Avri wrote:
i guess i worry about what is effectively a gTLD not being governed under the same rules as the rest of the gTLDs.
It is a gTLD under a law of the corresponding country. We may expect that the corresponding country law will follow the best choice for Internet users, or that users will not be interested in that gTLD. One can see the "distribution" of ISO3166-2 alpha-2 codes representing country names like a distribution of any other natural resources (oil, water, forest, montains, seaside, etc). Not many people knew about Tuvalu before .TV
perhaps when we move into the age of Category TLDs based on their type, we may be able to take a new look at ccTLDs that are not restricted to the people (local or diaspora) of that country and treat them as being members of the general category subject to whatever rules (and protections) that are applicable to that category at that point in time..
The new TLDs to come, to be created under ICANN rules, are very different from the real world mirrored into ccTLDs. It's up to the country to decide who can get domain name under its ccTLD. Actually in France we had very restricted rules ten years ago, and today .FR has to consider how to accomodate Europeans. That exercise per see is extremely interesting challenge. Kind regards, Elisabeth Porteneuve