Re: [wg-c] CONSENSUS CALLS -- THIS IS IT

[Harald Tveit Alvestrand <Harald@Alvestrand.no>]

At 11:29 11.04.2000 -0400, Jonathan Weinberg wrote:

>PROPOSED ROUGH CONSENSUS ITEM NUMBER ONE
>
>         The initial rollout should include a range of top level domains, 
> from open
>TLDs to restricted TLDs with more limited scope.

Yes.



>PROPOSED ROUGH CONSENSUS ITEM NUMBER TWO
>
>         Criteria for assessing a gTLD application, subject to current 
> technical
>constraints and evolving technical opportunities, should be based on all of
>the following principles :
>
>1. Meaning: An application for a TLD should explain the significance of the
>proposed TLD string, and how the applicant contemplates that the new TLD
>will be perceived by the relevant population of net users.  The application
>may contemplate that the proposed TLD string will have its primary semantic
>meaning in a language other than English.
>
>2. Enforcement: An application for a TLD should explain the mechanism for
>charter enforcement where relevant and desired.
>
>3. Differentiation: The selection of a TLD string should not confuse net
>users, and so TLDs should be clearly differentiated by the string and/or by
>the marketing and functionality associated with the string.
>
>4. Diversity: New TLDs are important to meet the needs of an expanding
>Internet community.  They should serve both commercial and non-commercial
>goals.
>
>5. Honesty: A TLD should not unnecessarily increase opportunities for
>malicious or criminal elements who wish to defraud net users.
>
>6. Competition: The authorization process for new TLDs should not be used
>as a means of protecting existing service providers from competition.

Yes. (I have doubts about whether #3 and #6 can be achieved at the same 
time, but this may be as good as it gets)


>PROPOSED ROUGH CONSENSUS ITEM NUMBER THREE
>
>         WG-C recommends that the Names Council charter a working group to 
> develop policy regarding internationalized domain names using non-ASCII 
> characters.

No.

As technical advisor to the IETF IDN working group, I feel that the
technical issues with regard to internationalized domain names are not 
worked out to a degree where we can make sensible policy - we do not yet 
know the technical constraints such a policy has to conform to.

NOTE: This is "No, not at this time", not "No, not ever".

                          Harald

--
Harald Tveit Alvestrand, EDB Maxware, Norway
Harald.Alvestrand@edb.maxware.no