I need some help understanding where we are going with this proposal.
It seems to me that most people on the planet want to communicate in their native language, and logically they would be looking for a language-based TLD -- for example, a Vietnamese language TLD or a Wolof language TLD -- let's call them L-tlds. Why then do we seem to be supporting proposals that seem to automatically confer IDN authority upon the ccTLD managers?
Wouldn't it make more sense to have a competitive process wherein those that wish to bid to manage a language based TLD would have the opportunity to make their case to ICANN?
Why do we need another set of territorial-based TLDs when language tends to go well beyond specific territories?
The short answer to this is the different nature of ICANN's legal relationship to gTLDs and ccTLDs. Your suggestion may make perfect sense for IDN gTLDs, but recall that most ccTLDs do not have a contract with ICANN and many countries will not accept ICANN as the arbiter of who will run their national IDN TLD. Therefore, the least controversial and the quickest way to implement a country-specific IDN was seen to start with the ISO list of territories which already have a working relationship with IANA. Siavash _________________________________________________________________________________
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