Australian Government To Consider Public Comments On ICANNs gTLD’s.
June 22, No CommentsThe Australian Government has released a Fact Sheet on ICANN’s new gTLD process. The purpose is to raise community awareness and allow interested people the opportunity to feed comments back to the Government.
A spokesperson from the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) told Domainer Income that the Australian Government “is not conducting a formal consultation with a set time frame“, however DBCDE “will consider any comments received“.
Its known that many Governments, including Australia, provide advice to ICANN on matters of interest or concern through the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). However, final decision making authority ultimately rests with the ICANN Board.
The Australian Government is an active member of the GAC, and has been since its inception in 1999. Officers from the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy represent the Australian Government in the GAC. Note that ICANN meets three times a year and right now, the GAC is meeting in Brussels.
This presents many Domain Investors with a unique opportunity to provide feedback directly to the Australian government, without going through auDA. The reason I mention that, is because auDA holds the “delegation of authority for administration of the au ccTLD” on behalf of the Commonwealth (of Australia).
As such, I’d STRONGLY encourage everyone to submit questions, comments and/or concerns – about ICANN’s proposal to the following:
Via Email: newgTLDs at DBCDE.gov.au
In Writing:
The Director
Internet Governance, IPND and Numbering Team
Department of Broadband, Communications
and the Digital Economy
GPO Box 2154
Canberra ACT 2601
Feel free to post a comment and let everyone know you made a submission.
Survey Says: New gTLDs Pointless, Complicate Matters & Not Improve The Web
June 11, No CommentsAccording to Future Laboratory and Gandi.net, most (two thirds) of web users feel that a .anything domain will infiltrate the web with futile domain names such as .god.
Since ICANN made the announcement last October that would allow any organization in 2012 with $185,000 to apply for a generic domain—speculation has stirred the internet community.
The liberalization of domain names was suggested to encourage diversity but is clearly creating much apprehension instead. According to Tom Savigar of the Future Laboratory, the change is seen as being “a daunting change to the internet.”
The exact numbers indicate that of the 1,000 people who were polled:
- 65% believe the changes would cause pointless domain names to bombard the web
- 60% didn’t feel it would improve the web
- 46% feel it would complicate things
Some web users (18%) think ICANN should be responsible for leading the new look while another 18% think it should be left to the website hosting companies. Another 13% would give it to the UK government and 12% say leave it up to society.
Other opinions foresee future improvements. Joe White, Chief operating officer of Gandi.net claims “The current plans for liberalization reflect a great opportunity to get the domain space in order. ICANN now has the opportunity to set clear guidelines and enforce a higher standard of practice with new TLDs so they are not littered with spam and faulty extensions. This could be the beginning of the great clear-up of the future internet.”
As for the estimated two thirds of the population that is unaware, ignorance is bliss.
Source: The Guardian and London South East.
