There are other views that we should be exposed to. My thanks to Danny Younger for this. Carlton On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 3:27 PM, Danny Younger <dannyyounger@yahoo.com>wrote:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081216-icann-plan-for-new-tlds-comes-...

[excerpts]

-- there's no sign that ICANN has actually paid meaningful attention to the vehemently negative reactions of numerous companies

-- The fact that ICANN is selling off virtually any character string, meanwhile, doesn't just crack the door to fraud, it opens the flood gates, hangs out a "Welcome" sign, and offers free beer.

-- The potential for gTLD domain abuse is enormous, especially given the potency of certain, previously disallowed, domains. ICANN claims it will only allow companies and individuals who can validly demonstrate why they should have a certain domain to register it, but that's a laughable statement given the number of corrupt registrars who don't perform due diligence. ICANN explicitly states that it "doesn't control content on the Internet" and "cannot stop spam." How, then, does it propose to regulate registration and protect the rights of trademark holders?

-- If you're wondering how a proposal this fundamentally stupid managed to unanimously pass at ICANN, there's a one-word explanation: Money.