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Classes and timelines, the new gTLD debate
Thursday, March 5. 2009
The ICANN Board in session during the Mexico meeting Public Forum (Photo SVG).
Two of the most talked about points at this week's 34th ICANN meeting in Mexico are the new gTLD program's timeline and the possibility of having different classes for different types of new gTLD applicants.
From Monday's joint AC/SO meeting, in which I was involved as a GNSO Council member and where ICANN's different advisory committee and supporting organisations came together for informal discussions, to today's (Thursday) Public Forum, the two topics have been at the fore.
The class idea is to have ICANN differentiate between types of applicants so that, basically, the "easy" ones aren't delayed by the "difficult" TLD applications. Proponents include the so-called GeoTLD applicants, such as cities and regions, which have the backing of their local authority or government and therefore should probably generate less validation issues.
From the various discussions I've had this week, it is clear that ICANN staff are not very open to this class idea for the moment. The fear seems to be that correctly identifying TLD applicants might prove difficult, with the risk that certain applicants would be able to "slip through" by claiming to be in an easy class, even though they are not.
One other very clear message to ICANN is to avoid further delays to the timeline. During the Public Forum, there was clear frustration with the fact that no clear start date for the first application round has been given, leaving new TLD initiatives to continue pumping time, money and energy into their projects without any real endpoint given to them.
ICANN CEO Paul Twomey answered one such question with an attempt at clarifying the expected timeline, giving dates and details on the number of possible draft versions of the applicant guidebook that I have not heard before. "We suspect there will have to be at least 3 rounds of the application guidebook and maybe 4," he said. "Our present expectations are that there could not be an application round before December 2009, and possibly it will be in Feb 2010."
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