[kictanet] Official response to the "facts" circulated by Alice on behalf of DotConnectAfrica

[Brian Munyao Longwe]

Interesting that the "facts" email seems to have elicited some very angry
responses from various quarters, including an attempt by someone to
unsubscribe me from this mailing list.....

*laughing quietly to myself*

Brian

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*Brian Munyao Longwe*
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On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 6:18 PM, Vika Mpisane <vika at zadna.org.za> wrote:

> In essence, McTim, the answer for everyone interested in new gTLDs is
> simple: read & understand the Applicant Guidebook. It really does have all
> the answers. In particular, it defines quite well how a community gTLD
> differs from a geo gTLD. When you read it, then you understand why the
> only .africa application (the one by UniForum SA backed by the AUC) -
> based on ICANN new gTLD application -list is a geo gTLD & not a community
> gTLD.
>
> Another good source for answers is the ICANN new gTLD website where it
> lists all the current 1930 new gTLD applications. It really does say there
> is only one .africa application, and that's the one from UniForum SA
> (backed & endorsed by the AUC). That site also shows there are 2 other
> applications with the name "africa": .africamagic & .dotafrica.
>
> Whether or not .dotafrica (applied for by DCA) is confusingly similar to
> .africa (by UniForum SA backed & endorsed by the AUC) is a matter that the
> ICANN new gTLD Applicant Guidebook also answers quite well. Effectively,
> the Applicant Guidebook is like a bible of some sort for everything new
> gTLD: it's got all the answers (save, of course, a possibility of
> correcting mistaken gTLD applications).
>
> Assuming then the new gTLD "bible" is correct, the question is: did DCA
> make a mistake when they applied for .dotafrica? Judging by some press
> releases from DCA, it seems this is the case, but I'm open to correction.
> If it's the case, then the question I have is: why then ICANN continues to
> list the UniForum's application as the only .africa application on file?
>
> I guess then unless we see ICANN listing DCA's application as another
> .africa application in addition to UniForum's, DCA & UniForum have applied
> for 2 different strings. If ICANN were to change & list DCA as having
> applied for .africa (and not .dotafrica), then we would then have an open
> competition between DCA's application & UniForum's application, which, in
> fact, we should welcome because competition in business is good.
>
> And so that it's clear, I'm involved in the UniForum's .africa geo gTLD
> application. So i'm not pretending to be neutral at all here. I just don't
> think it's helpful at all to bash other people because they are
> competition to UniForum's bid.
>
> Regards,
>
> Vika Mpisane
> ZADNA
>
>
> On 2012/07/30 4:07 PM, "McTim" <dogwallah at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 1:52 AM, Gideon <gideonrop at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Dear Ms.Alice Munyua,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I am asked by our organization to post this clarification below to the
> >> statements you posted last week Re:Facts Regarding the African Union
> >> Commission (.Africa) application in the interest of the public.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> That you ahead for your cooperation.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> First, the deliberate distortion
> >
> >That's a bit strong.  how do you know it was deliberate?
> >
> >If you want to talk about facts, use the link that Neil provided,
> >click on download the "public portion of the application", and see how
> >many times the AU and AUC are referenced.   It is clear to me that the
> >AU and UniForum are partnering in this application.
> >
> >
> > that AUC/UniForum has submitted an
> >> application for .AFRICA is unwarranted and quite misleading, and this
> >>should
> >> not be treated as 'fact'. The true fact is that the AUC is not an
> >>applicant.
> >
> >While they may not be an applicant, they are certainly working 'in
> >cooperation with" or "in partnership with".
> >
> >
> >> Only UniForum is the applicant acknowledged by ICANN. Therefore, it is
> >> untruthful and rather disingenuous on your part to present the AUC as an
> >> applicant - either as a co- or joint applicant to UniForum. Everyone
> >>should
> >> know that the AU has not applied to ICANN for anything, so there is no
> >>AUC
> >> application the way that you have been distorting 'facts' to suit your
> >> purpose.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Second, though you have listed many things, the most important thing
> >>that
> >> you have left out is that the UniForum application was not submitted on
> >> behalf of either the African Union Commission, African governments, the
> >> African  Community or African Internet Community. You should have listed
> >> this as 'fact', but you have not.
> >
> >
> >If it were listed as "fact" you surely would have complained about that!
> >
> >The "fact" is that it is a geographic TLD and NOT a community based TLD.
> >
> >Are you suggesting that your application for .DotAfrica (or .Africa if
> >that is what you have applied for) is a community based application
> >and NOT a geo-TLD?
> >
> >
> >
> >Therefore, there is actually no community
> >> ownership of the Applied-for string so your use of the term 'official
> >>AUC
> >> endorsed application for the dotAfrica (.Africa) Top Level Domain' is
> >>rather
> >> specious and a misnomer.
> >
> >It is neither specious nor a misnomer.  They do have an official
> >endorsement and they have a large community of support behind them.
> >
> >
> >
> >  Against this background, how is the UniForum
> >> application, in your estimation, "a collaborative African initiative"?
> >>One
> >> would expect at least that if it is a collaborative African initiative,
> >>then
> >> the ownership of the TLD by the community should have been properly
> >> demonstrated by a community application conveyed as an application on
> >>behalf
> >> of the African Community for a .AFRICA Community TLD.
> >
> >It only stands to reason that a geo-TLD (a continental wide one at that)
> >have a
> >collaborative community behind it.
> >
> >Are you applying for a Community-based string?
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> In the absence of this, we still see the UniForum application as a
> >>deceptive
> >> ploy that  used the purported support of the AU Commission to garner
> >>support
> >> from African governments to enable them provide support for an
> >>application
> >> that will benefit a special interest group.  The way we see it is quite
> >> simple: DCA Trust will continue to expose this fraud for what it truly
> >>is.
> >> If the AUC provided support to UniForum to apply on behalf of the
> >>African
> >> Community, then we believe that ³a Community TLD application ³for
> >>.AFRICA
> >> should have been submitted by UniForum to ICANN.
> >
> >Again, would this same reasoning have applied to you?  If not, why not?
> >
> >Is .DotAfrica a community or geo-TLD?
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Third, you seem to make much of a process that was "mandated by African
> >> Heads of State (OR Tambo Declaration) and African Minister¹s in charge
> >>of
> >> ICT (Abuja Declaration)" to justify your 'facts'. Would these African
> >>Heads
> >> of States and Ministers not demand some form of accountability
> >>regarding why
> >> a community TLD application for .Africa was not submitted by Uniforum?
> >
> >
> >again with the red-herrings!  This is a geo-TLD, NOT a "Community-TLD".
> >
> >
> >> Since you seem to know many facts regarding the so-called 'African Union
> >> Commission (.Africa) application, perhaps you should help clarify for
> >> everyone's benefit why a Community TLD application for .Africa was not
> >> submitted by Uniforum.
> >>
> >
> >This is a geo-TLD, NOT a "Community-TLD".
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> Fourth,  you have tried to make much over the fact that the UniForum
> >> application is AU-supported, and that the "application meets and
> >>exceeds,
> >> the minimum evaluation criteria set by ICANN for application of
> >>Geographic
> >> strings." Alas, the evaluation is not only on the basis of the
> >>evaluation
> >> criteria for 'geographic strings'. The evaluation criteria is actually
> >>more
> >> comprehensive, and covers a wide range of issues such as technical,
> >> operational, financial criteria; coupled with terms & conditions, legal
> >> issues, etc.  We remain confident that the Uniforum application will
> >>fail
> >> based on the scope of its separate agreement with the African Union
> >> Commission.  We prefer to leave such issues to the Evaluation and the
> >> outcome of any Dispute Resolution.
> >
> >
> >but if you had gotten the endorsement of the AU, you wouldn't be
> >claiming the same thing, would you??!
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Fifth, the application submitted by DCA Trust is for the geographic name
> >> 'AFRICA', pronounced as 'DotAfrica'. This is for a 6-character ASCII
> >>string.
> >> The application submitted by DCA Trust was correctly designated by
> >>ICANN as
> >> referring to a geographic name. Your understanding that it is for
> >> 'dotdotAfrica' is incorrect.  Our published part of application is
> >>posted
> >> and available hereŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ
> >
> >
> http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicati
> >ondetails/1276
> >
> >or
> >
> >
> http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicati
> >ondetails:downloadapplication/1276?t:ac=1276
> >
> >to dload public parts of application.
> >
> >
> >>
> >> Finally, it is important for us to note that you have become openly
> >> supportive of the UniForum application, and we therefore hope that you
> >>will
> >> not use any of your official affiliations either within the Kenyan
> >> government or the ICANN GAC to influence things in their favour.
> >
> >Why not?  if the AUC has endorsed UniForum as their partner in
> >bidding, should not all AU governments act accordingly?
> >
> >
> > We caution
> >> you not to be official or unofficial spokesperson of UniForum, and
> >>allow the
> >> applications that have been submitted to ICANN to be evaluated fairly
> >> without any undue interference on your part or on the part of the group
> >>that
> >> you now seem to represent in the most unabashed manner .
> >
> >
> >how is statement of facts "interference"?
> >
> >
> >--
> >Cheers,
> >
> >McTim
> >"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
> >route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >
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> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
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> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
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