https://www.internetnews.me/2013/02/23/5-reasons-why-closed-generic-new-gtlds-should-be-opposed/
5 Reasons Why Closed Generic New gTLDs Should Be Opposed
By Michele Neylon
I’m on the record multiple times over the last few months for my opinions on “closed generics”. I first posted about it here back in June of last year:
Big Brands Trying To Corner Generic Namespaces?
Since then I’ve sent several letters to ICANN (supported by many others) and have been quoted and referenced in several articles on the subject including Politico.com: ICANN’s debating what’s in a domain name
Others have spoken out on this topic also:
If you’re not a domain “geek” then the danger of this issue might not be that easy to understand, so here are five reasons why “closed generics” are a really bad idea.
Just over a week ago Conn and I recorded an interview with domain blogger and journalist Kevin Murphy in which we talked about several things including new TLDs. Kevin gave a fantastic example of a wonderful new TLD – .blog.
As Kevin said in the interview, if you go to a .blog domain name you’d expect to find a “blog”. It’ll do exactly what you’d expect.
But, as we know Google has applied for .blog and has stated that they’ll restrict the domain to Blogger. Here’s what they’ve told ICANN they intend to do:
The purpose of the proposed gTLD, .blog, is to provide a dedicated Internet space where Google can continue to innovate on its Blogger offerings. The mission of the proposed gTLD is to provide a dedicated domain space in which users can publish blogs. All registered domains in the .blog gTLD will automatically be delegated to Google DNS servers, which will in turn provide authoritative DNS responses pointing to the Google Blogger service. The mission of the proposed gTLD is to simplify the Blogger user experience. Users will be able to publish content on a unique .blog domain (e.g., myname.blog) which will serve as a short and memorable URL for a particular Blogger account. This mission will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, improving the Google user experience, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain.
So you won’t be able to use a .blog with WordPress, MovableType, TypePad, Joomla or any of the other blogging platforms or solutions out there. So much for competition and choice!
But it’s actually worse than that!
Charleston Road Registry intends to apply for an exemption to ICANN’s Registry Operator Code of Conduct and operate the proposed gTLD with Google as the sole registrar and registrant.
Translation: Google will be the holder / registrant / owner of ALL domains under .blog, so even if you are happy with being restricted to the Google blogging platform you’ll never have any real control over yourname.blog
If you are a blogger, shouldn’t you be able to choose which blogging software or platform you use? Shouldn’t you be able to register a domain for yourself?
What about some of the other closed generic applications?
Look at a sample of them below:
What gives Symantec exclusive rights to every single domain under .cloud ?
What about Amazon and .video?
If you agree that this kind of use of new TLDs is a fundamentally bad idea then please let ICANN know via their comment period here.
---------------Hi All,
I'm a new member to this list, but there is a lot of material about the harms and concerns behind Closed Generics. In preparation for the meeting later today, I'll post some of it. I'm copying Michele Neylon, who was a leader in sharing concerns about Closed Generics with the ICANN Community in 2013.
I don't think there is the time to prepare a robust debate for today, but hopefully at your next meeting, you might invite some of the names (people & their organizations) that you see in these materials into the discussion. There are also Community Objections on this issue that you might want to evaluate.
Best regards, Kathy (Kleiman)
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https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-closed-generic-05feb13/msg00174.html Dear Sir / Madam I am submitting these comments on behalf of Blacknight, Ireland's only ICANN accredited registrar. They do not reflect the formal views of any stakeholder group, but those of our company. We are on the record with respect to our views on this issue, having spoken during the public forum at ICANN Toronto (http://toronto45.icann.org/node/34215) and having sent several letters to ICANN's board, which were co-signed by a broad cross-section of the ICANN Community: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/correspondence/neylon-et-al-to-chehade-et-al-24sep12-en.pdf http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/correspondence/neylon-et-al-to-chalaby-et-al-22jan13-en.pdf Rather than rehash our previous arguments I would prefer to simply state that they are unchanged. I've summarised some of the issues we see with them here: http://www.internetnews.me/2013/02/23/5-reasons-why-closed-generic-new-gtlds-should-be-opposed/ It is also worth noting that our views are shared by some very large brands who have taken the time to submit very rational comments on this topic. But more importantly both consumer and trade organisations representing large numbers of internet users and businesses have too. Regards Michele Mr Michele Neylon Blacknight Solutions ♞ Hosting & Domains ICANN Accredited Registrar http://www.blacknight.co http://blog.blacknight.com/ Intl. +353 (0) 59 9183072 US: 213-233-1612 Locall: 1850 929 929 Facebook: http://fb.me/blacknight Twitter: http://twitter.com/mneylon ------------------------------- Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd, Unit 12A,Barrowside Business Park,Sleaty Road,Graiguecullen,Carlow,Ireland Company No.: 370845
On 4/12/2017 4:45 AM, Michael Flemming wrote:
Dear All,
Please find the material that we will be referring to in order to address potential harms of Closed Generics.
Kind regards,
Michael Flemming
On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 6:28 PM, Michael Flemming <flemming@brightsconsulting.com> wrote:
Dear All,
This week on 13 April 2017 at 21 UTC we will be once again discussing Closed Generics. As of our last meeting, we went through the Pros and Cons of Closed Generics by looking at the comments made in the Public Comments. We have not reached a consensus on anything at this point, however, we have not had a lot of input for the Cons and potential harm of Closed Generics at the current time. This week we will try to distinguish what potential harm exists if Closed Generics were allowed by analyzing the Public Comments even further. I welcome anyone who would like to assist in this discussion and analysis by joining us this week. Below is the agenda.
- Welcome
- SOI
- Closed Generics
- AOB
I look forward to speaking with everyone and having an exciting conversation!
Kind regards,
Michael Flemming
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