Closed Generic Top-Level Domains: a clear violation of ICANN Core Principle 3

[Roger Lancefield <roger@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Re: Closed Generic Top-Level Domains (TLDs)

To whom it may concern,

As someone who has used the Web for work and pleasure for almost 19
years now, I share the incredulity and concern expressed by many who
have submitted comments to the following list with regard to closed
generic top-level domains:

http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-closed-generic-05feb13/

The very idea of closed generic top-level domains runs counter to the
spirit and intent of ICANN's Core Principle No. 3, the principle in
which the nature of ICANN's mandate is most clearly articulated:

3. ICANN’s Articles of Incorporation establish that the corporation
shall operate for the benefit of the Internet community as a whole and
shall pursue the charitable and public purposes of lessening the burdens
of government and promoting the global public interest in the
operational stability of the Internet by performing and co-ordinating
functions associated with the technical management of Internet names and
addresses.

Source: https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/Core+Principles

Closed generic domains would effectively create monopolies over names
and phrases so fundamental within our language and contemporary
discourse, that any organisation gaining control of them would come to
possess powerful and undeserved, communicative and promotional
advantages over rivals or competitors. What public good would this
domain name omnipotence serve? The very idea runs counter to the open
and egalitarian ethos that has prevailed on the Internet for decades now.

I urge you to abandon this entirely unnecessary and damaging idea.
Without wishing to shift into hyperbole, I believe that the name(s) of
any individual or committee members who sign off on this plan will go
down in infamy.

Yours sincerely

Roger Lancefield
15 Braxted Park
Streatham
London
SW16 3DW
UK