Question: Not answered: What is your position on whether ICANN should assign a TLD to an applicant when someone else is already managing that TLD? Would you be prepared for fragmenting the internet or facing law suits or disenfranchising dn holders and TLD managers by taking a TLD?

Nominee Replies

Lawrence Lessig - posted on 2000-10-04 03:21:07 Hard question which at this point I can't answer. In principle I would not want to create a conflict, but it would depend on the substantiality of the other use. Emerson Tiller, J.D., Ph.D. - posted on 2000-10-03 21:44:17 This is a fair, and tough, question. My view is that pre-existing TLD operators should get some preference in consideration, possibly grandfathered in (although not necessarily free of ICANN review for technical and financial dependiblilty). We need a lot more information on this issue. How many pre-existing TLDs are there? How long have they been in operation? What is their user base? It is fair enough for the rest of us to know this if these TLD operators are asking for ICANN recognition and action. But this is an issue that I would like to hear more about. These are my initial impressions.