Civil Society Statement on GAC Sub-Group's Proposal on "Geographic Names" in Top Level Domain Names

[Timothe Litt]

This whole topic is absurd, yet it keeps coming up.

Consider my local area: we have a river named Charles.  (Named after a
former king named Charles.)  I have one or two friends named Charles. 
Somehow, I don't think they'll change their names just because some
government (the current one, or the successor to the king formerly
claiming the territory) says 'mine!'.  Another has a corporation whose
name is 'Charles River (...)'.  Then there are my colleagues named
'Jesus'... which a certain set of religions might object to.  And others
named, dare I say, 'Mohamed' - which is at once the most common first
name for males in the world (1), and very sensitive to another set of
religions.

I kinda sorta support the statement.  Not that there's anything wrong
with it per-se.  But as usual, this is all trademark - and so, corporate
- oriented.

We individual (non-corporate, e.g. natural person and/or family group
not engaged in commerce) domain name holders have no rights in our
names, and no-one, not even NCSG, ever bothers to advocate for us.  E.g.
Any name we pick can be trademarked; then we can be bullied out of it. 
And few of us can afford the legal fees to fight.

So sure, let's object to censoring geographic (and 'cultural') names. 
It's helpful, and you can list me as an objector.

But one of these days it would be nice to change the conversation to
include how to create and protect the rights of non-corporate domain
name holders. 

Yes, I've said all this before.  That doesn't make it any less true.

(1) Many sources.  Here's one: http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/10/30/332087/mohammed-worlds-most-popular-name/
> Spanish daily /ABC/ recently reported that some 150 million people
> across the world are named “Mohammad.”  The report said that in
> addition to the populated Muslim countries, the name Mohammed enjoys a
> high frequency in numerous non-Muslim countries as it is said to be
> the most popular name for babies in some regions in France.  The name
> also ranks sixth among the most popular names in Spain and the UK, the
> report noted.  Meanwhile, a recent study, conducted by Milan’s Chamber
> of Commerce and published on September 4, indicated that “Mohammed”
> has become the most popular name for small business owners in the
> Italian city of Milan. 

 Timothe Litt
ACM Distinguished Engineer
--------------------------
This communication may not represent the ACM or my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed. 

On 29-Dec-14 01:25, Robin Gross wrote:
> <pre wrap>
> Hello All,
>
> If any of NCSG's member organizations (or NCSG as a whole) would like
> to sign-on to this civil society statement regarding a GAC sub-group's
> proposal to give governments veto power on new top level domain names
> that use "geographic names" please let me know asap.
>
> The GAC sub-group's proposal on "geographic names" and other comments
> submitted on this proposal are available here:
>   https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/Governmental+Advisory+Committee
>
> The GAC's deadline for comments is 31 December, so please let me know
> by 30 December if your civil society organization would like to
> sign-on to this joint civil society statement; it is currently open
> for sign-on by other civil society organizations until 30 December. 
> Or send in your own comment on the proposal if you are so inclined (at
> the link above) by 31 December.  Holiday deadlines are tough, I know!  
>
> I think this is a very important policy issue for protecting freedom
> of expression and the positive development of the multi-stakeholder
> model for Internet governance.
>
> Thanks very much!
>
> All best,
> Robin
>
> </pre><BR><FIELDSET CLASS="mimeAttachmentHeader"></FIELDSET><BR/><pre
> wrap>
>
> </pre></body>
> </html>
> </html>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ncsg.is/pipermail/ncsg-discuss/attachments/20141229/9be0e1f8/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 4942 bytes
Desc: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature
URL: <http://lists.ncsg.is/pipermail/ncsg-discuss/attachments/20141229/9be0e1f8/attachment.bin>