This is meant as a short summary of the proposal from the Global Name Registry (GNR)
for the TLD .name.We are proposing the introduction of a personal domain space
where registrations will be done on the third level. The third level will be entirely
controlled by the Registrant, as second level domains are controlled today on i.e.
.com. The Global Name Registry wants to make it possible for far more people with
the same surname to use the same second level domain. Today, when Alex Johnson registers
i.e. Johnson.net, it effectively blocks John Johnson, Ken Johnson and all other Johnsons
around the world from using the domain name. Only in the US, there are more than
2,200,000 Johnsons, and there is an enormous amount of people sharing the same name,
as names like Garcia, Mueller, Hansen, Ivanov, Suzuki, Abdullah, Patel, and Kim are
shared by millions of people worldwide. GNR wants all to have a personal space on
the Internet, with their own name, for lifelong usage.
We think .name is a good
first introduction, but we have also in this application requested or foreseen the
creation of .NOM, .SAN, .XING and .JINA, as reflections of the "name" concept in
other languages and cultures. We have chosen to initially focus on .name given the
general English speaking nature of the Internet, but language and culture are ways
in which we express our individuality and we expect this individuality to be reflected
in various TLD strings after successfully proving the need for a .name.
The
concept of a personal domain space has existed for some time and the GNR proposal
is a response to this need. A survey recently conducted by Nameplanet.com (the world's
largest provider of personal email) to 100,000 of its users showed that over 60%
believed they would use a personal domain on .name frequently. We firmly believe
there is a need for a domain name space like .name, and hope that ICANN will introduce
this for private users of the Internet in this first round.
Please also find our
application on our website, www.theglobalname.org
Hakon Haugnes
The Global Name
Registry LTD