On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 11:54 AM, Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org> wrote:

Let's face some reality: The private right to control a common-language word, by having enough money and/or being first to get it, has been a founding philosophy of ICANN.

+1 This IS the heart of the issue. And a fact for which there is no successful contradiction. Maybe it wasn't such a bright idea in hindsight. But the entire domain name system is predicated on private ownership of common words. Hell, the registry gets to 'own' them even before you 'think' them! The system even allows one to redefine the meaning of a word by adjustments to generally-accepted meaning. [I can hear some nods and murmured 'this is a process well known to language development, Columbus!']. What is rich about this latest boomlet is other than one [IMHO] genuinely ideologically motivated naysaying, what we have here is a shameless arrogation of the 'public interest' in this argument. I love a good argument as the next fella. And so wish I could be Sancho Panza on this one. But that would be too overtly quixotic. - Carlton ============================== Carlton A Samuels Mobile: 876-818-1799 *Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround* =============================