Colleagues,

While I might be something of an Internet Elder, starting with hand-built DOS 1.0 machines, dial-up modems, low earth orbit satellites (LEOS), and with policy development experience, I am a novice when it comes to judging the possible paths and speed of the task before us.

I want to thank Jeff for his thoughtful analysis and work strategy suggestions. While I cannot comment on timelines, I too will urge us to consider strategies to move faster, but for other reasons.

As an economist and as I become familiar with what might roll out as elements of Web 3 and Smart Pages, I have a growing suspicion that there will be a decline in interest (and competition) for generic TLDs. Brand TLDs will likely still be in demand under whatever terms those might be subject to. Overall, if my suspicions are right, the era of strong competition for gTLDs may be coming to an end. Brand TLDs won’t generate registration revenues like the earlier gTLDs. I may be wrong but I think that diminishing marginal returns will set in, and ICANN will have to adjust to that.

Sam Lanfranco

Sam Lanfranco, Prof Emeritus, York University, Internet Ecologist & Farmer;
Web23.io; AshPiedmont Farm, South Bay, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada 
P:613-476-0429  C:416-816-2852  E: samlanfranco@gmail.com   Lanfran@yorku.ca