|
Given the short amount of time that ICANN gave to applicants to prepare their proposals
and the minimal amount of solicitation for the proposals, I must conclude that ICANN
has already exhibited some preference for pioneers. With more time and perhaps a
small amount of advertising, they could've generated more new corporate interest
in new TLDs (generic and otherwise) that would've led to more applications. Given
the current popularity of .web, it seems reasonable to assume that some potential
applicants were dissuaded from risking $50,000 for .web. In my opinion most
potential applicants who chose not to apply for .web did so more because of concern
regarding IODs pioneering efforts than because of strong competition from companies
such as Afilias or Neustar possibly being in the mix. Still other potential
applicants were simply unaware of what was going on. So what's wrong with trying
to establish a new TLD in an alternate root system? Isn't that a nice testing ground
for new TLDs? That’s being a pioneer. Wouldn't it be reasonable for investors/registrants
to sink their money into a new tld (such as .KIDS) in an alternate root system as
a proof of concept? No fraud, just speculation. Wouldn't it be fair to have
multiple different registries competing for investors /registrants using the same
TLD? Wouldn’t it be fair to then choose a registry active in the alternate
root and accept the registrants along with the registry that proves to be the winner?
The only preferential treatment afforded to the registrants with the losing registry
is the possibility that an alternate TLD is needed. In that (unlikely) case
you might accept the registrants with the alternate registry. What's not fair
about that? The investors/registrants take risks, but they are rewarded if
their registry is chosen. Investors/registrants who want to spread their risk
around might register with several “pre” registries. These “pre” registries could
compete with their offers to entice investors/registrants. This model seems very
ordinary to me. What is the purpose of having some sort of mad rush at an artificially
created starting line? Without these pre-registrations you must necessarily impose
a democratic system where some are more equal than others.
|
|
|