APTLD Taipei

1
APTLD - Taipei

• Peter de Blanc
• pdeblanc_at_usvi.net
• http//www.nic.vi

2
APTLD-Taipei 26 Aug 2001

• Thank you for the invitation to participate!
• Disclaimer
• The comments, suggestions, and ideas expressed in
  this presentation are my own.
• These proposals have not been published or
  posted, and there is no consensus yet.
• In the interests of a more clear communication, I
  may us language that is not diplomatic.
• Any statistics referenced may be approximate.

3
AP-ccTLD-ICANNRelationships

• The Money
• The Power
• The Credibility and The Balance

4
Where is the Money?

• 30 Million names in .com, .org, .net
• New registrations thru July, 2001 3,123,612
• VeriSign has about 50 share as registrar
• England registers 150,000 per month
• Over 100,000 testbed IDNS
• Increasing Trade name protection in ccTLD
• However 180 ccTLDs under 50,000 names

5
Where is the Power

• Facilitating Trade All countries
• Access Internet users as a market for domain
  names.
• Access to consumers for advertising and
  e-commerce.
• ccTLD diversity, lends Legitimacy, 244 ccs
• G8 countries, 7 looking for balance with US
• EU already in WTO disputes with US on several
  matters.
• Regional Internet Associations (cc only)
• North America
• Asia Pacific
• European Union
• Latin America
• Africa and Middle East

6
The Credibility and Balance

• ICANN needs ccTLD to provide credibility.
• Without ccTLD ICANN is clearly US-centric
• ICANN will attempt to make individual deals with
  strong countries one by one.
• In some cases ICANN may succeed with this.
• This could increase Internet colonialism
• A strong ccTLD is the key to balance of money,
  power, credibility.

7
ccTLD Issues

• International Domain Names
• New gTLDs and their impact
• Procedure for update of IANA database
• Contract with ICANN
• Pressure to include universal UDRP
• Representation Level in ICANN
• Financial contributions to ICANN

8
International Domain Names

• Where is control of namespace?
• Issues of National Pride and Solidarity
• The money.
• Possible solutions by negotiation
• Devise a method, political and technical, that
  allows financial participation or compensation
  for sale/rental of Intellectual Property of
  language.

9
IDNS Possible Solutions

• Translations performed by region or association
  of ccTLDs sharing that language
• Translate the names by specific country claiming
  the language. (example, Korea)
• Registrars pay a fee for to translation
  organization, goes to benefit ccs involved.
• Licensing similar to music and Intellectual
  Property agreements.
• All of this by negotiation.

10
New ICANN Structures?

• ALSC report possibilities
• Directors 6-6-6 Tech, Providers, Users
• ASO-PSO-6, DNSO 6, At-Large Ncom 6
• Mike Roberts Proposal
• ccTLD 2 directors, gTLD 2 directors
• Elisabeth Porteneuve Proposal
• 6-6-6 with ccTLD at 6 directors

11
The cart and the horse

• Top down ICANN decides ccTLD relation
• ICANN sends down documents to ccTLD
• ICANN creates contract for ccTLD
• Bottom Up ccTLD creates organizations
• ccTLD agrees on documents- sends to ICANN
• ccTLD agrees on general form of contract
• Individual ccTLD may modify as needed
• Relationship becomes peer-to-peer
• Agreements negotiated by equals

12
Two Structures wwTLD.org

• wwTLD Organization, a legal corporation
• Membership by ccTLD
• Minimum US 1.00 dues
• For purpose of bi-lateral membership agreement.
• Electorate composed of all members.
• Three directors from each region Chairman
• ICANN may add Middle East region
• Regional Associations are Advisory Board
• wwTLD.org enters into MoU for SO w/ICANN

13
Two Structures wwTLD Foundation

• wwTLD Foundation (UN-like model)
• 15 Directors plus Chairman (or 18 directors)
• Electorate composed of sustaining members
• NGO status, partnership for grants with UN.
• Builds endowment from founders and donors
• Operations out of income on endowment and dues
• Projects Outreach, funding by region, Legal,
  software development, travel grants,
• ccWhoIs Revenue producing project.
• Other sustainable development projects

14
wwTLD Foundation Projects

• Funding ccTLD secretariat and services
• Legal Advisory committee
• Dealings with ICANN, contracts, licensing
• Revenue producing development projects
• ccWHOIS
• Registry software and services development
• Grants
• Outreach, including travel grants
• Training and Equipment

15
Registry Software Project

• Hire persons to integrate software and/or
• Master License from commercial companies modules
  as required, use for all ccTLD
• Build robust system, offer as a service
  regionally to ccTLDs, license at 1.00 per name.
• Funds sustain hardware, software , maintenance
• Cc retains control of its own database.
• Cc controls name servers in country or outsourced
  to wwTLD organization

16
Cc-WHOIS

• Intellectual property protection companies wish
  to monitor ccTLD databases.
• Participating ccTLD input whois data to central
  service operated by wwTLD.org
• wwTLD.org charges fee for access to database.
• Funds are used to sustain operations, and return
  surplus to participating ccTLDs.

17
Endowing the Foundation

• Five founders _at_ US 1 million.
• Five founders _at_ US 500,000.
• Funds could be outright endowment, OR- Funds
  could be placed on deposit with interest to the
  foundation and principal returned to the donor
  after 5 years.
• Endowments of US 10K, 25K, 50K, 100k
• Commercial sponsors _at_ US 10K-50K

18
Foundation Operations

• Dues from sustaining members (donors)
• Bands of US 1,000 to 100,000
• Income from Endowment Funds
• Revenue from sustainable development projects
• Overhead fees for administrating grants

19
wwTLD and The UN

• UNESCO interested in chartering us as NGO
• Provides true international credibility
• Enables funding partnerships on projects
• wwTLD determines projects, provides delivery and
  reports on outcomes.
• The ccTLD manager is logical contact for Internet
  development in-country.
• Technical and political (LDRP, whois, etc)

20
Leverage using in-kind sponsors

• Airlines for tickets and travel expense
• Telecoms for long distancee expense
• Equipment manufacturers for training labs
• Packaging road show labs
• Asia Institute of Technology
• Other regional centers
• Multinational corporations for use of aircraft
• Hotel chains for blocks of room-nights.

21
Conclusions Part 1

• Many are unsatisfied with unbalance of power and
  money.
• IDNS will be a major source of revenue
• Probably US 100 million/year by 2003
• There must be some way to distribute income
• Massive education is required to get business to
  register in-country, or at least use registrar in
  country, to retain foreign exchange.
• Developing ccs will not benefit financially or
  technically without guidance and a central
  organization.

22
Conclusions Part 2

• In the absence of law, negotiation rules.
• A strong, financial viable organization for
  ccTLDs is necessary for negotiation with ICANN
  and domain name business interests.
• ccTLD must take the initiative, and not wait to
  see what ICANN and domain name business interests
  offer.
• ccTLDs must get their fair share of political
  respect, retain local sovereignty, and share in
  revenue from Internet gold rush domain name
  business.
• We can do it, if we wish to.
• This is a good time to start. (ALSC ICANN
  reorganization)

23
Discussion

• Action Items?
• Montivideo?
• ALSC report draft is out tomorrow!
• ICANN re-organization by November?