Topics for general interest panels at ICANN 67?

[Stephanie Perrin]

Thanks Sam, well said.

Stephanie Perrin

On 2019-12-04 11:50, Sam Lanfranco wrote:
> 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 <stephanie at DIGITALDISCRETION.CA>
>     *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.
>
>
>>
>>         	
>>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ncsg.is/pipermail/ncsg-discuss/attachments/20191204/32bc12c9/attachment.htm>