Question: Do you support certain top level domains being used for certain types of organizations (to the exclusion of other types of organizations)? For instance, .org was once restricted to non-profit organizations and there has been discussion of a .xxx domain where all adult sites would reside.

Nominee Replies

Emerson Tiller, J.D., Ph.D. - posted on 2000-09-29 19:10:11 I would not object to chartered domains if such was stated in the TLD application. Then it would be up to the registrar to determine who would be excluded. But ICANN may properly decide that certain TLDs should be open rather than chartered. If they are open, then there should generally be no restrictions on what organizaitons should be included. I do not think that ICANN can force any organization into a restricted TLD if that organization does not wish to locate there. Karl Auerbach - posted on 2000-09-24 22:02:27 I believe that the chartering of TLDs by ICANN will be an exercise in futility or frustration - can you define adult site? (And don't forget the Internet is not simply the world wide web and that not everything is a site.) And charters turn ICANN into a regulatory body that will have to enforce the charters. I prefer that the operator of a TLD establish the policies, if any, for use of that TLD and undertake the burden of enforcement. Donald Langenberg - posted on 2000-09-24 12:20:42 I find the current TLDs' uses as class names for broad categories of organizational entities very useful. I would hope that characteristic could be continued as the TLD universe expands (as I suppose it must). I would also hope that we could avoid proliferating TLDs so far that it becomes a major (and increasingly controversial) chore to determine where a given entity belongs. Having said that, I think the categories represented by TLDs ought to be defined as precisely (and simply) as possible, and that any entity that fits the definition then has a right to belong in the category. God forbid we should become enbroiled in trying to define what an adult site -- or a children's site is. My enjoyment of the Harry Potter books has not been lessened by the fact that my book store chooses to stock them in its children's book section. Lawrence Lessig - posted on 2000-09-20 17:21:27 There are two issues here. First, should there be more gTLDs. In my view yes, with different policies and different aims. The second issue is whether people, or content, should be restricted to certain gTLDs based on content or who they are. I don't think that is an appropriate question for ICANN.