[council] RE: [Correspondence] Letter from Steve Crocker to James Bladel, Chair, GNSO Council

[Johan Helsingius]

Wolf-Ulrich,

> 1.    Both the letter from the Board and the letter from the GNSO
> Council seem to start with the assumption that there will necessarily be
> a subsequent round of the new gTLD program. The ISPCP constituency hopes
> that a full discussion about whether or not to have a further round is
> had by the community long before work is done on building a new
> application process. It seems essential that the marketplace and
> technical reviews are complete and considered by the community. These
> need to be part of the foundation of any discussion of whether or not to
> proceed with subsequent rounds of new gTLD applications.

Indeed. I am concerned about the way a lot of people seem to
assume a subsequent round will happen. I feel we have to
wait for the results of the reviews before making up our minds.

> 2.    In the event that a new gTLD application window is opened, no
> particular type of gTLD should be allowed to determine the timing of the
> window. In particular, all strings should have equal status as far as
> the timing of a subsequent window. For example, a set of strings for a
> particular use or function, should not be allowed to proceed early.

I agree.

> 3.    In the event that a new gTLD application window is opened, the
> policy work in support of the new round should be complete prior to the
> application process being developed. The ISPCP constituency finds the
> idea of iterative development of application process to be impossible in
> the context of such a complex procedure. An iterative approach fails to
> take into account the interconnectedness of the application process –
> the development of a policy on geographic names, for example, might have
> implications on what strings are available and even the prohibition of
> certain names. The possibility of policy development in one area having
> a knock-on effect in another area is something we witnessed in the 2012
> round. It would likely be a feature of subsequent rounds and makes the
> iterative development of an application process unlikely to succeed.

Again, I really have to agree. Strongly.

> 5.    Another technical aspect that must be addressed prior to a new
> round beginning is the relationship between the Internet’s underlying
> architecture and the new gTLD program. Specifically, ICANN must improve
> its relationship with the IETF to identify meaningful ways to cooperate
> in the reservation of certain strings in the root. This relationship
> must also provide some reliable, predictable, scalable and usable
> mechanism for reserving strings for special use or because those
> strings, if allowed in the root, would affect the security and stability
> of the DNS and tools built upon the DNS.


Hear, hear!

	Julf