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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear ICANN,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would like to submit our comments on the “<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/subsequent-procedures-initial-overarching-issues-work-tracks-1-4-03jul18-en.pdf">Initial
Report on the New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (Overarching Issues & Work Tracks 1-4)</a></span>”.<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We call your attention to our full support for APTLD72 Statement on Country and Territory designators as Top-level Domains, dated 18 September 2017. See:
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://aptld.org/documents/Others/201711/APTLD%2072%20Communique%20and%20Statement.pdf">https://aptld.org/documents/Others/201711/APTLD%2072%20Communique%20and%20Statement.pdf</a></span><span lang="AR-SA" dir="RTL" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hence, we definitely stand up for the continuation of the status-quo regarding country and territory designators as top-level domains, i.e.:<span lang="AR-SA" dir="RTL" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt">All 2-letter ASCII codes, whether or not in the ISO 3166 alpha-2 list, are reserved for ccTLDs,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt">All 3-letter ASCII codes in the ISO 3166 alpha-3 list are reserved and cannot be applied for, and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Any string in the ICANN's
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/country-territory-names/#reserved">Reserved Country and Territory Names lists</a></span> would not be delegated as a gTLD.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also we strongly don’t accept the initial report's proposal that seeks
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/subsequent-procedures-initial-annex-c-02jul18-en.pdf">permission for 2 character domain names as gTLDs, so long as one of the characters is a numeric digit</a></span>
for the following reasons:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt">All 2-letter ASCII codes, whether or not in the ISO 3166 alpha-2 list, have historically been reserved for ccTLDs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt">It is possible that the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency may, at some point in the future, begin to assign 2-character alpha-numeric strings as Country and Territory code points.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Introduction of 2-character strings containing a digit may well cause visual confusion for the internet-user, thus leading to security issues within the DNS.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-top:12.0pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">-<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Creating 2-letter ASCII TLDs (regardless of inclusion of numeric characters or not) would crack a solidly established notion among Internet users that “all ASCII ccTLD identifiers
are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs (<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_code_top-level_domain">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_code_top-level_domain</a></span> ).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i>Sincerely Yours,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i>Hesham M. AlHammad<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><i>Director of SaudiNIC</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align:right;direction:rtl;unicode-bidi:embed">
<span lang="AR-SA" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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