Background
On December 19 2013, the ALAC Leadership Team charged the ALAC new gTLD Working group with creating a statement on the current status of the expansion program, including analysis of the program and possibly recommending immediate measures to improve the program from the end-user perspective.
Link City-TLD Applicants And Individual Internet Users
(Comment from Thomas Lowenhaupt via TG5 discussions during #ATLAS2 at ICANN London meeting)
During the 2012 New TLD round 35+ cities were assigned TLDs without any requirement that Individual Internet Users be consulted in the planning and development of the cities’ applications. Applicants needed only present ICANN with a “Letter of Non-Objection” from the named city. This lack of engagement diminished the city’s ability to include the public interest in planning these city-TLDs.
Recommendations:
- Facilitate the engagement of Individual Internet Users in the development of applications for city-TLDs.
- Require “Informed Consent” by cities applying for TLDs, with consent demonstrated by the engagement of all city stakeholders in the application development processes.
- The At-Large should be empowered to engage Individual Internet Users through the creation of local ALSes.
- Create a Beginners Guide To Individual Internet User Engagement With Planning City-TLDs.