ON SEEKING FAIRNESS IN THE PRIORITIZATION DRAW

["Anthony Harris" <harris@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ICANN is to be congratulated on this proposed way forward in the evaluation 
sequence.

 

There are, however, a couple of issues that should be weighed in the scales of 
a balanced 

and equitable overall strategy. As an applicant from the LAC region with one 
single

application, I venture to submit them:

 

Firstly, much has been said about the lack of applications from the Latin 
America/Caribbean

and Africa regions. The luck of the draw could well relegate many of these to 
places in the waiting

line far behind multiple application applicants from the developed regions, 
with tens or hundreds of

drawn place numbers in the line. This would hardly signal to the world that 
ICANN cares about

increasing participation from those two regions.

 

Secondly, and as a minimum, the waiting line that emerges from the draw, should 
protect applicants

with one single application from being unfairly relegated by applicants with 
numerous applications

(hence with numerous drawn place numbers). The comment submitted on 25th., 
October, and titled

"Every Applicant Should Get a Draw First", addresses this issue to perfection. 
As the waiting line

emerges from the draw, no applicant should have more than one place in the 
line, until after every applicant

has one place in the line. Only then can an applicant with multiple 
applications, take up another place

in line.

 

We thank ICANN for this opportunity to submit this comment, and trust it may 
receive due consideration

in the interest of basic fairness.

 

Anthony Harris

Executive Director

eCOM-LAC

Latin America and Caribbean Federation

of Internet and Electronic Commerce

www.ecomlac.org