[tld-acceptance] Why so long?

[designer@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Last year in August the GNSO Council put forward a position paper  (cited 
below) on this issue -- see 
http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg00047.html

Perhaps someone can explain why it has taken ICANN so long to begin to deal 
with this issue?  Perhaps the ISP constituency can comment on the progress it 
has made in this area...



SUPPORT OF NEW TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS
BY THE ISPs AND APPLICATION PROVIDERS 

SUPPORT  OF NEW TOP LEVEL DOMAINS
             
In November 2000, seven new TLDs were approved by ICANN and subsequently added 
to the root.  These included several TLDs with 4 or more characters (.aero, 
.coop, .info, .name, and .museum).  Although the implementation of these new 
TLDs began in 2001, they found considerable barriers for being accepted by ISPs 
and application providers worldwide, including web hosting companies and 
e-commerce sites.  Even several of the three letter new TLDs, including .biz, 
ran into some difficulty in being accepted by many of the world?s leading ISPs. 
 

Some ISPs and application providers are using incomplete domain name lists for 
supporting e-mail and URL addresses and it is obvious their systems do not 
check and update the current validation list of TLDs ("generic" and country 
code-related) published by IANA at http://www.iana.org/domain-names.htm.

This is critical because when an incomplete list is used, new TLDs will not be 
recognized as valid domains and the system may try to reach them via different 
domains.  For example, ?entity.xxxx" is a valid name because it is included in 
the IANA list; however, if ISPs do not recognize "xxxx." as a valid TLD, this 
is turned into "entity.xxxx.com" and http://www.entity.xxxx.com"; instead (and 
then fails or finds the wrong host).


ICANN PLANS

According to several recent reports, ICANN intends to expand the list of new 
gTLDs, including a limited number of sponsored top-level domains this year.  
Such expansion may take place at regular intervals. Thus, it is essential that 
ICANN and its constituencies, in particularly the ISPs, are aware that at 
present this problem exists and, as a result, new gTLDs are not able to 
function adequately.  

New potential registry operators should be aware that this barrier exists and 
ICANN should consider coordinating these issues more closely.  Global 
acceptance of all valid domain names is an integral part of maintaining 
Internet stability.


CONCLUSION

It is important to note:

·       New TLDs, added to the TLD list in Nov 2000, are not yet globally 
accepted by some ISPs and application providers, including web hosting 
companies and e-commerce sites.

·       Security techniques, which have been designed to protect the DNS 
system, are creating barriers for non-accessibility (acting as filters).

·       ISPs, when rejecting valid forms of domain names, email addresses or 
URLs, effectively deny service to the user of those entities or cyber 
communities.

·       ICANN seeks to extend new TLDs to the current TLD list despite the 
above-described problem.

·       New potential TLDs should be made aware of this problem before 
submitting applications at the next opening.


RECOMMENDATIONS

As this problem is causing economical hardship to sponsors, registry operators 
and consumers, we recommend that the ISP Constituency and the various ICANN 
constituencies along with the ICANN community collaborate more closely to 
minimize these problems.