Re: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] Draft replacement proposal for bundling

[Eric Brunner-Williams <ebw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew,

You wrote "... this discount open to anyone, as our goal is to get the 
scripts out there -- a potential benefit to all script users ..."
This would then allow Versign access to discounts for the scripts of 
its strategic choices, advancing its particular interest.
Just to take as an example, the Hebrew Script ".com equivalent" that 
some ISPs provide in Israel, and assume that the Hebrew Script market 
is sufficiently small that a second registry offering Hebrew Script 
would be problematic,
1. Are the interests of the Hebrew Script users best advanced by 
Verisign's successful execution of its goal of getting ".com" in the 
Hebrew Script?
2. Are the interests of the Hebrew Script users best advanced by the 
current ".com in Hebrew" operator's successful execution of its goal 
of getting ".com" in the Hebrew Script?
3. Do the interests of the Hebrew Script users lie elsewhere than in 
the choice of Verisign or someone else operating a ".com" in the 
Hebrew Script?
Obviously, Verisign can "find the money" at any discount faster than a 
Community that meets our test for need. Similarly, Verisign's 
competitor, someone I, and I suspect others know, in the Hebrew Script 
market, can "find the money" at any discount faster than a Community 
that meets our test for need.
If the cost is the same for Verisign, and for a 
investor-or-speculator, as it is for a Community, then it seems likely 
that where the Community meets a needs criteria, its ability to 
support two or more registries is problematic, and therefore granting 
any applicant a lowered cost barrier to entry in that script market is 
really the granting of a script monopoly to some entity external to 
the Community.
Really, if our only goal was to "get the scripts out there", the best 
course of action would be to offer terms to Verisign. I think our 
goals are more complicated than just "get the scripts out there", as 
it makes a difference who is offering a script, to whom, and under 
what policies.
Eric