Last Minute Restrictions

["Ray Fassett" <ray@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

To the Board members of ICANN:

I believe the spirit of ICANN resolution 02.152 was to move forward with a
limited number of new sTLD's by way of application.  The Plan for Action
drafted by Dr. Lynn in December 2002 did not propose to restrict sTLD
applicants to only those that filed in the fall of 2000.

In March 2003, a detailed document titled "Criteria to Be Used in the
Selection of New Sponsored TLD's" was published by ICANN that did not
propose to restrict this application process to those that filed in the
fall of 2000.  Certainly, this would be deemed a crucial criteria that was
missing from the document.  My opinion is that if the Board was considering
such a restriction, then the March 2003 published document would have been
the proper place to communicate as much to the community, especially those
paying close attention to ICANN resolution 02.152.

In short, the RFP posted June 24 contained a new restriction to ICANN
resolution 02.152 that, under no uncertain terms, did not exist previous.
If the new restriction indeed "reflects the Board's opinion in this regard"
then there was plenty of opportunity in both Amsterdam and Rio to
communicate as much.  This new restriction as contained in the June 24 RFP
may have merit (though this yet to be expounded upon by the Board).  But,
relative to prior published documents and discussion, the restriction came
as a surprise.  And this defines the problem that I personally have with
it.  A sudden announcement as part of a surprise RFP in Montreal (largely
contradictory to prior communication) is not, in my opinion, the way to do
things. I respectfully request for the Board to take under consideration
that it is reasonable to conclude that members of the community, between
December 2002 and June 2003, interpreted there would not be such a
restriction of resolution 02.152 and this RFP.

For reasons stated, I favor allowing all willing sponsored TLD applicants
to file as part of this RFP and to not restrict applicants to only those
that filed in the fall of 2000.

thank you,

Ray Fassett

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