[bc-gnso] Minutes and transcript: BC Members call on GAC Advice - Part 2 held on May 8th, 2013 at 11 am EST

Fri May 10 07:28:54 UTC 2013

All,

This is an interesting article which illustrates the difficulties about 
who/how are strings determined to be in a particular category according to 
the GAC advice - 
http://domainincite.com/12944-this-is-how-stupid-the-gacs-new-gtlds-advice-is#comments
.

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For the last few weeks I’ve been attempting to write a sensible analysis 
of the Governmental Advisory Committee’s advice on new gTLDs without 
resorting to incredulity, hyperbole or sarcasm.
I failed, so you’ll have to read this instead.
I’m sorry, but the GAC’s Beijing communique (pdf) just has too much stupid 
in it to take seriously.
As a quick reminder, the bulk of the GAC’s advice was taken up by a list 
of hundreds of applied-for strings, in 12 categories, that “are likely to 
invoke a level of implied trust from consumers”. 
The GAC said that any string on the list should be subject to more 
stringent regulation than others, turning their registries into data 
security regulators and creating an obligation to partner with “relevant 
regulatory, or industry self-regulatory, bodies”.
The GAC, having advised the creation of these unexpected obligations, 
decided that it wasn’t its responsibility to figure out whether any of 
them would be feasible to implement.
That’s apparently up to ICANN to figure out.
But that’s not the most infuriating part of the advice. The most 
infuriating part is the list of strings it provided, which by the GAC’s 
own admission was unhelpfully “non-exhaustive”. 
When one performs a cursory analysis of the list, and compares it to the 
strings that did not make it, the dumb just accumulates.
My spies tell me that the GAC worked into the early hours on a few 
occasions during the Beijing meeting in order to put this advice together, 
and some might say it’s unfair to expect its members to have read and 
formed consensus opinions on all 1,930 original new gTLD applications.
But the GAC wasn’t expected to read them all, nor did it. Its job was 
originally conceived of as commenting on the strings alone, and that 
appears to be what it ultimately did limit itself to.
I think it’s fair to try to get some insight into the GAC’s collective 
thought process by looking at the “Category 1″ strings that it did put on 
the list and those that it did not.
Not because I think there’s a coherent thought process at work here, but 
because I think there isn’t.
Remember, the GAC had nine months to come up with its list. This article 
was written in an afternoon.
Here’s my list of bizarre inconsistencies, failed reality checks and pure 
dumb I found in the Beijing communique. 
It’s non-exhaustive.
Destroy all pirates!
The GAC is clearly a bit worried that people might use new gTLDs to offer 
pirated and counterfeited goods (like they do in existing TLDs), so it has 
placed a few dozen content-related strings on its list.
The intellectual property list is one of the longest of the 12 categories 
in the Beijing communique.
But it could be longer.
I wonder why, for example, the GAC doesn’t consider .stream a threat to 
copyright? Streaming sites are frequent targets of takedown notices.
Why does .hiphop get a mention but not .country, a gTLD specifically 
designed for country music lovers?
Why are .photography, .photo, .photos, .pictures and .pics not on the 
list? Image theft is pandemic online, enabled by default in browsers (no 
P2P required) and utterly trivial to execute. 
And if .tours is considered a problem, why not .events, or .tickets? 
We’re talking about sectors with abuse potential here, and ticketing is 
considered worthy of legislation in many places. Here in England you can 
get a £5,000 fine for reselling a ticket to a football match.
Why is .tours even on the intellectual property list? It could just as 
easily refer to organized vacations or guide services provided by museums. 
Or the French city of the same name, for that matter.
Why aren’t our friends in Tours getting the same GAC love as Spa and Date 
— towns in Belgium and Japan — which have caused the delay of advice on 
.spa and .date respectively?
And why are .free, .gratis and .discount considered intellectual property 
problems? 
How is the .free registry supposed to follow the GAC’s demand that it 
partner with “relevant regulatory, or industry self‐regulatory, bodies” 
for free stuff? Does “.free” even have an “implied level of trust”?
Is the GAC’s goal to kill off the bid by the back door? 
Goodbye .free, you couldn’t guarantee that there wouldn’t be piracy in 
your TLD so your application is forfeit? A potentially cool TLD, 
sacrificed on the altar of Big Copyright?
Don’t even get me started on .art…
Won’t somebody think of the children?!
The GAC did not say why the “children” category exists, but I assume it’s 
about ensuring that the content in TLDs such as .kids and .school is 
suitable for “kids” (pick your own definition, the GAC doesn’t have one).
It goes without saying that any TLD that is obliged to follow 
child-friendly rules will be saddled with a commercial death sentence, as 
the US government already knows full well.
The GAC didn’t include .family on the list for some reason, but it did 
inexplicably include .game and .games.
In the last game I played, my character stabbed a guy in the neck with a 
broken bottle, stole his clothes and threw his body off a cliff. Gaming is 
a predominantly adult pastime nowadays.
Suggesting that .games sites need to be child-friendly is just as stupid 
as saying .movie or .book sites need to be child-friendly. 
I’m sure GAC chair Heather Dryden is far too sensible and grown-up to play 
games, but I’d be surprised if not a single member of the committee owns 
an Xbox. One of them should have pointed this nonsense out.
If the GAC is not saying this — if it’s merely saying the .games registry 
should work cooperatively with the gaming industry — then why is .games in 
the “Children” category?
The GAC Diet
Another couple dozen strings are listed under the “health and fitness” 
category, ranging from the not-unreasonable, such as .doctor, to the 
terrifically broad, such as .diet and .care.
Really? .care?
Donuts, the .care applicant, has to partner with some kind of medical 
register in order to sell a TLD that could just as easily be used for 
customer support by a company that sells shoes?
And .diet? If the GAC is concerned about internet users getting dodgy 
dieting advice from a disreputable .diet registrant, why not also issue 
advice against .eat and .food?
If .fitness is a problem, why isn’t .yoga? 
Why isn’t the GAC bothered by .tattoo and .ink? Where I live, you need to 
be a licensed professional in order to stick people with an inky needle.
For that matter, why aren’t .beauty and .salon a problem? Pretty much 
every beauty salon I’ve walked past in the last couple of years wants to 
inject toxins into my face for a fee. 
If we’re already saying games are for kids, that free equals fake, and 
that tours can be pirated, it doesn’t seem like too unreasonable a leap to 
to regulate .beauty too.
You feed beefburgers to swans
There’s a provision in the Beijing communique saying that every string on 
the GAC’s list must force its registrants “to comply with all applicable 
laws, including those that relate to… organic farming.”
So why the hell doesn’t .farm appear on the list?!?
Really, it doesn’t. I’ve triple-checked. It’s not there. According to the 
GAC’s advice, a .bingo registrant has to abide by organic farming laws but 
a .farm registrant does not.
Some professions are more equal than others
For all of the “Category 1″ strings the GAC has advised against, the 
headline argument is this:
Strings that are linked to regulated or professional sectors should 
operate in a way that is consistent with applicable laws.
But there are plenty of strings that are “linked to regulated or 
professional sectors” that don’t merit a mention in the communique.
Alcohol, for example. The sale of booze is regulated pretty much 
everywhere — in some places it’s illegal — but .pub and .bar don’t make it 
to the GAC’s advice. Neither does .vodka.
If the GAC wants .weather to have strict controls — with no abuse scenario 
I can think of — why not a couple of TLDs that could, potentially, be used 
to sell alcohol over the internet?
What of construction? There may have been advice against .engineer, but 
.construction, .building, .contractors and .build got a pass. Why? 
Governments everywhere regulate the building industry tightly.
Here in the UK, if you want a plumber to come over and tinker with your 
heating you’d better hope they’re on the Gas Safe Register, but .plumber 
doesn’t show up in the Beijing communique.
Why not? An abusive .dentist registrant could mess up my teeth, but he’ll 
need an expensive surgery to do it in. An abusive .plumber, on the other 
hand, can come over and blow up my house with no such outlay.
Taxis are regulated in most big cities, but .taxi and .limo escaped GAC 
advice. Hell, even porn is strictly controlled in many countries, but 
.porn got a pass.
I could go on.
Anyway…
You might think I’m being petty, but remember: the GAC got the list of 
applied-for strings last June the same as everybody else. It had plenty of 
time to get its advice list right.
The GAC has a big responsibility in the multi-stakeholder process and by 
presenting advice that appears half-assed at best it makes it look like it 
doesn’t take that responsibility seriously.
I know it does, but it doesn’t appear that way.

Martin C SUTTON 
Group Risk 
Manager, Group Fraud Risk and Intelligence | HSBC HOLDINGS PLC HGHQ
Group Security & Fraud Risk
8 Canada Square,Canary Wharf,London,E14 5HQ,United Kingdom
________________________________________________________________

Phone
+44 (0)20 7991 8074 / 7991 8074
Mobile
+44 (0) 7774556680
Email
martinsutton at hsbc.com

________________________________________________________________
Protect our environment - please only print this if you have to!

From:
"Benedetta Rossi" <bc-secretariat at icann.org>
To:
<bc-gnso at icann.org>
Date:
09/05/2013 19:03
Subject:
[bc-gnso] Minutes and transcript: BC Members call on GAC Advice - Part 2 
held on May 8th, 2013 at 11 am EST
Sent by:
owner-bc-gnso at icann.org

Dear BC Members,

Please find attached the minutes & transcript from yesterday’s BC Members 
call on GAC Advice – Part 2 which took place at 11 am EST. 

These materials are also available on the BC Wiki: 
https://community.icann.org/x/0YHbAQ

Thank you,

-- 
Kind Regards,

Benedetta Rossi
BC Secretariat
bc-secretariat at icann.org
https://community.icann.org/display/gnsobc/Home
www.bizconst.org

 [attachment "Minutes BC Members call MAY 08 2013.pdf" deleted by Martin C 
SUTTON/HGHQ/HSBC] [attachment "BC MAY 08 2013.pdf" deleted by Martin C 
SUTTON/HGHQ/HSBC] 

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Registered Office: 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ, United Kingdom
Registered in England number 617987
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