Revision 2
WHEREAS
- ICANN stakeholders representing general Internet end-users and sovereign states have had limited participation in the development of the gTLD program;
- Most of the problems identified by the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) in its Mexico City Summit declaration of February 2009 related to the new-gTLD program have not been satisfactorily addressed and indeed some have worsened;
- Numerous complaints from sovereign states, intergovernmental organizations and other bodies have indicated that law enforcement and public-protection measures in the current design of the gTLD program are insufficient;
- The ICANN Board, without suitable rationale, has rejected the Joint Applicant Support Working Group recommendations to reduce costs of new gTLD in developing economies independent of any fixed fund, even though this recommendation was actively supported by ICANN's three main public-interest communities (GAC, ALAC and NCSG) and actively opposed by no communities;
- The absence of a staggered release schedule or a fixed timetable for future rounds severely inhibits ICANN's ability to correct errors and assess unintended consequences in the proposed application round;
- ICANN has still not convincingly demonstrated the end-user need or benefit of a simultaneous launch of hundreds of new TLDs;
- The ALAC supports the introduction of gTLDs but is concerned about the ability of ICANN to protect the interests of Internet end-users as it scales to cope with a massive expansion;
RESOLVED THAT
- The ALAC request that the ICANN Board reconsider its rejection of the JAS-WG-recommended fund-independent cost reduction for support-eligible applicants as a matter of supporting the public interest;
- The ALAC conveys to the ICANN Board and community a deep concern about the possible harmful effect on Internet end-users of a single massive expansion of gTLDs;
- The ALAC convey to the ICANN Board the urgency, in the interest of Internet end-users, of phasing-in the introduction of new gTLDs gradually, releasing no more than 25 every three months and that each such release be comprised of at least 30% community, support-eligible or "geo-region" TLDs
- The ICANN community must be enabled to monitor the progress of the releases, and that elements of the application process demonstrated to cause or allow harm or confusion to registrants, Internet end-users or conrtent/service providers must be correctable in an expeditious manner.
Notes:
- Items marked in bold may be considered arbitrary values which are subject to review and consensus.
- The Summit declaration is available at http://www.atlarge.icann.org/files/atlarge/correspondence-05mar09-en.pdf
History:
A draft version of the first motion was submitted by Evan Leibovitch to the ALAC and NARALO email lists December 18.
In response to early comments, a slightly modified version of the motion was posted to this Wiki
A second revision was created Dec 20 in reaction to community members who, while disagreeing strongly with elements of the gTLD program, believed that an actual halt or suspension of the program was ill-advised and that At-Large's main concerns about the scalability and possible end-user harms could be addressed by a combination of a staggered gTLD rollout combined with active community monitoring and ongoing program refinement.
