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Username: huguesdb
Date/Time: Wed, November 1, 2000 at 12:35 AM GMT
Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer V5.5 using Windows 98
Score: 5
Subject: risk....

Message: 		 

 
        Christopher,

The risk is not technical as you rightly point out... but political.

I believe many people want different things from the internet. Here are a few of my preferences:
  1) a safe place for kids to surf,
  2) a means of communicating information safely to financial and 
     government institutions,
  3) good places to shop without having to use escrow or take
     ridiculous precautions,
  4) vote for political parties, platforms, local elections, etc.
  5) find credible sources of information, experts,
  6) communicate with friends and people who can open my horizons.

None of these are currently feasible from my point of view.

I don't know about you but I live in a country where I can leave my car open all day without theft, kids go out at night without fear, my house is open - no burglar alarms, I say hello to people I cross in the street, even if I do not know them and I will stop to see if someone needs help if he/she looks distressed or in trouble, walk into a shop, chose what I want and ask them to send me the invoice - without even showing a passport.

That is the kind of Internet I would like - and this is not the kind of internet we have today. I have been 'robbed' of over 2'000 UD$ on the internet, have about 1 to 2 virus attacks each week, have had people use my PC over the net for something weird, receive spams every day, am solicited several times a day by mail for absolute junk, etc., etc. ad nauseum.

Maybe you guys are used to the 'wild west' but what I, as a user, am looking for are sites that have a quality label. The only ones I find trustworthy today are the .int and .edu.

Adding new .coms will not do much for me as a user - and as such, I count on organisations like ICANN to help sort out the mess, not add to it - just a I count on our politicians to organise the social structure so that I can have a comfortable, trouble-free life.

This is very personal reasoning... but it is to illustrate a point - I believe that TLDs are a wonderful way of creating 'quality labels' on the internet. I do not see many others and would be very disappointed if this opportunity was missed.

We have agreed that a few generic TLDs will not significantly solve the scarcity of names - it will not add much value - and may destroy your business. So why do it? The post by cyber-cynic 'Are we all missing the point?' offers elements of a more reasonable solution...

The risk for ICANN is to add to the confusion on the net rather than help reduce it. This is not what I expect of any elected body which represents my interests (ok, don't flame me...ICANN is only partially elected...that's another discussion).

In political terms, that is a risk of survival - and the expectations are very high. Good luck ICANN!

Best regards,
Hugues Du Bois
Switzerland


     
 

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