Hello, On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 8:20 AM, Philip Sheppard wrote:
Driven by the Registrars, the Council is considering a letter to the GAC (draft attached) in response to the GAC letter to ICANN CEO.
The GAC letter raises important issues which demonstrates that the new gTLD program needs far greater study before being capable of being launched. They reinforce the resounding comments made by the vast majority of the public (including businesses) who've made thoughtful comments that do not see any need for new gTLDs, and actually are actively opposed to their introduction due to their negative externalities. New gTLD advocates have not demonstrated any widespread support outside of a tiny minority who wish to directly profit from their launch, profits which are geared to short-term thinking and which can and will cause long-term and lasting damage to the public. New gTLDs are falsely portrayed by ICANN as "win-win", but they are truly "win-lose" (with the number of losers facing damages swamping by far any "winners"). We do not support the GNSO Council's draft response letter, because it is written based on the assumption that new gTLDs have to be launched. A more measured response would admit not only the possibility, but the reality that major threshold issues remain unresolved. Indeed more threshold issues are being discovered as the implications of adding large numbers of new gTLDs are thought through by more and more members of the public. Sincerely, George Kirikos 416-588-0269 http://www.leap.com/