Personal Comments on the EOI process

[fred krueger <frkrueger@xxxxxx>]

I am making this comment solely in a personal capacity, as someone who has, 
over the last two years invested significant time and resources to the gTLD 
process in general.

I won’t repeat the general arguments in favor of EOIs. But I would like to 
respond to the few objections that I have seen so far in this forum, and 
privately.

Several parties have argued that we cannot have EOIs unless the DAG is 
finalized. As the comments on this forum indicate however, this is a risk that 
the applicant community is generally willing to take. As Werner Staub puts it 
“it’s a manageable risk”.

While I certainly would prefer the DAG to be finalized, I (and most other 
applicants) now see the handbook as largely complete. In fact, apart from some 
discussion on vertical separation and GPML, the public comments to DAG3 have 
dwindled in number and substance. I just don’t buy the argument that serious 
applicants would not pay the proposed EOI fee because of fears of vast changes 
in the DAG

The second argument against EOIs is that somehow it places “implicit liability” 
on ICANN to officially green light the gTLD process. This is a deceptive 
argument, made by groups that systematically oppose new gTLDs. My comment here 
is simply that as long as the terms and conditions of the EOI process are well 
defined, and there is a defined timeline for a refund of the money in the case 
the gTLD process is dropped, no such liability exists.

ICANN is now at a crossroads. For the last 18 months, it has encouraged 
entrepreneurs such as myself, cities such as New York and Paris, and even 
brands to spend significant amounts of time and money on the premise that gTLDs 
were coming in 2010.  This process cannot simply be stopped by invoking 
"overarching issues" and the AOC. 

With EOIs there is a clear and simple way to move forward. Properly done, the 
EOI process in no way commits ICANN to the proposed gTLD rollout. What it does 
is clarify the landscape in a public and actionable way. Let's get the data out 
there, in the open, and use this data to define a path forward. We don't need 
to over-complicate this process. We need real data.


Fred Krueger