RE: [gtld-council] The focus of GNSO Council involvement in IDN
In addition to all the issues Cary noted, I would like to add another layer
of complexity. The Council, as well as the other bodies of ICANN more
generally, should be keenly aware of the competition aspects of aliasing
versus alternative proposals for the implementation of IDNs.
One possible path for IDNs would allow the incumbent registries to leverage
their existing contractual relationships as administrators of ascii
character TLDs to become the sole providers of IDN versions of the existing
gTLDs. On this path, the incumbents would gain the right to operate IDN
gTLDs without a bidding and award process. Take all of the competition
issues we've been debating with the award of .COM and multiply them across
the language space of the entire world.
Another possible path is to understand that each IDN version of .COM, .NET.
.ORG, .INFO, .MUSEUM, .AERO, .COOP, .PRO, etc. is a new TLD, subject to a
new award and bidding process. I have no doubt that our capable and talented
friends in the registry constituency will win their fair share of these
bids. In the process of bidding, however, costs will come down. We may
finally see meaningful competition between registries. We also may find that
a company from outside the United States may be an excellent candidate to
manage a Chinese, Malay or Hindi language TLD.
This is something to keep in mind as the issue moves forward.
-- Bret
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