On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 3:39 PM, Christopher Wilkinson < cw@christopherwilkinson.eu> wrote:
PS: The privatisation, through the DNS, of generic and geographical terms is wrong in principle.
Honestly now, here's the principled position I can understand....and would fully support. If that WAS the argument! I invite you to pull the WHOIS records for the string "amazon.com". As I understand it, this has been in quiet possession of some e-retailer or other for quite sometime. Consider that I do not have a single thought in my head about a possible meaning of the characters a-m-a-z-o-n or the string 'amazon' in context. I defy anyone to rubbish these facts: Characters long in the public domain, of one or other kind, exceptions applied, are adjudged property. If there were complaints then, they were rather muted. These properties were bequeathed. Or warranted. Or gifted as concessions. Or rented. Or otherwise endowed to individuals and groups. A market is forged. And particular constellations, flocculations or groupings of characters in what are deemed strings, known or hitherto unknown, and with exceptions applied, are valorised in that market. Mechanisms and strategems, acknowledged or variously disavowed, are raised to regulate that market. Then the question becomes who is 'fit and proper' to participate in this market. And, at what level. Here's a cut and paste job of what I said elsewhere.... "*But seriously, did any of you noticed that for all the community objections, not one made the case for 'free' strings? I looked carefully at the Limited Public Interest Objection circle and didn't find a disability. I even asked my crack researcher to help me. So, it got me to wondering, What was the value of the objection if it always was about 'don't delegate to that guy for he's a sumbitch'*!" -Carlton ============================== Carlton A Samuels Mobile: 876-818-1799 *Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround* =============================