Re: [ga] Re: [More misinformation from Verisign re: WLS]

["L. Gallegos" <jandl@jandl.com>]

On 30 May 2003 at 16:03, Don Brown wrote:

> I have never endorsed the Alternate Root, but I can certainly see the
> merit of it, particularly in the face of what ICANN has come to be and of
> what ICANN has come to stand for.
> 
> If the Community wants equity, democracy and a voice in Internet
> governance, then the Community will need to create it.  It's not
> happening within the ICANN structure and the evidence shows it's
> ICANN's intent for it never to happen.
> 

Those who have been involved with the inclusive name space have been saying the 
same thing for many years.  ICANN was the result of special interests.  It could 
never have evolved into a true community effort because all the cards were stacked 
from the beginning.  The alternate roots are not just rootzone files.  They are efforts 
by much of the community to have exactly what it needs - choice and a voice.  The 
idea of multiple roots is not something to be avoided, but embraced.  Allowing 
market forces to determine which TLDs will survive and which will not is also 
something to be embraced.  It also doesn't mean that a small entity can't operate a 
TLD, that they must be either for-profit or non-profit, free or fee based.  For that 
matter, multiple TLD registries may have both and some do. Some are US based 
and many are not.

If people could just get beyond the notion that a TLD is an index or search engine, 
the concept of thousands of TLDs would be welcomed.  Search engines today 
based their results on page text, not domain names.  If there are thousands of TLDs 
(and there are) search engines would come up with many methods to list web sites 
(for those who think that the internet is the web).  Trademarks would be irrelevant, 
as they should be in the DNS and there are many alternatives to the few open TLDs 
offered in the USG root by ICANN favorites.

There is already an effort to scan for all existing TLDs and produce a list that anyone 
can access.  I would love to see the community get behind efforts such as this and 
route around the damage.  

As for the alternate roots themselves, anyone can join the community and have a 
voice.

Leah



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