Hello Cheryl, Thanks for the valuable feedback. When I first read Bertrand's comment a few things went through my mind: 1. The inordinately high percentage of gTLD registrars and registries based in the U.S. (and let's not forget the "back-end" registry services based in the U.S. for non-U.S. ccTLDs). 2. The risk to which non-US users are exposed as highlighted by the US action on Cuban-related domains. 3. The need for a policy to promote the formation of registries and accredited registrars elsewhere in the world. 4. ICP-1 I mention the ICANN Policy Document ICP-1 because it contains a very clear, short and pithy policy formulation, namely "The administrative contact must reside in the country involved for ccTLDs". As we move into the future world of IDN gTLDs/ccTLDs we similarly should think in terms of establishing clear-cut policy designed to promote a more internationalized DNS... perhaps a policy that states: "The registry operator for an IDN gTLD/ccTLD must be situated within the nations and/or territories of the language community that it serves." regards, Danny PS. Looking forward to seeing your comments on the GNSO Improvements ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs