ICANN participation

I am including the full text of my statement during the public forum since I wasn't given enough time to present it in full.

The grandfather of the current domain name system, Jon Postel, was called a 'benevolent dictator.' This term may be the 'secret' to the success of domain name systems today. That is, the elements of non-profit, non-commercial, motives managed in consideration of 'the public good,' may have contributed to the enormous success of the Internet today. These elements have also guided the .kr domain name system, which had been grandfathered by professor Kilnam Chon, and continued successfully by NIDA. The domain name system today has provided the general Internet community with a relatively satisfactory and non-confusing mechanism for establishing a presence on the Internet as well as for searching for and obtaining information.

It is also recognized that there is a real and valid need for the creation of additional TLDs to accommodate those cultural and language groups that have not been satisfactorily represented thus far. It is in this regard that I find the efforts at the creation of new gTLDs promising.

However, I am deeply concerned about the 'direction' that the new gTLD process seems to be heading towards. There is talk of the creation of possibly an 'unlimited' number of new gTLDs based on the 'market mechanism' of the domain business, talk of 'auctioning' TLDs that have more than one bidder, and registrants are more frequently being referred to as 'consumers'. The Internet seems to be heading towards increased 'commercialization'. The enormous increase in the size of ICANN's budget seems to be a reflection of such a trend. Commercialization may very well be a healthy driving force for the development of an Internet to meet the demands of many Internet users, but we all know from history that it will primarily cater to a particular segment of the population.

The Internet is a developing space, and needs to accommodate demands that are newly-arising. However, once we make a move to create a TLD, it will be extremely difficult to 'undo' the move. The possibility of creating numerous new gTLDs is an idea that worries many people for many reasons.

I sincerely hope that in the current new gTLD discussions ICANN and the current Internet community is not just looking at the immediate financial rewards and benefits that the Internet can provide for them, but also take a more wide-angled view, and seriously think long and hard about the 'future of the Internet.' I remember that one question was repeatedly posed to the Korean Names Council when we were discussing Internet Policies, and would like to end my comments with that question. That was, "Let's all think about the kind of Internet we would like to have, say, ten, twenty, fifty years from now?"