TPI's Lenard Rebutts GAC Draft Proposal on New Geographic gTLDs
A draft proposal by ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) on geographic generic top-level domains (gTLDs) would “impose substantial additional administrative and logistical burdens and costs on applicants, governments and ICANN,” said Technology Policy Institute President Thomas Lenard in a paper…
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Wednesday. The proposal says geographic gTLDs shouldn’t be registered “unless requested by the relevant communities where they belong or after a specific authorization given by the government or community to the applicant.” It also said such gTLDs should “respect national sensitivities regarding terms with national, cultural, geographic and religious significance.” “The potential domain names that might be affected, as well as the relevant communities or authorities from which applicants would have to receive approval, are ill-defined,” said Lenard. “This leaves open the possibility that ICANN or others may decide an applicant did not correctly identify a domain name as needing approval or identify the relevant authority,” he said. “The GAC proposal is inconsistent with the way new gTLDs should be allocated in order to maximize the net benefits of the new gTLD program,” said Lenard.