[kictanet] ICANN Approves Historic Change to Internet's Domain Name System
alice at apc.org
alice at apc.org
Wed Jun 22 11:46:39 EAT 2011
Barrack, thanks. This will form basis for several workshops proposed for
the upcoming UN-IGF and we may want to include it as an agenda item during
our national IGF in July.
The responsibility of enabling increased access/penetration to the
internet while a very important issue is not really for ICANN. New
gTLDs were launched and will crowd the domain name space and if most of
our developing countries are not involved we shall continue to experience
the digital divide. As noted earlier, there were previously 22 gTLDs none
of them operated/owned in Africa for example we may have maybe 200-500 new
ones, how many of these will be African applicants?
We have managed to encourage ICANN to make provisions to support new gTLD
applicants from developing countries, which is an important first step.
Regarding competing favorably, we need more entrepreneurs in this area to
apply and manage new gTLDS.
Best
Alice
> Thanks Alice and Washi, like Washington says i also embraced the news
with some pessimism due to the fact that the levels and rate of
penetration of the internet as well as the awareness of matters
pertaining to the domain name industry are not very encouraging on the
African continent, i wonder whether anything was discussed towards this
end otherwise as Washington says the benefits might be skewed towards
the western world because of global politics, i recall that there were
already guys lobbying for some of the gtlds which i will not mention
here during last years ICANN and they treated us to a sumptuous dinner
which we could not refuse in the true African Spirit. We look forwad to
more information i am sure some of this issues could form good
discussion topics during the forthcoming IGF.
> On another note we have able leaders representing this great continent
at the ICANN meeting, Katim, Ann-Rachel, Alice among others sitting at
vantage points in various commitees, i would wish to challenge all of
you to look at frameworks that will help this continent move away from
asking for waivers and compete favourably with the other economic
powerhouses, i am sure a discussion around this during the forthcoming
IGF is likely to be exciting as well.
>
> Thank you
>
> On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 1:25 PM, <alice at apc.org> wrote:
>
> The application fee is steep, not to mention other related fees that
could
> eventually amount to over 1mUS$ or more.
> This issue has been debated over a long time and the decision to
estalish
> the so called "Joint SO/AC New gTLD Applicant Support Working Group"
was
> to develop a sustainable approach in providing support to
applicants from
> developing countries who can not afford those amounts, plus the
technical
> requirement among others. So if dot jaluo meets the required criteria
> would qualify for support.
>
> best
> alice
>
>
> On 6/21/11 11:34 AM, Odhiambo Washington wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for this Alice.
>
> Please excuse my pessimism, but I still think "Internet Presence"
needs to
> be determined by how many people are connected, as opposed to the
> availability of gTLDs.
> Then I also see this new development as something which appears to have
> been prompted by the "elite club" Suppose I wanted to create
dot.jaluo, it
> means I have to cough USD 185'000? Yawa?? I know conglomerates will
afford
> this, not the "ordinary Internet user" hapa mashinani (mashinani ==
KE).
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 11:19, <alice at apc.org> wrote:
> >
> > The new gTLDs will effectively allow the creation of any TLD
with up
> to 64
> > characters, generic words, brand names, regional suffixes,
allowing
> > owners to become domain registries. According to the CEO,
this will
> open
> > up the domain "naming system to unleash the global human
> imagination," .
> > This development will also provide owners with the rights to
create top
> > level domain names in any script or language. Applications for
gTLDs
> will
> > be accepted from 12 January to 12 April 2012.
> >
> > There are currently only 22 generic top level domains, which
are .com,
> > .int, .edu, .mil, .net, .org, .arpa, .info, ,museum, .name, .pro,
> .asia,
> > .cat. .jobs. .mobi. .post . biz, .tel .coop, .travel. .tel, gov.
> >
> > With this new development, there is likely to be several
hundred new
> > generic top-level domain names which could include such
addresses as .
> > bank, .hotel. .shop, .coke, . africa, .nairobi, among others.
It will
> > cost US$185,000 to apply among other requirements, like technical
> > standards, etc a price that rich global organizations will be
> willing to
> > pay to maximize their presence on the internet.
> > Too expensive?
> >
> > Yes particularly for developing countries with the same needs
to not
> only
> > increase our presence on the internet but for some to protect
against
> > trademark infringement dot.mpesa anyone?
> >
> > During the ICANN meeting in Nairobi, the Government Advisory
committee
> > (GAC) had advised the board to initiate a process that would see
> > provisions made to support needy applicants and applications from
> > developing countries.
> >
> > The Joint SO/AC New gTLD Applicant Support Working Group was
set up
> with
> > the main objective to develop a sustainable approach in
providing
> support
> > to applicants requiring assistance in applying for and
operating new
> gTLDs
> > Registries.
> > This group have recommended a number of innovative approaches
that are
> > currently under consideration by ICANN community including the
> government
> > advisory committee.
> > Yesterday's resolution included a "program to ensure support for
> > applicants from developing countries, with a form, structure and
> processes
> > to be determined by the Board in consultation with stakeholders
> including:
> > (a) consideration of the GAC recommendation for a fee waiver
> corresponding
> > to 76 percent of the $185,000 USD evaluation fee, (b)
consideration of
> > recommendations of the ALAC and GNSO as chartering
organizations of the
> > Joint Applicant Support (JAS) Working Group, (c) designation of a
> budget
> > of up to $2 million USD for seed funding, and creating
opportunities
> for
> > other parties to provide matching funds.........Final Report from
> the JAS
> > Working Group (requested in time to allow staff to develop an
> > implementation plan for the Board’s consideration at its
October 2011
> > meeting in Dakar, Senegal), with the goal of having a sustainable
> > applicant support system in place before the opening of the
application
> > window";
> >
> >
> >
> > More on this later
> >
> > Very best
> >
> > Alice
>
> >
> > --
> > Best regards,
> > Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
> > Nairobi,KE
> > +254733744121/+254722743223
> > _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
> > I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler.
> > Please consider the environment before printing this email.
> >
>
>
>
>
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> --
> Barrack O. Otieno
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