Re: [ga] Responses by .biz/info/org Registry Operators are Unacceptable

[Karl Auerbach <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

kidsearch wrote:

> We desperately need a REAL nonprofit TLD such as .NPO that is managed by a
> true nonprofit for true nonprofits.

Might I suggest that we eliminate the idea that TLDs are some sort of 
semantic containers?

DNS was not designed as a semantic directory.  It serves, quite poorly, 
in that role only because, before there were search engines, people got 
used to using it as a crude tool.

Consider the idea of ".kids" - is it a TLD about young goats or human 
children?  And ".cat" - is it about Catalonian, about domesticated 
felines, or about boats with two parallel hulls?

And isn't imposing an English word onto a TLD a kind of Anglo-American 
hubris?

Consider the issue of what is a "non profit".  First of all, "non 
profit" is not synonymous with "non governmental".

Second "non profit" is something which does not mean that the body is 
somehow beneficent and in the public interest.  For example, here in 
California, one category of "non profit" corporations are religious 
institutions.  That is a clearly separate category from "public benefit" 
corporations (ICANN lives under this category.)

Non profit does not mean that the principals are unpaid or poorly paid - 
often non profit structures are simply legal shadows for money pumps 
into the pockets of the executives.

To my mind the ultimate example of the dangers of using a TLD as a 
category was when someone came to me and asked about the possibility of 
establishing a TLD for Christians.  I pointed out that history is filled 
with wars about who is or who is not a Christian.  Can you imagine the 
anger that would be generated if someone set themselves up as the 
"official internet" judge of who is or is not a Christian, Jew, Muslim, 
Buddist, etc, etc?

Now, if ICANN were to do what it has never done - which is to start 
granting TLD slots at a reasonable rate (one per day would be fine by 
me, but I'd be happy with one a week) without intrusive inspection of 
purposes, business plans, or any other non-technical matter - then TLDs 
could arise that garner meaning through use rather than having an 
arbitrary meaning endowed upon it by ICANN.

		--karl--