[Ctn-crosscom] FW: Use of Country and Territory Names as top-level domains - Afghanistan feedback

[Lars Hoffmann]

Dear CWG members - 
Please find below a message from Afghanistan on three-character strings in
response to our request.
Many thanks and best wishes,
Lars




From:  Aimal Marjan <aimal.marjan at mcit.gov.af>
Date:  Saturday, 10 October 2015 08:41
To:  Lars HOFFMANN <lars.hoffmann at icann.org>
Cc:  Zmarialai Wafa <zmarialai.wafa at mcit.gov.af>
Subject:  Use of Country and Territory Names as top-level domains -
Afghanistan feedback

Hello,


Following is the feedback from Afghanistan.


Questions by the CWG-UCTN on 3-character codes with regard to the use of
country and territory names as top-level domains? ?
 
1.          In future, should all three-character top-level domains be
reserved as ccTLDs only and be ineligible for use as gTLDs? What would be
the advantage or disadvantage of such a policy?

 
It only creates confusion between users for ccTLDs and gTLDs.
 
ccTLD is driven by local law where the gTLD is driven by thr global law,
this itself is a big confusion for users. If in the future there were any
plan then it would be feasible to have 3 letters strings only for use in
ccTLDs. 
A good example in our case is AFG which is the abbreviation for Afghanistan
but there are various companies like American Financial Group in USA,
Australian Financial Group in Australia, Al Futtaim Group in UAE, Advent
Film Group that use the same abbreviation for their brand names, this would
create serious issues between the government and private sector.
Advantage is that there will be more sells for gTLDs and some brands might
get their 3 letters TLD.
Disadvantage is that it creates confusion for users
 
2.          In future, should all three-character top-level domains be
eligible for use as gTLDs as long as they are not in conflict with the
existing alpha-3 codes from the ISO 3166-1 list; i.e. the three-character
version of the same ISO list that is the basis for current ccTLD allocation?
What would be the advantage or disadvantage of such a policy??

 
No, the use of 3 characters strings as gTLDs must receive no objection
letter from the governments and other public authorities first.
Advantage is: they will have open hand to register any string for their
brads no matter it is in conflict with the ccTLD.
Disadvantage is that governments and other public authorities will have no
knowledge of the strings being registered for their businesses.
 
 
3.          In future, should three-character strings be eligible for use as
gTLDs if they are not in conflict with existing alpha-3 codes form the ISO
3166-1 list and they have received documentation of support or non-objection
from the relevant government or public authority? What would be the
advantage or disadvantage of such a policy??

 
 
As long as it is not in conflict with existing alpha 3 codes from ISO 3166-1
list, they are good to proceed.
The only advantage is that there will be consultation and no objection
letter needed from the government that gives the government and other public
authority to closely review the string
Disadvantage would be the same (Confusion for users)
 
 
4.      In future, should there be unrestricted use of three-character
strings as gTLDs if they are not conflicting with any applicable string
similarity rules? What would be the advantage or disadvantage of such a
policy??
 
No, the use of 3 characters strings as gTLDs must receive no objection
letter from the governments and other public authorities first.
Advantage is: they will have open hand to register any string for their
brads no matter it is in conflict with the ccTLD.
Disadvantage is that governments and other public authorities will have no
knowledge of the strings being registered for their businesses.
 
5.      In future, should all IDN three-character strings be reserved
exclusively as ccTLDs and be ineligible as IDN gTLDs? What would be the
advantage or disadvantage of such a policy??
 
It should be reserved only for ccTLDs.
Advantage is Multilingual presence of the ccTLD
Disadvantage would a little bit of confusion for users, though it creates
more business opportunities for companies to have 3 characters strings for
their brands.
 
6.      In future, should there be unrestricted use of IDN three-character
strings if they are not in conflict with existing TLDs or any applicable
string similarity rules? What would be the advantage or disadvantage of such
a policy??
 
As long as it is not in conflict with existing alpha 3 codes from ISO 3166-1
list, they are good to proceed.
The only advantage is that there will be more business opportunities for
brands to register their brand names, but it should go through no objection
process from the governments and other authorities.
Disadvantage would be the same (Confusion for users)
 
7.      Do you have any additional comments that may help the CWG-UCTN in
its discussion on three-character strings as top-level domains?
 
No comments, thanks.




Regards,




GAC Afghanistan

_____________________________________________________________________
Muhammad Aimal Marjan
Deputy Minister IT
Ministry of Communications and IT || Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
( c ) +93-700-283338 || ( o ) +93-20-2103883 || ( w ) www.mcit.gov.af


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