Topics for general interest panels at ICANN 67?

[Sam Lanfranco]

Colleagues,
I do not think of the issue here it as the "migration of the under-served
to [social media] platforms. It is more the arrival of new digital
residents/citizens to the digital ecosystem niche that is most attractive
to them. That is the various social media platforms, and (mainly cell
phone) apps that require no knowledge of web pages, domain names or the
DNS, much less an interest in ownership of a domain name. 
For the middle class (and above) of the globe, search engines, phone apps,
and the major aggregators (Google, Amazon, Alibaba, Instagram, FB, etc.)
are where they go to enter the digital landscape, and where they go there
to start and conduct their own businesses. In the under-served parts of the
world the area of growth involves low cost access and cell phones optimized
for use by those who can neither read nor write, using apps focused on
audio and video. Neither group has a pressing need for domain names. 
As an economist my tentative view here is that the DNS market is reaching a
maturity plateau where the growth in demand for domain names levels off,
grows at slower rates based on economic growth, and faces competition from
digital apps including social media. The DNS proper disappears into the
background, almost as a utility infrastructure underpinning a multitude of
socio-economic activities where users have little knowledge of, and no
interest in owning, a domain name.
 There is an access issue here but it has more to do with poverty and the
lack of spending power, and with the lack of built out digital networks. It
has little to do with the DNS and it is not clear what ICANN should be
doing here within ICANN operational mandate. It can of course have a voice
in the wider stakeholder discourse about the plight of the under served,
but that takes place in other venues. 
Sam Lanfranco. NPOC

---- Original Message ----
From: Stephanie Perrin 
To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Wed, Dec 4, 2019, 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: Topics for general interest panels at ICANN 67?
	Internet access is a real problem, all right.  But it is not in ICANN's
mandate.  We could potentially do a topic on the migration of the
under-served to platforms like Facebook, rather than the DNS, which is
partly fueled by the unaffordability of Internet access.  But I would
caution that this is really on the edge of ICANN's ambit, and therefore
unlikely to be accepted.
        
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