Sotiris and all, This is one time amongst a host of others that I did not, I actually agree with Vint. The Internet is a public resource or is supposed to be. But than again aren't governments part of the Public as well? My answer is yes, but only part! Yet governments do, can, and will, directly, indirectly, or by legal statute, regulate the Internet. How far this will go in certain countries is a matter of good guessing and significant political intrigue. Oh my, what drama! And of course all in the name of good for the internet and good for the users, and introduced by various social engineering crackpots of multiple politically diverse bents. How lovely! sotiris@hermesnetwork.com wrote:

...

In the course of time we will have good new TLDs that will serve particular needs. I, for one, look forward to the possibilities offered by a .bank TLD. These TLDS will add value to the namespace, and they will be readily found by those using common search engine applications. And yes, we will still have some remaining vanity TLDs outside of the root that almost no one will find that will continue to offer little to the broader Internet community.

That is a rosy picture indeed. Personally, I don't see the need for a .bank TLD as the existing namespace has not hindered online banking developments in any way, at least not in any way that I can see... Perhaps you could explain to us all *how* a .bank TLD will add value to the namespace, except of course to the registry/registrars who will peddle the TLD?

When Jon Postel stated his opposition to the expansion of the TLD namespace, it was because he actually had a clear understanding of what he was about. I think you need to take a look at an interesting article you may not have run across yet entitled "Vint Cerf Wonders If We Need To Nationalize the Internet" see: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/25/vint-cerf-wonders-if-we-need-to-nationa...

Surely Atlas must be shrugging these days...

Regards,

Sotiris

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