Stephane Van Gelder

A very partial view of the Internet… and the world

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:50:53 +0100

Chanced upon a little beauty of an article about how the US invented and paid for the Internet and should therefore keep controlling it forever.

Now I realise that the author's views aren't shared by everyone in the States. The site on which the article is being run is obviously slightly Republican friendly to say the least, and the article's "foreigners are going to take our Internet away from us" diatribe is obviously more political than anything else. Still, I can't help but be worried when the article's author, Bradley A. Blakeman, is an ex American President's deputy assistant and now teaches politics at a major US university.

With credentials like that, some people might actually believe untruths like "the Internet was invented by America". That's sad, because while there's no doubt Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn are the Net's fathers, what about its uncles? People like Frenchman Louis Pouzin, who is credited by both Cerf and Kahn as having laid the foundations for the Internet's cornerstone: the TCP/IP protocol.

And let's not forget that without Brit Tim Berners-Lee, I wouldn't have even been able to read Blakeman's fascinating piece of propaganda on a formatted webpage. At CERN (a European research institute located in Switzerland), Berners-Lee invented the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) and the Hypertext Markpup Language (html), two crucial parts of the true multimedia experience that is today's Internet.

Most sane, rational people realise that great enterprises like the Internet aren't built by a single person or nation. That would be like crediting all research and scientific progress made on AIDS to France because Luc Montagnier discovered HIV about 5 seconds before American Robert Gallo did.

But Blakeman doesn't seem to share the view that the Internet belongs to everyone. He argues that the Obama administration has "surrendered the Internet to foreign powers", that there is "no better country to protect the Internet than the United States" because he says "We invented it, and we paid for the research and implementation that made it possible. We are the freest most tolerant nation on earth..."

As I said, I'm worried. It's clear that the ICANN community still has its work cut out to ensure a truly global oversight of the Internet, if it has to fight such narrow minded views from the nation that still technically controls the Internet today.

Read the article here.

Good news: Nairobi meeting confirmed

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:48:05 +0100

After much worrying, talking, arguing and hesitating, ICANN has gone and done the right thing. Despite certain security concerns from participants from countries like the United States or the UK, the Nairobi meeting is on.

ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom confirmed Nairobi after Friday's special meeting of the ICANN Board, convened specifically to discuss the situation.

"We recognize that many developing country cities have higher ambient levels of street crime and much of the world (the U.S. and Europe included) faces international terrorist threats and attacks," Beckstrom explained after the meeting. "Both are simply facts of life."

It's good to see some measure of common sense returning to this Nairobi debate. Yes there are risks, risks are everywhere. But ICANN is a global organisation and as a member of that organisation, I would rather not see it slap Kenya or any other country in the face by snubbing it (this would have been the second time for Kenya, a fact which would have understandably irked the Kenyans).

"Given that ICANN is committed to "One world. One Internet. Everyone connected." we have engaged and will continue to engage with the whole world," concludes Rod Beckstrom.

I couldn't agree more.

Does a new ICANN policy chief make the Internet a better place?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:48:51 +0100

Although unconfirmed at this stage, the ICANN grapevine has been buzzing the last few days with the news that ICANN's Vice President for policy development Denise Michel was about to be replaced.

Former Manager of public participation Kieren McCarthy has just confirmed the news on his personal blog with a scathing piece. "Of the hundreds of people I have worked with, some of them very difficult, I have only truly disliked two," writes Kieren, before going on to explain that Denise was one of them and that she "infected the whole work environment with destructive and negative behaviour."

Since becoming a GNSO Councillor, the GNSO being responsible for setting policy for the generic namespace, I have obviously worked with Denise on several occasions, but never closely enough to know whether Kieren's words are an exaggeration or not.

But I did work closely with Kieren on several projects within ICANN. I know him to be an extremely fair and honest person that will always tell it like it really is. So if he thinks that "when, in six months’ time, everyone is much happier about the process used to decide vital policies for the global Internet, you will be able to track it back to this day," adding "the Internet has become a better place today" I tend to trust his judgment.

Kieren names David Olive as Denise Michel's replacement and the new person in charge of what is one of ICANN's key departments.

Chinese meltdown: individuals barred from .CN, now allowed back?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:23:17 +0100

What's going on in China? After taking everyone totally by surprise when they closed .CN to individuals on December 14, 2009, the Chinese authorities then went one step further and announced that, starting January 6, 2010, non-Chinese registrars would be barred from registering new names.

What brought this on? The new rules are a complete turnaround in policy from the laissez-faire attitude exhibited by the Chinese government and enacted by the national registry CNNIC ever since .CN was opened up as a top level domain on March 17, 2003. From that point on (previously the Chinese namespace was only open at the 3rd level, e.g. .COM.CN), China has seemingly had but one goal: amass as many .CN registrations as possible. And when the 14th million .CN domain was registered during 2009, the Chinese TLD became the world's most prolific country code.

Then came chaos. China claims the new ultra-restrictive registration rules are to limit the "authenticity, accuracy, and integrity" of its namespace. Chinese netizens have even been encouraged by the authorities to report offending websites and the domain names behind them.

However the new rules look more like a kneejerk reaction than anything carefully planned. After China's initial announcement, no-one at CNNIC or elsewhere seemed to know exactly who could register what. Not a day has gone by since during which accredited .CN registrars like INDOM haven't heard contradictory reports of what they can and can't do.

Last week, it finally seemed clear that only registered entities such as companies would now be eligible for a .CN domain and that foreign registrars could no longer register new names but could continue to manage their existing names.

Then, just as the dust finally seemed to be settling, I chanced upon this little gem. It would now seem that CNNIC has reversed the rules and will allow individuals to register domains after all. (Although INDOM's registry liaison team has been unable to confirm this and no official announcement has been made by CNNIC). "If we stop individuals obtaining domain names, they will register abroad or fake themselves as company applicants anyway," a director at CNNIC is quoted as saying, as if no-one could have thought of that 3 weeks ago…

Someone hand me that bottle of aspirin, please!

A list of new gTLDs

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:00:41 +0100

Now here's a good idea. This site gives a list of new gTLD initiatives that are known to exist. You get the TLD itself, plus related web Facebook and Twitter pages. Not all the entries in this list are up to date, but in the fast moving world of new TLDs, that's hardly surprising and certainly not a major problem.

What's the point of google.aero?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:10:31 +0100

Came across this weird domain name google.aero, which doesn't belong to Google and points to a rather farcical web page. I just have 2 questions. Why isn't Google doing anything about this? And what's the owner of this domain playing at, risking the big G's wrath by registering a Google domain and then using it for… nothing much really?

Garden furniture equates to impressive IDN sale

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:00:35 +0100

DomainPulse reports that a couple of .DE domains, including an IDN domain, have been sold for an impressive €150,000.

The two domains are gartenmöbel.de and gartenmoebel.de (garden furniture in German) and the sale is interesting for several reasons.

Number One, seeing a pair of domains sold together is not as common as it might seem, even though it makes perfect sense for a domain investor to try to cover more ground and get a wider footprint by buying two related domains.

It's also interesting to see an IDN domain reaching six figures, although obviously the domain's appeal is boosted by being sold along with the corresponding non-accented version.

This sale is yet another sign that IDNs are gaining wider acceptance and should now be given serious consideration in any domain name strategy.

New gTLDs: EOI in 2010, first application round in 2011

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:38:32 +0100

During the December 9 Board meeting, ICANN staff presented a revised project plan for completing the implementation of the new gTLD program. This is basically an updated roadmap leading up to the first application round, i.e. the start date when entities all over the world will be able to apply for their own Internet Top Level Domain.

This plan was summarised during yesterday's GNSO Council meeting. These are the major next steps expected by staff:

- A 4th version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG) will NOT be published in time for the next ICANN meeting (Nairobi, March 2010). However, significant excerpts of the DAGv4 will be, including items on trademark protection, post delegation dispute resolution, malicious conduct and the proposed registry agreement.

- A 4th DAG is expected to be published in time for ICANN's second international meeting of 2010 (Brussels, June). This should be very close to the final version.

- Following community discussion, a final version is expected to be published for the final meeting of next year (December, in Latin America (exact venue not determined yet)).

This means that the first round will likely not open until Q2 2011 at the earliest.

Although this is obviously unwelcome news for all those prospective applicants that have already been waiting for many years for the first round, this cloud does have a silver lining.

It is very likely that there will be some kind of Expression of Interest (EOI) system allowing applicants to "take their place in the queue" pending the full launch of the program with that first application round.

ICANN staff are working on a model already and will suggest that the EOI be made mandatory for all applicants. This means that even though the first round won't happen before 2011, applicants will still have to be ready to submit an EOI some time in 2010. Those that do will have taken an important first step towards their new gTLD.

However, before an EOI system can be implemented, at least two issues will have to be resolved. The first pertains to the 3 character minimum rule, which may be modified in some way. This has to be finalised as applicants need to know what they can apply for before submitting an EOI. There is also the registry/registrar vertical separation issue, as applicants need to know who (i.e. what type of entity) can apply.

ICANN Board approves plan for Expressions Of Interests in new gTLDs!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:37:27 +0100

The EOI, or Expressions Of Interest in the new gTLD program, took a step closer to reality during the ICANN Board meeting on December 9.

The Board directed staff to present a proposal for an EOI process model. This model is to be presented to the Board during its February 2010 meeting. If approved, the EOI would then be implemented.

Although some see the EOI as a sort of fast-track to applying for a new gTLD, others worry that asking staff to work on such a plan may take crucial resources away from the main work still to be done on the actual new gTLD program. But the Board obviously took the view that the EOI would be a good way of taking the new gTLD program forward.

Staff will no doubt work on the proposals that have already been made by an informal working group, of which I was a member as an observer. These include charging a submission fee of USD 55,000, making participation in the EOI mandatory for all prospective first-round applicants and publishing all the EOI received.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë and Deputy Mayor Jean-Louis Missika launch .PARIS

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:23:48 +0100

Deputy Mayor of Paris Jean-Louis Missika, sporting the official .PARIS badge, takes a look at the .PARIS support website. Photo INDOM.

Jean-Louis Missika discusses .PARIS with a few of the 1,000 guests attending the City of Paris event in the prestigious Paris town hall. Photo INDOM.

A .PARIS supporter signs the online form using one of the dedicated terminals set-up in the Paris town hall. Photo INDOM.

A special event was held last night in one of the Paris town hall's prestigious rooms to highlight the city's bid for a .PARIS TLD.

Organised as part of the Web09 show, a showcase for innovation on the Internet, the brought together over 1,000 people.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë was in attendance and Deputy Mayor Jean-Louis Missika gave a speech, in English, on the .PARIS initiative.

Attendees were able to use specially set-up computer terminals to surf the dedicated .PARIS website and show their support for the TLD by signing the web form. Nearly 400 people have already signed.

INDOM is assisting the City of Paris on the .PARIS initiative and was one of the event's official partners.

DotParis official website now open

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:32:02 +0100

Yesterday, the City of Paris launched a PR and communications campaign to garner community support for .PARIS.

A website (soon to be available in English on www.SupportDotParis.org) has been opened with a call for people to sign and show their support. Over the coming weeks, the site's content will be expanded with explanations of what .PARIS will be and who it will be aimed at.

Facebook and Twitter pages have also been opened to foster participation and discussion around .PARIS, a project for which INDOM is acting as consultant to the City of Paris.

Rethinking public participation in ICANN

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:09:23 +0100

I believe ICANN has just lost of man of great talent. And I wager that few within the ICANN cognoscenti would disagree that when he left a few days ago, General Manager of Public Participation (GMPP) Kieren McCarthy tore a big hole in the organisation's ability to look beyond itself.

Kieren's final act as ICANN GMPP highlights this better than any diatribe from me could ever hope to. He wrote a "leaving report", with the same iconoclastic take on ICANN that he exhibited during the 2 1/2 years he worked there, and in which he makes a number of recommendations for future public participation efforts. The report makes for fascinating reading for anyone interested in the way the Internet is governed.

I obviously won't go over the full 20-page (mercifully short for an ICANN document) report here. I would however like to add a couple of points.

Continue reading "Rethinking public participation in ICANN"

Nominet calls for continued self-regulation

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:18:50 +0100

UK registry Nominet is warning against government regulation of the domain name industry.

A Digital Economy Bill proposed by the UK's House of Lords would give the government the power to, in effect, seize a registry and place it under direct governmental control in the case of registry failure.

Nominet has written to its members (the registrars) asking them to take part in a consultation and backing the registry's proposals to maintain the self-regulatory model under which Nominet and other UK-based registries work.

"There are two key issues at stake: self-regulation and public purpose," says Nominet Chairman Bob Gilbert in an email to members. "We (…) need more of you to actively show your support for Nominet and a self-regulated domain name industry. Make your voice heard!"

"We believe the domain name industry should continue to be self-regulated," Gilbert goes on to explain. "It has served members well up until now and we believe it will do so in the future too. On behalf of your Board, I urge you to get involved with this consultation so that together we can shape the future of Nominet and the domain name industry in the UK."

City of Paris comments ICANN's DAGv3

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:15:50 +0100

For the first time since it announced its intention to apply for .PARIS in June 2008, the City of Paris has posted a direct contribution to one of ICANN's comment periods. Previous City of Paris comments were made as part of the DotCities common interest group which also includes .BERLIN, .HAMBURG, .BCN and .KOLN.

As consultant to the City of Paris, INDOM helped draft the comment submitted by Jean-Louis MISSIKA, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Innovation, Research and Higher Education. The DAGv3 comment period closed yesterday, November 22.

The City of Paris comment asks for clarification on the status of city names, and particularly capital city names. It also stresses the negative impact continued delays to the new gTLD program is having on the City's drive towards a .PARIS.

ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom has already acknowledged receipt of the comment, explaining that it would be posted on the ICANN website in order to share it with the community.

The comment is posted here.

French media is ICANN aware!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:12:41 +0100

It's always a surprise for us domain industry people to realise that the "outside world" is also interested in what we do. Especially when it pertains to Internet governance and ICANN.

So last week, when two leading French newspapers, Le Figaro and Les Echos, ran a short piece on my election to the GNSO Council Vice Chair position, I was more than a little surprised. Up until then, I thought that outside of an ICANN meeting corridor, the four letters "GNSO" wouldn't mean a thing to anyone.

Fast forward to today, and Les Echos is running a half page piece on me as GNSO VC! A half page, right in the middle of France's leading business paper!! All I can say is: I'm gobsmacked!

Expressions of Interest in new gTLDs working group is go

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:02:38 +0100

A working group has been formed in response to the Seoul ICANN meeting Board resolution directing staff to "study the potential impact of a call for formal "expressions of interest," and provide a plan for Board consideration at ICANN's next Board meeting, in December 2009. The plan should include possible options and a risk analysis relating to the proposed action."

The group has published a draft charter and set itself an ambitious schedule in order to be able to bring before the Board a complete proposal for the implementation of an Expressions of Interest system and have it adopted by the next ICANN meeting in Seoul.

The draft charter includes a proposed working group timeline and a list of participants.

Egypt uses IGF to launch new Arabic Internet domain

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:46:36 +0100

The 4th Internet Governance Forum meeting is currently under way in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The country's information technology minister Tarek Kamel took advantage of the spotlight currently being shined on the local Internet community to announce a forthcoming Arabic version of Egypt's national domain.

Pronounced ".MISR" and spelled .مصر in Arabic script, the new TLD translates as "Egypt". It will be applied for as part of ICANN's IDN ccTLD fast-track program which officially launches today.

Using .MISR, local Internet users will no longer have to type any Latin characters (both the domain and its suffix will be in Arabic) to access compatible websites. "Over half the Internet users around the world don’t use a Latin-based script as their native language," said ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom in a separate comment. "IDNs are about making the Internet more global and accessible for everyone."

No launch schedule has yet been released for Egypt's new TLD. But according to ICANN, once the requests are evaluated and approved, IDN ccTLDs are expected to come online during 2010.

Special IDN keyboard with 327 keys!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:59:06 +0100

The forthcoming launch of the IDN fast-track for country code Internet extensions has a lot of Internet users around the world eager to be able to use their own character sets and alphabets to surf the Internet, at long last.

But it also has a lot of people worried. One common question: "how will IDN websites be accessed using a standard ASCII keyboard?" Well the guys over at TheSpoof.com have the answer. A special keyboard with 327 keys arranged around the regular keyboard layout and featuring characters from Cyrillic, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and even American Redneck!

And yes, it is a joke.

The new GNSO is go!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:02:59 +0100

Left to right: Olga Cavalli, vice chair, Chuck Gomes, GNSO Council chair and Stéphane Van Gelder, vice chair. Photo INDOM.

Today was a landmark day for the Generic Names Supporting Organisation, aka GNSO, the place within ICANN that relates to generic top level domains (gTLDs).

The GNSO has been undergoing a restructure for over a year. It is a structure that aims to encompass all those parties who have interests in how gTLDs are managed and handled at policy level.

The new GNSO structure is bicameral, i.e. it has 2 houses. The Contracted Parties House, as its name suggests, groups those entities that have direct contracts with ICANN: the registries and the registrars. The other house is, unsurprisingly, called the Non Contracted Parties House. In it are the intellectual property people, the Internet service providers, the business users, and the non commercial users. In short, the contracted house is for the suppliers and the other is for the users.

The final step on the road to the new GNSO structure was scheduled for today, when a new Council would be seated which paralleled the new bicameral structure. Instead of the previous system, with a single chair/vice chair combo, the new configuration has one chair and 2 vice chairs, one from each house.

All the way through the run-up to today's Council meeting here at ICANN Seoul, during which the election was scheduled, there was doubt that with its new split structure, the Council would ever be able to coalesce around a common choice for chair.

Continue reading "The new GNSO is go!"

.XXX decision expected soon

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:22:29 +0100

ICM Registry Stuart Lawley is in Seoul for the 36th ICANN meeting, where he met with Peter Dengate Thursh (Chairman of the Board) and Rod Beckstrom (CEO) to discuss .XXX.

ICM have spent the last 2 years and USD 4,5 million in arbitration with ICANN before the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). Several hearings were held in Washington, where Paul Twomey (Beckstrom's predecessor) was amongst the people heard by a three person arbitration panel.

Overall, Lawley reckons ICM have spent USD 8 million on .XXX. "We did everything ICANN asked us to do," Lawley says. "We even negotiated 5 draft contracts with them." He now hopes to have the result of the arbitration soon. "We're not asking for any damages," he adds. "We're not asking for money. We are asking for ICANN to sign the contract and let us launch .XXX."

It may take a few months for the arbitration panel to give a result. In the meantime, ICM are still accepting pre-registration requests from would-be .XXX domain name owners. "The pre-registration is completely free," Lawley explains. "And we're still getting requests every day. We're now up to 104,000 pre-registrations." Not bad for a domain that doesn't even exist yet.

New gTLDs are the Seoul of ICANN #36

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:03 +0100

ICANN's 36th international meeting officially gets underway today (Monday October 26), but the weekend has already involved a lot of work for several members of the ICANN community.

The GNSO Council on which I sit, for example, had two full days of meetings on Saturday and Sunday. And although we've been very involved in our restructuring process and upcoming Chair elections, there seems to be a common thread throughout all the community discussions: new gTLDs.

Walk into the main conference area, and almost all booths are about new gTLDs: consultancy or technical services, new gTLD projects… Open up the bags that are given to each person who registers for the meeting and you'll find a lot of new gTLD oriented sales blurb. Without a doubt, a thriving industry has sprung up around new gTLDs.

But how long will that new industry last if ICANN is unable to give potential applicants a clear timetable for the start of the application process? Latest word is that there will be a 4th version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG). Kurt Pritz, ICANN's Senior Vice President, Services, told me that although the 3rd version that was published recently is almost complete, there is enough work remaining to warrant another draft before the final version comes out.

That could be in Q1 2010, meaning that the first round of applications could still be launched before the end of 2010.

Can you believe it, UPU and ICANN reach agreement on .POST!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:24:54 +0200

Well this one's unexpected! ICANN has just announced that it has finally come to some sort of agreement with the UN's Universal Postal Union over .POST. This is the final (if you exclude the still very much in dispute .XXX) suffix that was okayed by ICANN as part of its 2003 limited round of new gTLD applications.

Since .POST was accepted by ICANN, the Internet's watchdog has never seen eye to eye with the UPU on the actual registry contract. Until now it seems.

It's difficult to think of this as pure coincidence. This comes just days before ICANN's last general meeting of the year and at a time when the current new gTLD program is being finalised, will no doubt be used to highlight the fact that previous new gTLD rounds were successful…

Emirates ready to launch Arabic Internet suffix

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:12:49 +0200

Internet overseer ICANN has set a tentative date for the launch of non-ASCII country code domains, or Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), for example a .RU written in Cyrillic, at November 16. Several countries are already planning to run an IDN TLD.

The latest such plan comes from the United Arab Emirates' Telecom Regulatory Authority TRA with a .EMARAT domain. In Arabic (.امارات), this is the equivalent of the .AE country code which the UAE already uses.

"Our objective is to support Arabic content over the Internet and build a strong identity for UAE and Arab countries across the World Wide Web," says Mohamed Naser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General.

This year, TRA has already launched a campaign to promote the use of its .AE domain and claims that registration levels have increased 30% this year and now stand at a total of 90,000 domains.

On the record saying good things about the people who worked on the IRT

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:03:09 +0200

Namesmash is running a piece on the Sydney ICANN meeting in which I'm quoted on the IRT and the amount of work it meant for the people who took part. Although I genuinely feel that the IRT members selflessly put in a lot of their time and effort into the process, I hope it's clear that my quote is also a tongue in cheek attempt at highlighting the fact that in the end, the result is really the only thing that counts.

The namesmash piece is here.

DAGv3: prepare for over 30 documents!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:59:40 +0200

ICANN's much anticipated 3rd version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAGv3) for new generic Top Level Domains should be out early this week, perhaps even as soon as Monday October 5th.

Those eagerly waiting to get their hands on it will find those hands to be quite full once the DAGv3 does get published. ICANN Director of Communications and Product Services Karla Valente has revealed that between the guidebook itself, explanatory memoranda and other additional documents, a total of over 30 documents are to be published!

The new gTLD web page on the ICANN website will also be redesigned and launched at the same time as the DAGv3 is published.

IDN ccTLDs set to launch on November 16

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:51:57 +0200

ICANN's proposed expedited process for the release of non-ASCII character country code domains is about to become reality.

Prior to ICANN's international meeting in Seoul, Korea (Octobre 25-30), the final implementation plan for the IDN ccTLD fast-track has been published. The plan is to allow a limited number of countries to apply for their Internet suffix in their own alphabet, say a .RU in Cyrillic characters instead of the traditional ASCII code.

The fast-track has been in development for several years within the ICANN community and eagerly anticipated by countries such as Russia and China.

Once IDN ccTLDs are launched, Russian Internet users will be able to access websites using only Cyrillic character domain names, as both the name itself and the suffix will be localisable.

ICANN is proposing a November 16 2009 launch date for the fast-track.

DAGv3 is out

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:05:47 +0200

Yesterday I indicated that the DAGv3 was likely to be published today. It is now out and can be downloaded from ICANN's updated new gTLD web page here.

Is there something wrong with the new GNSO Councillors?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:17:09 +0200

The GNSO, ICANN's policy-making body for generic TLDs, is overseen by a Council made up of representatives from the GNSO's various stakeholder groups. For example, I sit on the Council as a representative of the Registrar Stakeholder Group.

The GNSO is currently being restructured. At the next ICANN meeting in Seoul, a new GNSO structure will be implemented, with a new Council being seated. As part of that new structure, one of the Stakeholder Groups, the NCSG (Non Commercial Stakeholder Group), has been awarded 6 representatives on the Council. But due to somewhat complex internal politics within the NCSG, it was decided that half of those reps would be chosen by the ICANN Board for the inaugural seating of the new GNSO Council.

So yesterday ICANN staff sent the Council a note indicating that the 3 Board appointees were Mohammed Rafik Dammak from Tunisia, Rosemary Sinclair from Australia and Debra Hughes from the United States. We were also told that their selection was the result of extensive due diligence and a careful review of the many people that had applied to the Board for the job.

All well and good, until I was made aware of an email from respected ICANN community member Bret Fausett sent to the At Large (another of ICANN's community structures) mailing list.

Continue reading "Is there something wrong with the new GNSO Councillors?"

Back-end services provider chosen for .PARIS

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:37:25 +0200

After several months evaluating candidates, the City of Paris has chosen its back-end services provider for .PARIS.

Several registry services specialists applied for the position and a twin candidate set-up combining AFNIC (the French registry) and CORE (back-end provider for .CAT) was selected.

As consultant to City of Paris, INDOM was heavily involved in the selection process and will now work alongside AFNIC and CORE on the .PARIS project.

ICANN throwing "free at last" party

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:05:08 +0200

On Thursday October 1st, ICANN is set to party! Invites have been sent out to selected VIPs (don't worry, I'm not one of them, I'm either too French or too irrelevant (probably both) for ICANN to feel that my presence would in any way add to the quality of the proceedings) for a "reception to recognize the conclusion of the Joint Project Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce" as it says on the card.

So it really does look like this is it as far as Memorandums of Understanding, JPAs and other contracts linking ICANN to the US government. Last week, a remarkably well informed article published by The Economist claimed that the JPA won't be renewed and that it would be replaced by an "affirmation of commitments" giving ICANN a lot more independence.

Now this party… The writing definitely seems to be on the wall as far as the JPA is concerned.

61 businesses and individuals, 16 countries in favour of new gTLDs

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:40:02 +0200

This week, people from all over the world and from all types of backgrounds came together to co-sign a letter to ICANN's management asking for new gTLDs to be launched as soon as possible.

The domain industry's major registrars, registries, prospective new gTLD operators, existing TLD operators, academics, business people both from inside and outside the domain industry… all participated in this landmark group action to speak for the innovation, job creation and increased competition that new gTLDs would bring.

The letter boasts a total of 61 signatories, from 16 different countries. INDOM was the only company from France to be asked to co-sign. We gladly agreed and are proud to support this initiative.

DAGv3 out on October 1st

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:54:43 +0200

The long awaited 3rd version of ICANN's Draft Applicant Guidebook for the new gTLD program should be out at the beginning of next month. Maybe as early as October 1st. ICANN Senior VP Services Kurt Pritz confirmed the DAGv3 anticipated release date during today's GNSO Council teleconference which I attended as the Registrar Stakeholder Group's European representative on the Council.

Included in the DAGv3 should be those IRT recommendations that ICANN staff consider as useful in order to include a suitable level of rights protection in the gTLD program.

ICANN versus the governments

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:05:54 +0200

There's a flurry of activity going on around ICANN, domains and new gTLDs at the moment.

First came a letter written by US congressmen and sent to ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom on September 15. The letter can be summarised as a call to delay the introduction of new gTLDs and to see ICANN put under a permanent contract with the US government.

In passing, I cannot help but once again be flabbergasted by the US politician's apparent lack of regard for a) a policy development process that has been on-going for years (new gTLDs) and b) the fact that it's hard to consider the Internet as still being America's plaything these days, as opposed to a world resource.

But I digress. Rod Beckstrom wasted no time in responding to the Congress letter. On September 22, he penned a note of his own in which he addressed the points raised by the Congressmen in detail. Looking below the surface of Rod's letter, there are a few new elements with regards to the gTLD program that can be ascertained. For example, on whether ICANN intends to implement the IRT recommendations, Rod says that "ICANN may ask the GNSO to begin an expedited review of the recommended solutions". That in plain language seems to imply that we on the GNSO Council are going to have a whole plateful of new work thrown our way as ICANN looks to put the IRT recommendations back into its standard policy development process.

While Rod Beckstrom was tackling the US Congress, ICANN Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate Thrush was dealing with another group of politicians: the GAC. Governmental Advisory Committee chairman Janis Karklins had written to ICANN on August 18 to voice its concerns over elements of the new gTLD program.

Peter's letter in response, dated September 22, also provides insight into some of the avenues ICANN is currently looking at for the new gTLD program. One that caught my eye is a discussion of the possible categories that new gTLDs could fall into. Peter identifies the following possible TLDs: single owner, geographic, intergovernmental organisations, socio-cultural, community and open. But he makes it clear that categories would only be considered after the first application round.

All this correspondence is well worth a read to gauge the current mood around ICANN as a whole and new gTLDs in particular.

Death of a domain

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:52:48 +0200

On September 30, .YU will cease to exist as Serbia transitions to its new .RS domain as the country's sole Internet suffix.

There's a little bit of Internet history being made over in Belgrade, Serbia, at the moment.

On September 30, ex-Yugoslavia's .YU will be disconnected from the Internet and all remaining .YU domain names will cease to function.

RNIDS, the local registry, initiated a transition to the country's new .RS suffix (the country code for Serbia) in March 2008. Yet the registry reports there are still around 4,000 .YU names (around 50,000 .RS names have been registered since the new suffix was opened).

Owners of those names need to go for one of the new Serbian suffixes (e.g. .RS, .CO.RS or .ORG.RS) asap if they want to stay visible on the Net.

I often talk about creating new Internet suffixes on this blog. It's not often I get to touch on the ones that are being killed off…

DotHotel checks in

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:55:18 +0200

The dotHotel initiative isn't new, but surprisingly, it has managed to avoid drawing too much attention to itself. Not intentionally though, as the TLD sports a full and informative website.

The idea is to position .HOTEL as the TLD for the hotel industry, rather than a domain aimed at individuals such as hotel customers. "Domain names available with .HOTEL are precise and create identity for hotels, the hotel business and services," says dotHotel.

However, it remains to be seen whether dotHotel can get key members of the hotel industry to support their efforts. Without such support, getting a generic TLD as valuable as .HOTEL may prove difficult…

DotHotel is a German initiative co-created by .BERLIN alumni Johannes Lenz-Hawliczek.

.BKK = Bangkok's new TLD

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:35:30 +0200

Add one world city to the growing list of candidates for CityTLDs. Thailand's Bangkok.

For the moment, the initiative's website is most definitely a work in progress. There's no real information on the site but a news story published by DomainPulse positions .BKK as a partnership with the city's government. As such, all city agencies would get free .BKK names...

Russia to launch Cyrillic national suffix in 2010

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:24:31 +0200

Another news story coming out of the second conference for ccTLD registries and registrars and the many workshops and talks given there by Central and Eastern European registries: Russia is said to be ready to launch the IDN version of .RF (Russian Federation) next summer.

This would probably make Russia one of the first countries to take advantage of ICANN's IDN ccTLD program to create a local-script TLD. The IDN .RF would exist alongside the standard .RU and .SU domains. The Russian registry also revealed plans to harmonise regulations in all three ccTLDs before the end of next year.

IDNs coming to .EU on December 10

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:13:53 +0200

Last week, on the French version of this blog, I talked about a rumour going around that .EU registry EURid was to introduce IDNs (domain names with accents and other special characters) before the end of the year.

Participants at the second conference for ccTLD registries and registrars currently being held in Slovenia have confirmed this.

EURid plans to release IDNs in all 23 European Union languages on December 10.

.SIC, Dracula's TLD!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:48:32 +0200

One of the good things about new gTLDs is that they make ignoramuses like myself a little less dumb. Take Szeklerland. Until a few minutes ago, I'd never heard of the place. A quick browse on Wikipedia and now I know that it's almost the birth place of Dracula. Szeklerland refers to " the territories inhabited by the Székely, a Hungarian people living in eastern Transylvania, centre of present-day Romania. They live in the valleys and hills of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains…".

Well it seems the Szekler people also call themselves the "Siculitas" and their National Council is intending to request .SIC from ICANN. It is clear that lesser known communities and territories like Szeklerland have a whole lot to gain from obtaining their own TLD. Just ask the Catalans if they are anything but happy with the way .CAT has put them on the world map!

So good-luck to Szeklerland and let's hope that they don't run into any interference from ICANN's very own SIC, the acronym for the Board's Structural Improvements Committee. Not that anyone could call that jolly band of fellows a bunch of bloodsuckers (sorry SIC members, couldn't resist that awful pun, and awful I have to admit it is).

Plans for a .OTTAWA

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:23:03 +0200

The .OTTAWA project is intending to apply for the corresponding CityTLD. The project's website provides little information as to whom is behind .OTTAWA and in particular, if it is a private enterprise "à la" .BERLIN or directly supported by the local government as is the case for .PARIS or Barcelona's .BCN.

However the website does feature interesting schematics on some of the planned websites and on the planned registry systems.

ICANN to hold Belgium meeting in June 2010

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:44:27 +0200

Great news for all European Internet watchers, especially those from Belgium and France, ICANN's June 2010 international meeting will be held in Brussels.

The meeting itself promises to be a crucial one. If ICANN's current calendar doesn't change, the first round of new gTLD applications will have opened a few months earlier (February 2010). During the June 20-25 Brussels meeting, attendees should therefore be able to learn more about which new TLDs have been requested and evaluated.

ICANN's European office is in Brussels and the Belgium capital is also home to many of the European Commission's offices. So the June meeting may also provide an interesting backdrop for ongoing discussions between Europe and the US over whether ICANN should be an international organisation or continue to be placed under US control.

Sweden blocks "bank" domain name registrations

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:39:08 +0200

What can ccTLD (national suffix) managers do to reduce the risk of fraud for the users of online banking services? The Swedish Post and Telecom Agency's (PTS) answer: restrict domain name registrations containing the word "bank".

On August 27th, PTS requested that Sweden's registry proactively block all such domain registrations. From now on, those applying for a .SE domain name containing the word "bank" will have to undergo validation.

A new rule which could make life difficult for bona fide domain name registrants who simply wish to use the word bank. Except that the .SE registry is prepared to allow registrations where it is clear that the requested domain name will not lead to any misunderstandings for Internet users.

Bank being a protected term in several countries, including Sweden, it should only be used by entities with the right to call themselves banks. PTS' new rule therefore makes perfect sense and seems like a good way to protect both the banks themselves and their customers.

ICANN confirms: new gTLDs coming Q1 2010

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:01:53 +0200

In June, I gave ICANN's tentative release schedule for new gTLDs after ICANN Senior Vice President of Services Kurt Pritz had revealed it during the Sydney GNSO Council meeting.

This schedule has just been confirmed by two other members of ICANN's staff speaking at the Asia Pacific TLD Association meeting currently being held in Beijing: Vice President of Global and Strategic Partnerships Theresa Swinehart and Senior Director of IDNs Tina Dam.

Swinehart confirmed that the 3rd version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAGv3) would be released by ICANN in Q3 2009, before the Seoul ICANN meeting (October 25 – 30). The final DAG would then be published in Q4 (December, I expect).

Dam then said that ICANN would open the first application window in Q1 2010.

All this is inline with Pritz' earlier comments and means that the first new gTLDs could be given a green light by ICANN before the end of next year.

Congress wants permanent ICANN contract

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:30:00 +0200

In a letter dated August 4, the US Congress is asking for exactly the opposite to what ICANN and the rest of the world wants. Instead of allowing ICANN to strive towards complete independence and to become a truly global governing body, Congress would like to see it permanently placed under the US government's control.

"Rather than replacing the JPA with additional JPAs or Memoranda of Understanding that expire every few years, we believe the time has come for a permanent instrument to which ICANN and the Department of Commerce are co-signatories," says Congress.

The June 4 hearing during which ICANN CEO Paul Twomey faced a grilling by congressmen as he requested an end to the JPA is referenced in the letter, which also lists a series of points the new contract should address.

Included in those are a commitment for ICANN to stay headquartered in the US and the assurance that WHOIS will remain publicly accessible and display complete registrant information. This last request seems particularly out-of-phase with existing local privacy and date protection laws which, outside the US, may require WHOIS databases to display only partial registrant information.

Although ICANN does not legally have any obligation to bow to Congress' demands, an outright end to the JPA (set to expire on September 30, 2009), without any kind of transitional contract to replace it, is looking increasingly unlikely.

An Internet suffix for horses

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:00:51 +0200

The Dot Horse Project is advocating a .HORSE TLD to "provide a safe, reliable internet community for all things equine."

On its website, Dot Horse says that the suffix should enable "anyone involved with the sport, business, or enjoyment of horses can communicate and share trusted news, information, and ideas."

And who knows, .HORSE could even convince others to create equivalent domains in their own language. So will we see a .CHEVAL (the French for horse) riding alongside the English language TLD anytime soon?

New regional TLD initiative: .BAYERN

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:55:49 +0200

DotBayern is championing a new gTLD for Germany's Bayern region.

At the helm are two well-known and experienced new TLD entrepreneurs, Markus Sperger and Dirk Krischenowski. Dirk is one of the founders of the .BERLIN initiative. Markus runs one of Germany's larger registrars.

For .BAYERN, they have gone the same route as .BERLIN in that the project has no official links to the local government. This is undoubtedly something the founders will try to get as they proceed with their work on launching .BAYERN and raising community awareness and support for it.

Pay to be told when new TLDs come out!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:16:47 +0200

That's the service on offer from YourSiteCan.BE. The site sports a search box designed to allow any combination of a domain name and a TLD to be queried. If the query returns an "available", then you may elect to pay $8.99.

What are you buying? Not the domain name of course, since no new TLDs have been launched yet. Just the right for the requested domain not to be listed as "available" any longer on this specific website. Yes, that's right, for your 9 bucks you get the privilege of blocking a fictitious domain name from being listed on YourSiteCan.BE!

Customers will also be informed when (or if) the new TLD they have searched becomes available. This so they can come back to YourSiteCan.BE and pay extra, should they want to actually register the name.

Reading the site's FAQ, they make no false claims. They do not claim to be registering domains. They do mention that if the domain being searched for does become available one day, they may not be able to register it.

So in reality, they are not doing anything untoward. Just selling a blocking service on their own site, and information on the launch of new TLDs that is bound to be available from a multitude of sources once it does happen. Amazing the kind of business ideas that new TLDs are generating…

Do new TLDs and IDNs mean tighter government control?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:57:11 +0200

The Wall Street Journal is running a fascinating opinion piece about the possible impact of new gTLDs and IDNs. Author L. Gordon Crovitz posits that multiplying TLDs and languages on the Net may make it easier for authoritarian governments to attempt to stifle free-speech and meddle in what the article says is currently a "happy state of affairs" in which "one of the marvels of the Internet is that it is self-governing, with private groups of engineers and technology companies doing their best to keep it up and running without political interference."

I fully agree with what I think is a very good summary of why the ICANN system of governance suits the Internet to a tee. Lets not forget, after all, that both ICANN and the Internet are forays into what only a few years ago was just unknown territory. I think it's safe to say there's never been a medium like the Internet, and there's never been a body of governance like ICANN. Think what went before and you're bound to get the point: telex, print newspapers, cassette tapes and VHS for the Internet… the UN for ICANN.

So although the WSJ article seems right on the money when it describes a pioneering model of governance which shields the Internet from the ravages of too much government intervention, I'm not sure I get the link being made to new TLDs and IDNs. ICANN, says the WSJ, "plans to open the door to many new Web addresses and to give better access to non-English-language users." This, we are told, "could result in authoritarian governments insisting on more influence."

Continue reading "Do new TLDs and IDNs mean tighter government control?"

Forbes really gets new TLDs

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:24:48 +0200

In a recent article on the proposed expansion of the Internet through the creation of new Top Level Domains, Forbes.com paints a balanced picture of what this could mean for the future of the web.

It's nice to see the "mainstream media" taking a positive look at the wealth of opportunities new TLDs might open up. Of course, concerns such as cost and the protection of intellectual property rights are also part of the article, as they should be.

But with an intro which talks about the dot-com era giving way to the world of the dot-brand, Forbes clearly understands what could be at stake here. "What does that mean?" asks author Laurie Burkitt. "Houston's police department can drop its clunky Web address, www.houstontx.gov/police/index, and switch to police.houston."

Exactly.

The Forbes piece does raise one worry with me however. ICANN VP Paul Levins is quoted as saying "It's likely that companies may band together to form domain groups (…) cellular phone companies may police the ".mobile" name."

I sure hope that's a misquote. If not, the guys at .MOBI may not take too kindly to a senior member of the ICANN staff listing as an example of a possible new gTLD a domain so close to their own…

Porsche CEO to leave

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:31:51 +0200

Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking is leaving the company. Photo Porsche AG.

Today (July 23rd), sports car manufacturer Porsche announced it is dismissing its star CEO Wendelin Wiedeking with immediate effect.

Why am I talking about this? This has nothing to do with domain names, does it? True, but although my blog may be domain centric, it is first and foremost the blog of an entrepreneur. And this Porsche story is fascinating for anyone interested in the world of business.

What has my interest so spiked? The lightning fast way in which fortunes can turn around in business. A year ago, Porsche was hailed as a modern miracle. Although a producer of niche sports cars in the premium segment, it was the most profitable carmaker in the world. Period. And yet, when Wiedeking became CEO on October 1, 1992, Porsche was on its last legs.

The miracle turnaround Wiedeking orchestrated reached its pinnacle with the attempted takeover of Volkswagen. In classic David vs Goliath style, tiny Porsche was about to buy one of the biggest automakers in the world.

Then the recession hit and it all went south. Crippled by the debt (in excess of 9 billion euros) that it had run to buy a large enough holding in VW to be able to take control, Porsche went from very top to rock bottom in a matter of weeks. Today, it looks almost certain to be bailed out by VW, set to pay off the largest portion of Porsche's debt and acquire the company in the process.

Wiedeking, considered a few years ago the auto industry's golden man, is now on the dole. Oh don't worry about him, he was the highest paid executive in the industry and he leaves Porsche with 50 millions euros in "severance pay".

But there are lessons to be learned from this. There's an obvious one that all entrepreneurs know only too well. Even when things are going extremely well, disaster may never be far away so you need to adjust your strategy to suit.

I take away a more personal lesson as well: be passionate and knowledgeable about the product you sell. It's not that Wiedeking could have anticipated the recession, but maybe just concentrating on Porsche's core business instead of becoming more trust fund than sports car maker would have helped (just before the downfall, Porsche was making more money from dealing in VW shares than it was from selling cars). No-one will be surprised to learn that Wiedeking, undoubtedly a brilliant CEO, is said to not even like cars! Therein may lie the root of Porsche's problems…