RE: [bc-gnso] Blog post

[<jarkko.ruuska@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Ron for sharing this.

The blog post was a pretty accurate and thorough description of what has been 
going on lately with ICANN and the gTLD program. I agree with you for the most 
part, but some things you wrote didn't make any sense to me and left me in 
state of confusion.

More specifically the topic related to the brand TLDs was the one that caught 
my eye. You stated that the schedule of so called brand TLDs should be pushed 
further compared to the regular TLDs. And the reason for this would be the 
unfinished work with the definition of SRSU and other brand TLD related issues.

I really fail to see the logic in this. Let me list a couple of reasons why 
brand TLDs should be delegated first rather than be put to the end of the queue.


1)      The companies behind brand TLDs are usually in good financial standing 
and can afford well-known back-end registry service provider or skilled enough 
people to run the registry properly thus posing no threat to stability or 
security of the root.

2)      The brands by definition have a reputation to maintain. That thing 
alone guarantees that the TLDs are properly operated to avoid any negative 
publicity.

3)      The requirement of having to use registrars (Which SRSU model is 
supposed to fix) is nothing but a small inconvenience and cost item  for big 
corporations. Nothing really keeps them from applying a standard TLD and bear 
the added minor financial impact of contracting a registrar.

4)      ICANN can't really say no to the money these kind of easy and safe TLD 
applications would bring on the table (it is estimated that there would be at 
least 50-150 of them, $185,000 each, you can do the math).

5)      Last but not least ICANN could be facing legal implications of delaying 
the brand TLDs as the big corporations might find it as a discriminatory 
approach


Thanks,

-jr


JARKKO RUUSKA
Head of Internet Domain Initiatives
Compatibility and Industry Collaboration
Nokia Corporation
Visiokatu 1, 33720 Tampere, Finland
Tel: +358 50 324 7507
E-Mail: jarkko.ruuska@xxxxxxxxx


From: owner-bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ext 
Ron Andruff
Sent: 23. lokakuuta 2010 0:53
To: 'bc - GNSO list'
Subject: [bc-gnso] Blog post

Dear all,

As it may have relevance to members of the BC, I thought I should make you 
aware of a blog post I made on CircleID regarding the long delays and long 
timelines that lay ahead vis-à-vis new gTLDs [ 
http://www.circleid.com/posts/and_then_there_was_the_issue_of_time/ ].

The October 12th BC meeting in Washington, particularly the session on "brands 
as gTLDs" that Fred Felman chaired, was extremely valuable in fleshing out the 
complexities around brands as TLDs and got me to thinking more about how ICANN 
best handle this important aspect.  I recommend that members go back and read 
the transcripts or listen to the MP3 to learn more if they didn't participate 
remotely.  It got me to thinking more about what still needs to be done and how 
we should address that.  In my post, I suggest putting all brands on a separate 
path towards gTLDs until such time as the issues around SRSU and the like have 
been properly considered and appropriate recommendations are put in place.  I 
believe that this would address a number of concerns from different groups and 
build institutional confidence in ICANN.

Kind regards,

RA

Ronald N. Andruff
President

RNA Partners, Inc.
220 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10001
+ 1 212 481 2820 ext. 11