTLD that is the same
as a domain name of an NGO in use 1/1/12 and active.

Down this path lies madness.  Why a 2012 cutoff date?  Is this just another
way of providing the established NGOs with a monopoly on the public
interest?  I'd be surprised if the last global public interest NGO has been
created.

This doesn't even protect existing NGOs - 
Set aside the question of what happens when an NGO materializes a domain
name for the first time. (e.g. can it cancel existing TLDs?  Sound silly?
Not really.  We still have parts of the world with limited/no internet
connectivity - are they to be precluded from developing NGOs?  What about
the ever popular www.2138-eventof-myfavoriteNGO or
www.disaster-relief-for-city-to-be-named-later-NGO, say in 2015:
olympiaRelief - Are they to be unable to "protect" themselves just because
we don't know what disasters will happen in the next few hundred years?

Step back an look at this from a global perspective.  This proposal is
tailored to fit a few existing organizations under the guise of a broad
policy initiative.  "International legal personality" is hardly
well-defined.  Why should NGOs be special?  Shouldn't the Gates Foundation
have similar protection?  It claims to be a charitable organization working
internationally in the public interest?    What if NCSG/NCUC/NPOC decides to
register a domain?  Seems odd that an organization with our charter doesn't
have one - but we aren't "protected."

In fact, why .org?  Many organizations have picked .com - to my frustration
- because of the perception that .com is expected by the public.  And .net.
Are they to be exposed simply because of their choice of TLD?

And why shouldn't the same theory of "cheap protection" apply to other
interests - from scouting groups to religious groups to - gasp:
corporations.  Corporations have been known to do good :-)  

Naturally, I need to validate this note by my usual point that domain owners
who are "individuals" (natural persons) get no protection under any of these
schemes.

I'm tempted to remark that "protection" has been used as a term of art by
organized criminal groups as a synonym for extortion - but as the parallels
are somewhat loose, maybe we should simply note the word association...

So why was a universal list of protected names created in the first place,
if not to be hijacked for creating protected classes of organizations?  The
answer is simple:  For the efficient development and operation of the
network.  .example, example.*, .invalid and invalid.* allow documentation to
be written with uniform conventions that protect sites from people who try
examples literally.  (RFC 2606) The ISO 3166 (2-letter) domains allow any
country - at any time - to have a domain.  Domain-specific rules generally
make sense - e.g. geographic names under country domains (such as .no, .us),
though these suffer from the new/retired name problem.  

Call me idealistic if you like, but I think we need to stop attempts to game
the system to advantage narrow interests, and go back to the notion that
policy should support the efficient development and operation of the network
as a whole.  We can still argue about how to apply that principle in
specific cases, but hopefully can dampen the squabbling over how some
group's interests trump others.

---------------------------------------------------------
Timothe Litt
ACM Distinguished Engineer
---------------------------------------------------------
This communication may not represent the ACM or my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed.

  _____  

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jean-Louis Ecochard <jecochard at tnc.org>
Date: Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: [npoc-voice] NPOC Proposal for IOC-RC protection
To: Alain Berranger <alain.berranger at gmail.com>, "npoc-voice at icann.org"
<npoc-voice at icann.org>

Alain,

Merci de votre proposition.

One of the prime concern is the conversion of a known NGO domain name into a
gTLD.
This is because a domain name is an NGO brand on the internet.
We also know that words like relief, cancer, heart, peace, nature, etc.
cannot receive trademark protection yet they represent essential internet
brands of the NGOs they represent.
I believe ANY NGO with a strong internet brand presence would find it
disastrous to see their domain name converted into a gTLD (e.g. In our case
of nature.org seeing a .nature gTLD).

Henceforth I recommend we propose protection of any .org  or .org.country
domain name in active use by "Any organization operating globally in the
public interest and enjoying International Legal Personality in the country
where its Headquarters are located, and its members." as of January 1 2012.
This means that ICANN would prohibit the creation of a gTLD that is the same
as a domain name of an NGO in use 1/1/12 and active.

This ensures protection of the capital invested by NGOs on their brand
presence without making it too complicated for ICANN to administer (I.e.
Check for .org existence, check if own by  NGO).

I welcome thoughts and discussions on this extension of Alain's suggestion.

Thanks,
JL

be green  read on the screen
--
Jean-Louis Écochard
Vice President and Chief Information Officer

The Nature Conservancy
New Zealand Office
126D Apotu Road, RD1
Whangarei 0185
New Zealand

jecochard at tnc.org
+1.703.212.3999 (New Zealand Office US dial)
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+1.703.273.0713 (Arlington World Office Fax)
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Skype jecochard
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with information can't help but take responsibility."
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From: Alain Berranger
<alain.berranger at gmail.com<mailto:alain.berranger at gmail.com>>
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:06:11 -0400
To: <npoc-voice at icann.org<mailto:npoc-voice at icann.org>>
Subject: [npoc-voice] NPOC Proposal for IOC-RC protection

Dear NPOC members:

Greetings from San José. As Acting Vice Chair, I would like to consult you
on an important issue:

Context: Given the tension here on the IOC and Red Cross exemption (some of
us call it protection) and the Drafting Committee Chair report to GNSO this
morning - we find it wise, for the benefit of our current and future NPOC
members, as well as the ICANN Community at large, that NPOC promotes and
supports a) the proposal from the WG and b), in a broader manner, the
generic extension of this protection based on avoiding the setting of a
precedent, and based on objective and independantly verifiable criteria to
define who or who does not qualify:

Proposition:
Would receive new gTLD protection: "Any organization operating globally in
the public interest and enjoying International Legal Personality in the
country where its Headquarters are located, and its members."

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Please respond by
Tuesday 13 March 17:00 San José time.

Best regards,

Alain Berranger
--
Alain Berranger, B.Eng, MBA

Member, Board of Directors, CECI,
http://www.ceci.ca<http://www.ceci.ca/en/about-ceci/team/board-of-directors/
>
Executive-in-residence, Schulich School of Business,
www.schulich.yorku.ca<http://www.schulich.yorku.ca>
Trustee, Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation,
www.gkpfoundation.org<http://www.gkpfoundation.org>
NA representative, Chasquinet Foundation,
www.chasquinet.org<http://www.chasquinet.org>

interim Membership Committee Chair, NPOC, NCSG, ICANN, http://npoc.org/
<http://npoc.org/O:+1> 
O:+1 514 484 7824; M:+1 514 704 7824
Skype: alain.berranger

-- 
Alain Berranger, B.Eng, MBA 
Member, Board of Directors, CECI, http://www.ceci.ca
<http://www.ceci.ca/en/about-ceci/team/board-of-directors/> 

Executive-in-residence, Schulich School of Business, www.schulich.yorku.ca
Trustee, Global Knowledge Partnership Foundation, www.gkpfoundation.org
NA representative, Chasquinet Foundation, www.chasquinet.org
interim Membership Committee Chair, NPOC, NCSG, ICANN, http://npoc.org/
O:+1 514 484 7824; M:+1 514 704 7824
Skype: alain.berranger

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