[CPWG] [GTLD-WG] New gTLD Applicant Support - improve it, or scrap it?

[Maureen Hilyard]

Gosh Evan do you ever sleep? But I feel compelled to reply...


On Tue, Aug 6, 2019 at 9:37 PM Evan Leibovitch <evan at telly.org> wrote:

> Hi Maureen,
>
> On Wed, 7 Aug 2019 at 02:01, Maureen Hilyard <maureen.hilyard at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Evan, in my example cos I am always looking at what is happening in my
>> backyard, what I am saying too is that end-users in my space don't care,
>> but that's because they are unaware.
>>
>
> Unaware of what?
>
> Unaware of Internet domains?
> Unaware of the ability to purchase a top-level domain?
> or Unaware of the possibility that such a purchase could be reduced in
> price under certain circumstances.
>

All of the above. I live on an island where most people aren't really
interested because the majority contact with the internet is with mobiles
and they only use what they can afford which is very little on local
salaries. Adults seem to spend their money on cigarettes at $33 a packet of
20 the youngsters spend their money on the Internet and pay $50 for 5GB of
mobile data. They dont need to know that Facebook is a domain. However with
the advent of cable next year and a cable company actually competing with
the current monopoly satellite service provider, things might start getting
interesting. Also a new Telecommunications Act when the government finally
puts it through parliament will enable lots of opportunities for new
businesses and other entrepreneurial ventures. This is when domains may
start to feature. This is my backyard. End-users dont know the potential of
being a registrant because they havent had the chance to know what domains
are and to see how domains might be used. They dont participate because they*
really* don't know.  But the potential for change is just around the
corner. And while  there is a lot of learning and setting up that needs to
take place but there are also political and cultural barriers.

Regardless, the capacity building WG is working with Brian Gutterman on a
Registrant ICANN Learn course to explain what is involved in being a
registrant and the potential that can come about through domains. This is
an ideal time for people in the Cook Islands to do this course so that they
get a better understanding of being a registrant before more broadband
becomes available.  It would be good to know how they can use a domain to
set up and promote their business or their personal or NGO websites. I see
this course as being one means of supporting new registrants.

Maureen, I will respectfully disagree wholeheartedly with your assertion.
> Indeed, in your backyard lie a number of the domain-name world's great
> small-player success stories, in one case a TLD is the source of ten
> percent of the country's whole GDP. The potential of Internet domains in
> the region is well understood by governments and entrepreneurs. There is a
> big difference between "they don't participate because they don't know" and
> "they don't participate because they know and choose to stay away".
>
> (BTW, there is a GREAT video that explains domain names to the "unaware",
> through the lens of the Tuvalu experience, that can be found here
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34gHoxqZlJc>. I highly recommend it.)
>
> There are lots of stories similar to that of Tuvalu and Niue who have
others running their cctlds and giving a small share back to the country
concerned. There are rules about .ck domain names and because the
government is a part owner of the domain they are very fussy about how it
is used. There have been lots of requests as you can imagine. But again
this is a government level decision not end-user..


> In any case, I am unclear of the logic that leads from the premise of
> "people are unaware" to a conclusion of "therefore we should subsidize
> certain gTLD applications".
>

Well that didn't come from me...  support does not necessarily mean
subsidise.


> Cheers,
>
> - Evan
>
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