[NCSG-Discuss] Closed Generics are Against the Rules

[Milton L Mueller]

Alain said
:
but pure generic words belong to everybody, period.

This is the equivocation that everyone makes, but it's just a conceptual error, pure and simple. Registering a domain that corresponds to a word does not mean ownership of a word. If you register <genericword> .com, you don't "own" <genericword>, you own a unique registration in the domain name system, that's all. The same goes for the TLD level. The DNS is recursive, is recursive, is recursive, so there is NO DIFFERENCE between registering generics at the second level, top level, third level.

So, if I get dot BOOK, I don't own the word "book," i.e., I cannot stop anyone from uttering, printing, writing or otherwise making use of the word "book," nor do I have any inherent power over where you can buy, sell or read books. I simply am the exclusive holder of a TLD string formed by typing these four letters: b, o, o, k. I can, therefore, control who registers DNS labels under .BOOK, (or under .BOOK.COM, or under BOOK.FOO.COM) etc., etc.

Hope that is cleared up now.

Keep in mind that whether .BOOK is "open" for first come, first-served registration, or restricted by policy to approved registrants, or completely closed to all but a single registrant, the TLD registry ALWAYS has exclusive ownership of the string. No other registry will be able to use that string for anything else.

Milton L. Mueller
Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
Internet Governance Project
http://blog.internetgovernance.org
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