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<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.internetnews.me/2013/02/23/5-reasons-why-closed-generic-new-gtlds-should-be-opposed/">https://www.internetnews.me/2013/02/23/5-reasons-why-closed-generic-new-gtlds-should-be-opposed/</a></p>
<p><br>
5 Reasons Why Closed Generic New gTLDs Should Be Opposed<br>
By Michele Neylon <br>
</p>
<p>I’m on the record multiple times over the last few months for my
opinions on “closed generics”. I first posted about it here back
in June of last year:
</p>
<p><a
href="http://www.internetnews.me/2012/06/14/big-brands-trying-to-corner-generic-namespaces/">Big
Brands Trying To Corner Generic Namespaces?</a></p>
<p>Since then I’ve sent several letters to ICANN (supported by many
others) and have been quoted and referenced in several articles on
the subject including <span class="skimlinks-unlinked">Politico.com</span>:<a
href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/icanns-debating-whats-in-a-domain-name-87816.html">
ICANN’s debating what’s in a domain name</a></p>
<p>Others have spoken out on this topic also:</p>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/correspondence/kleiman-to-icann-25sep12-en.pdf">Kathy
Kleiman to ICANN</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/correspondence/pangborn-to-crocker-et-al-31jan13-en.pdf">Microsoft
to ICANN</a></li>
<li><a
href="http://scriptingecho.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/tech-press-misses-googleamazon-name-grab/">Dave
Winer</a></li>
</ul>
<p>If you’re not a domain “geek” then the danger of this issue might
not be that easy to understand, so here are five reasons why
“closed generics” are a really bad idea.</p>
<ol>
<li>The Internet thrives with freedom of choice and openness</li>
<li>Dozens of applications to ICANN for new top level domains
(gTLDs) seek to completely segregate and close-off common words
for use by one company, rather than for the entire industry,
group or class.</li>
<li>Generic Words Belong to All People; .CLOUD, .BEAUTY, .BOOK,
.BLOG, .SEARCH and .SECURITY should be open to all with
appropriate interests and industries</li>
<li>Closed Generic TLDs lead to unfair closures and improper
restrictions. Companies will be barred from using the generic
string of their industry to promote their own businesses on an
equal and fair footing online; Entrepreneurs and inventors will
be inhibited from bringing new products to market for fear that
a large segment of the Internet marketplace will be closed to
them; and Consumers, thinking they are accessing an entire
industry, will not know the name space is controlled by one
entity and competitors are locked out</li>
<li>ICANN rules allowed a limited exception for Brands to create a
closed space (.BMW), but not for entire classes of goods,
services and people to close off (.STORE, .CARS and .BABY)</li>
</ol>
<p>Just over a week ago Conn and I <a
href="http://technology.ie/podcast-kevin-murphy-of-domain-incite/">recorded
an interview with domain blogger and journalist Kevin Murphy</a>
in which we talked about several things including new TLDs. Kevin
gave a fantastic example of a wonderful new TLD – .blog.</p>
<p>As Kevin said in the interview, if you go to a .blog domain name
you’d expect to find a “blog”. It’ll do exactly what you’d expect.</p>
<p>But, as we know Google has applied for .blog and has stated that
they’ll restrict the domain to Blogger. Here’s what they’ve told
ICANN they intend to do:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>The purpose of the proposed gTLD, .blog, is to provide a
dedicated Internet space where Google can continue to innovate
on its Blogger offerings. The mission of the proposed gTLD is
to provide a dedicated domain space in which users can publish
blogs. All registered domains in the .blog gTLD will
automatically be delegated to Google DNS servers, which will
in turn provide authoritative DNS responses pointing to the
Google Blogger service. The mission of the proposed gTLD is
to simplify the Blogger user experience. Users will be able
to publish content on a unique .blog domain (e.g., <span
class="skimlinks-unlinked">myname.blog</span>) which will
serve as a short and memorable URL for a particular Blogger
account. This mission will enhance consumer choice by
providing new availability in the second-level domain space,
creating new layers of organization on the Internet, improving
the Google user experience, and signaling the kind of content
available in the domain.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>So you won’t be able to use a .blog with WordPress, <a
href="http://movabletype.com" class="skimwords-link"
target="_blank" data-skimwords-id="876190"
data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-word="movabletype"
data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300001"
data-skim-product="876190" title="" occurrence="1"
data-skim-node-id="179:Soyouwon’tbeabletous_1" style="">MovableType</a><span
style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position:
absolute;"></span>, TypePad, Joomla or any of the other blogging
platforms or solutions out there. So much for competition and
choice!</p>
<p>But it’s actually worse than that!</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Charleston Road Registry intends to apply for an exemption
to ICANN’s Registry Operator Code of Conduct and operate the
proposed gTLD with Google as the sole registrar and
registrant.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Translation: Google will be the holder / registrant / owner of <strong>ALL</strong>
domains under .blog, so even if you are happy with being
restricted to the Google blogging platform you’ll never have any
real control over <span class="skimlinks-unlinked">yourname.blog</span></p>
<p>If you are a blogger, shouldn’t you be able to choose which
blogging software or platform you use? Shouldn’t you be able to
register a domain for yourself?</p>
<p>What about some of the other closed generic applications?</p>
<p>Look at a sample of them below:</p>
<ul>
<li>.app (Amazon)</li>
<li>.app (Google)</li>
<li>.baby (Johnson & Johnson)</li>
<li>.antivirus (Symantec)</li>
<li>.book (Amazon)</li>
<li>.cloud (Symantec)</li>
<li>.hair (L’Oreal)</li>
<li>.video (Amazon)</li>
</ul>
<p>What gives <a href="http://symantec.com" class="skimwords-link"
target="_blank" data-skimwords-id="1765248"
data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-word="symantec"
data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300001"
data-skim-product="1765248" title="" occurrence="1"
data-skim-node-id="74:WhatgivesSymantecexc_1" style="">Symantec</a><span
style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position:
absolute;"></span> exclusive rights to every single domain under
.cloud ?</p>
<p>What about <span class="skimwords-potential">Amazon</span><span
style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position:
absolute;"></span> and .video?</p>
<p>If you agree that this kind of use of new TLDs is a fundamentally
bad idea then please let ICANN know via their comment period <a
href="https://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/closed-generic-05feb13-en.htm">here</a>.</p>
---------------<br>
Best,<br>
Kathy<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 4/13/2017 11:23 AM, Kathy Kleiman
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:cad831b0-99e7-364b-4963-fe448071b02c@kathykleiman.com"
type="cite">
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<p>Hi All, <br>
</p>
<p>I'm a new member to this list, but there is a lot of material
about the harms and concerns behind Closed Generics. In
preparation for the meeting later today, I'll post some of it.
I'm copying Michele Neylon, who was a leader in sharing concerns
about Closed Generics with the ICANN Community in 2013.</p>
<p>I don't think there is the time to prepare a robust debate for
today, but hopefully at your next meeting, you might invite some
of the names (people & their organizations) that you see in
these materials into the discussion. There are also Community
Objections on this issue that you might want to evaluate. <br>
</p>
<p>Best regards, Kathy (Kleiman)</p>
<p>-----------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<pre><a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-closed-generic-05feb13/msg00174.html">https://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-closed-generic-05feb13/msg00174.html</a>
Dear Sir / Madam
I am submitting these comments on behalf of Blacknight, Ireland's only ICANN
accredited registrar.
They do not reflect the formal views of any stakeholder group, but those of our
company.
We are on the record with respect to our views on this issue, having spoken
during the public forum at ICANN Toronto
(<a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" href="http://toronto45.icann.org/node/34215">http://toronto45.icann.org/node/34215</a>) and having sent several letters to
ICANN's board, which were co-signed by a broad cross-section of the ICANN
Community:
<a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/correspondence/neylon-et-al-to-chehade-et-al-24sep12-en.pdf">http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/correspondence/neylon-et-al-to-chehade-et-al-24sep12-en.pdf</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" href="http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/correspondence/neylon-et-al-to-chalaby-et-al-22jan13-en.pdf">http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/correspondence/neylon-et-al-to-chalaby-et-al-22jan13-en.pdf</a>
Rather than rehash our previous arguments I would prefer to simply state that
they are unchanged.
I've summarised some of the issues we see with them here:
<a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.internetnews.me/2013/02/23/5-reasons-why-closed-generic-new-gtlds-should-be-opposed/">http://www.internetnews.me/2013/02/23/5-reasons-why-closed-generic-new-gtlds-should-be-opposed/</a>
It is also worth noting that our views are shared by some very large brands who
have taken the time to submit very rational comments on this topic.
But more importantly both consumer and trade organisations representing large
numbers of internet users and businesses have too.
Regards
Michele
Mr Michele Neylon
Blacknight Solutions ♞
Hosting & Domains
ICANN Accredited Registrar
<a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blacknight.co">http://www.blacknight.co</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.blacknight.com/">http://blog.blacknight.com/</a>
Intl. +353 (0) 59 9183072
US: 213-233-1612
Locall: 1850 929 929
Facebook: <a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" href="http://fb.me/blacknight">http://fb.me/blacknight</a>
Twitter: <a moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/mneylon">http://twitter.com/mneylon</a>
-------------------------------
Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd, Unit 12A,Barrowside Business Park,Sleaty
Road,Graiguecullen,Carlow,Ireland Company No.: 370845</pre>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 4/12/2017 4:45 AM, Michael
Flemming wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAAE6pKFb3emd2rTgvU0p0ZzpXNkORbTgqbuaLzSeZVLKp4c99w@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Dear All,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Please find the material that we will be referring to in
order to address potential harms of Closed Generics.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Kind regards,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Michael Flemming</div>
<div><br>
<div class="gmail_extra"> <br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 6:28 PM,
Michael Flemming <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:flemming@brightsconsulting.com"
target="_blank">flemming@brightsconsulting.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Dear
All,</span>
<div style="font-size:12.8px"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-size:12.8px">This week on 13 April
2017 at 21 UTC we will be once again discussing
Closed Generics. As of our last meeting, we went
through the Pros and Cons of Closed Generics by
looking at the comments made in the Public
Comments. We have not reached a consensus on
anything at this point, however, we have not had a
lot of input for the Cons and potential harm of
Closed Generics at the current time. This week we
will try to distinguish what potential harm exists
if Closed Generics were allowed by analyzing the
Public Comments even further. I welcome anyone who
would like to assist in this discussion and
analysis by joining us this week. Below is the <span
class="m_-8575844256750814590m_3745383161031865879gmail-il">agenda</span>.</div>
<div style="font-size:12.8px"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-size:12.8px">
<ol>
<li style="margin-left:15px"><i>Welcome<br>
<br>
</i></li>
<li style="margin-left:15px"><i>SOI<br>
<br>
</i></li>
<li style="margin-left:15px"><i>Closed Generics</i><br>
<br>
</li>
<li style="margin-left:15px"><i>AOB</i></li>
</ol>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I look forward to speaking with everyone and
having an exciting conversation!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Kind regards,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Michael Flemming</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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