On behalf of the 9700 members of Butler Rural
Electric Cooperative, I am writing to urge the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN) to approve the proposal for a .co-op top-level domain.
The National cooperative Business Association (NCBA) and Poptel are proposing .co-op
with the full endorsement of the International Cooperative Alliance.Butler Rural
Electric Cooperative is a non-profit electric utility in southwestern Ohio. In additional
to electric service, we are an Internet service provider. The Cooperative also
provides rebates and incentives for energy-efficient water heaters and heating systems.
My role at the Cooperative is to promote our marketing programs and also to maintain
our high quality customer service.
As a consumer-owned electric cooperative, Butler
Rural Electric Cooperative works hard to provide our members with the best services
possible. And we follow the International Cooperative Alliance cooperative
principles, such as member ownership and control. That makes our job more challenging
than investor-owned businesses, but it has also earned us the trust of the people
we serve.
As consumers become increasingly cynical about the constant ebb and flow
of new and defunct e-businesses, its critical that cooperative businesses have an
opportunity to identify themselves to consumers and others who prefer to do business
with us. While many cooperatives use .com and .org, neither accurately characterizes
co-ops to Internet users. Consumers need a way to find the businesses they
trust on the Internet. The co-op TLD will help do that.
I urge you to move
quickly to approve .co-op.