Blog: Dot Eco

Some TLD applicants have been saying that they’re “community” applications, which means that would avoid an auction and prevail over even deep-pocketed competitors. But according to ICANN’s Applicant Guidebook, very few if any applications will qualify as a community. If you’re an applicant who’s been telling your supporters or investors that you’re going to win because you’re a community, you might want to take a step back.

This post will look at the reality of who will gain community status under ICANN rules. A few already-announced TLD applications that are commonly thought to be communities — but none of them are even close to qualifying.

One announced applicant for .ECO keeps putting out notices about the “.ECO community.” A .GAY applicant makes lots of references to the gay community. And a well known .MUSIC applicant wrote a blog post just a few months ago that he would file a community application. (Note: Minds + Machines has announced support for bids for .ECO and .GAY — so we’ve looked at this question closely.)

Most people would say there is such a thing as the gay community, maybe music and eco communities not so much. But it doesn’t matter: from the ICANN point of view none of them will qualify for “community status” in their gTLD application. Under ICANN rules, even the “ICANN community” wouldn’t qualify as a community.

Scoring the Apps

Let’s score .ECO, .GAY, and .MUSIC. Turn to section 4.2.3 of the Guidebook, called “Community Priority Evaluation Criteria” and read through how they will score each criterion. Remember, you have to get 14 out of 16 points to beat out your non-community competitor. If you don’t get 14 points, you can still proceed to an auction, but you’re stuck with all the rules you put in place to try to qualify as a community.

Here is a table showing how I would score each of these TLDs would score in a “community priority evaluation.” If you go through the guidebook and score them yourself, you might disagree by a point or maybe two, but if you did, they would get a lower score. The scoring I used is very generous. Explanations follow the table:

Let’s go through it. There are four criteria groupings, and subparts below each one.

Criterion 1: Community Establishment

Part A is “delineation,” which means a “clear and straightforward membership definition.” Members of .ECO are…? People who believe in ecological causes? Not terribly clear. Score of 1. .MUSIC? People who like music? Even worse but there is some connection, a charitable score of 1. .GAY? People who say they are gay? Leaving aside how they’re going to check (that comes later), it’s not super clear, especially as the gay community itself typically embraces bisexual and transgendered people. Generously, we will give .ECO 1, .GAY 1, .MUSIC 0.

Part B is “extension,” which means a community of “considerable size and longevity.” If you accept that these are communities, everyone here scores 2 out of 2.

Criterion 2: Nexus of the Proposed String and Community

Part A is “Nexus,” which looks at how closely the TLD name describes the supposed community. ECO doesn’t really match the name of the movement (it is also called the green movement, or the conservation movement), MUSIC isn’t really about people, but OK, and GAY pretty much means gay people. Out of a possible 3, I score .ECO 1, .GAY 3, .MUSIC 2.

Part B is “Uniqueness,” which asks if there is any other meaning of the word. ECO could easily mean “economics,” GAY doesn’t really mean anything else these days, and MUSIC means lots of things, as big generic words do. Out of 1, .ECO gets 0, .GAY 1, and .MUSIC 0.

Criterion 3: Registration Policies.

The stricter you are, the higher you score. Because you can set your own registration policies, everyone gets the maximum score on this one, though on an application they might not, since super-tight registration rules are suicidal for most TLDs. Also, if you don’t pass the community test, you still have to enforce your registration policies (more on that below). So, as a very generous “gimme”: out of 4 possible points: .ECO 4, .GAY 4, .MUSIC 4.

Criterion 4: Community Endorsement

This is where community applications go to die. If there is any significant objection to your application carrying the banner for the community, you will lose two points, which means that you have to be perfect on every other point — highly unlikely.

Part A is “Support.” If everyone supports you, 2 pts; if you have some support, 1 pt.; no support, a zero. Out of 2 pts., .ECO gets 1, .GAY gets 1, .MUSIC gets 1

Part B is “Opposition,” which can easily come from your competitors. The standard is “relevant opposition from one [or more] group of non-negligible size.” They don’t have to prevail in their opposition for you to lose points — they just have to file. I think all of these applications will have some opposition from more than one quarter. Out of a possible 2 pts., I have .ECO with 0, .GAY 0, .MUSIC 0.

.GAY is clearly the strongest case for community of these three applications, but still falls far short at 12 pts out of 16. .ECO and .MUSIC don’t even come close.

So Who Is a Community?

The only way to make sure you qualify as a community is to *be* the community. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) could get .AARP as a community TLD, because they own the entire name: there is no-one who could object. In this sense a community in the ICANN sense is just like a brand, complete with intellectual property rights, except that it may not have a corporate structure or a profit motive. Otherwise I can see very little difference.

The key factor in the way ICANN has set this up is that although it’s very hard to qualify as a community, it’s very easy to object to one, and that’s where community applications will falter even if they are strong in other areas. Any institution of “non-negligible size” that claims to represent a community (loosely defined) can object to a community (very tightly defined) application. If one such institution objects, you lose a point. If two or more do, you lose two points. (They can object even if you’re not a community, but in that case they have to prevail — a community application loses points even if the objection is not upheld.)

Bottom Line: Think Very Hard Before Applying As a Community

If you have a competitor with some support, or if you haven’t made sure that every organization in your community is on board, you are highly unlikely to pass the community priority evaluation. And since that evaluation only happens if you do have a competitor or a community objection, in most cases it makes no sense to apply as a community. If you have credible competition, you almost certainly will not pass the community priority evaluation, and you will be stuck with restrictive policies that will be very hard to change later.

This month I had the distinct privilege of participating in a fantastic session at DePaul University in Chicago, where Paul McGrady (many in the intellectual property world know him as the author on the Lexis-Nexis guide “McGrady on Domains”) hosted and moderated a very well attended session on New TLDs.

The session was well attended, and had applicants, in-house counsel for large well known brands, students, registrars, brand management companies, very sharp attorneys, and many very impressive representatives from the intellectual property profession.

The panel consisted of J. Scott Evans from Yahoo!, Marc Trachtenberg from Winston & Strawn LLP, David Wheeler from Greenberg Traurig, LLP, and myself.

I have posted the presentations and some more information on the session HERE.

It was a distinct honor to sit amongst this group of peers, and there were great questions from the audience.

-Jothan

Minds + Machines has some interviews posted with our founders that have a wealth of information about the domain name industry, the new TLD process, DNSSEC, IDN, and an overview of the domain name business. There are some insights into the relationship between CoCCA and Minds + Machines, what we’re doing with capacity grants and Espresso CC.

We’ve launched a new website at www.supportnewtlds.com listing some of the more visible new TLD efforts, with a focus on the consumer benefits and the entities supporting the various efforts. This is intended to be a general resource for the ICANN community at large, and for people wanting to have a better understanding of what to expect when the new TLD round happens.

If you have a TLD that you would like added, or a comment, please contact us.

Recently, Dot Eco released a comprehensive Green Paper (PDF here) detailing its principles and its mission. (Hint: Al Gore, the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Sierra Club and Surfrider think it can help save the planet.)

As the registry provider for .ECO, I decided that we need to support that mission. As I’ve already reported, Minds + Machines DNS services are carbon-neutral and do not contribute to global warming.

Now we’ve undertaken a major initiative within Minds + Machines to make sure we contribute less to global warming, and that to the extent we do, we do something else to offset it. Our goal is to ensure that none of our operations contribute to the destruction of the planet.

Here’s what we’re doing and plan to do:

• As we add or replace servers, replacing them with energy-efficient “green” machines
• Encouraging telecommuting and online communication in our company, and when we must travel, whether long-distance or for commuting, purchasing carbon offsets for each employee.
• At our offices, taking steps to reduce our energy consumption and emissions by upgrading insulation, air-conditioning systems, and (of course) our habits.
• For all of our business, purchasing carbon offsets for our activities that emit greenhouse gasses.
• Doing all of the above for our sister company CoCCA.
• Providing credits to registries and registrars using our systems for specific steps they take to make their operations greener.

The Internet is global, and it’s our view that Internet companies should do what they can to make sure their operations have minimal impact on the planet — because “global” doesn’t make much sense if there isn’t a habitable globe.

Some resources for green operations:

• Green IT: Framework for Building a “Hyper-Green” Virtual Server System
• Interview with Matthew Wheeland, author of the new book The Greening of IT: How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment
• Tapping into the Value of Being Virtually Green
• Purchase carbon offsets at Terra Pass
• Purchase carbon offsets at the Carbon Fund

We challenge every top-level domain registry provider to take responsibility, make a difference, and — especially for those registry operators backing ecologically-themed top-level domains — to put their money on the line.

Here’s a nugget I just unearthed — Dot Eco LLC founder and Minds + Machines president Fred Krueger talking about .ECO – from the ICANN Cairo meeting last November. Learn a lot about .ECO, why it exists and what it hopes to do, in this informative 4-minute video (Flash, 32MB).

(From domaine.info)

Minds + Machines client Dot Eco LLC released a short film today at the ICANN meeting in Sydney, featuring well-known environmental advocates who support the new .ECO top-level domain.

Included are cameos from former Vice President and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore; Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club; Jim Moriarty, CEO of Surfrider; Jim Dufour of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography; Davis Guggenheim, director of the film An Inconvenient Truth; Richard Muller, popular author and Professor of Physics at University of California Berkeley; Roz Savage, the British transocean rower; and Sir Roger Moore, actor and Unicef Goodwill Ambassador.

The film comes in a short and a long version, available in high quality from Vimeo.

Here’s the press release from Dot Eco:

Dot Eco LLC Debuts Short Film In Support of .eco Web Address Featuring: Former Former Vice President Al Gore, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, & Other Leaders in the Environmental Community

Sydney, Australia, June 20 – On the opening day of the ICANN Conference, Dot Eco LLC –- the organization dedicated to promoting the acceptance and implementation of the .eco top-level domain -– debuted a short film that features environmental leaders endorsing Dot Eco’s application to operate the .eco web address. Examples of other top-level domains include .com, .biz, .org and .edu.

The Dot Eco LLC film features former U.S. Vice President Al Gore stating: “For more than three decades I have been trying to raise awareness about the very real and growing threat of the climate crisis. Today, as part of this effort, I am here to propose a new top-level domain called “dot eco” for corporate, non-governmental, and individual environmental websites.”

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope states: “We’re delighted to put our support and endorsement behind Dot Eco… Your customers, your friends, and your colleagues will know that you’re putting your address where your values are – at Dot Eco.”

The film also features avid endorsements from Jim Moriarty, CEO of Surfrider Foundation; Davis Guggenheim, Director of “An Inconvenient Truth”; Richard Muller, Professor of Physics at UC Berkeley and contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and Roger Moore, actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador; as well as others.

To view the film, please click here: http://www.supportdoteco.com/video

A .eco web address will allow individuals to express their support for environmental causes, companies to promote their own environmental initiatives, and environmental organizations to maintain their websites in a namespace relevant to their core mission. By charter and mission, a majority of Dot Eco profits will be distributed to support environmental causes.

“The Dot Eco initiative has earned the official support of leading scientists, ecological and philanthropic groups, as well as high-profile environmentally conscious individuals,” says Fred Krueger, founder of Dot Eco. “This film highlights their passion for this important effort.”

About Dot Eco LLC

Dot Eco LLC was founded by Fred Krueger, Clark Landry and Minor Childers to secure, operate and promote the .eco top-level domain in order to advance environmental initiatives and awareness. Dot Eco LLC will be applying for the .eco top level domain through the ICANN gTLD application process.

The current version of ICANN’s draft Application Guidebook (currently in Draft 2, awaiting Draft 3) allows an applicant for a new gTLD to choose whether they want to be considered as a Community or an Open TLD. An Open TLD is completely open to anyone, without any restrictions. .COM is an example of an open TLD.

To qualify as a Community TLD, you must pass some tests. Most qualifications concern the TLD sponsoring organization(s) and or the requirements placed upon potential registrants. A perfect example of a Community TLD is the .ECO TLD. They have obtained a flood of strong community support from a number of environmental organizations, individuals and supporting organizations such as the Surfrider Foundation, the Sierra Club, and most notably Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection. (Disclaimer: .ECO is a Minds + Machines customer.) .ECO will be somewhat restrictive in its allocations and qualifications to register. For example, corporations with horrific track records on pollution and environmental destruction will not be able to register.

ICANN’s current draft of the Applicant Guidebook indicates that a Community TLD will trump an Open TLD applicant trying for the same name. Does that mean you should always file as a community? Not necessarily.

ICANN has set up a point system for deciding whether an application qualifies as a Community TLD. One must score very high to be considered as a community TLD, and part of that qualification means creating a restrictive process for registrations or qualifications. These barriers to entry may mean lower registration numbers, and there may be additional fields that a registrar needs to capture in their registration process — which makes them less likely to want to offer the TLD.

There are three really good reasons to file as an Open TLD instead of as a community. First and foremost, you might not actually be a community — .ADULT, for instance, really can’t be considered a community. The other reason is that once you set the restrictions on applications that help you qualify as a community, you have to stick with them. You can’t file as a community, limit registrations to a particular community, then change the rules to let everyone register. Finally, an Open TLD might attract more registrations because there are no restrictions. There are many who view Open TLDs as more attractive commercially.

In deciding whether to file as a Community TLD or an Open TLD, you need to balance commercial viability against your application’s chances for success.

In a marketplace where registrars are going to have to make choices as to which of the TLDs they offer, those that are simplest are more likely to appeal to them. They will make exceptions for popular domains, such as .ECO. That said, if a registrar can easily implement a TLD that (from an implementation perspective) is a clone of .COM, they are more likely to do so. Therefore, Open TLDs may be more widely adopted by registrars.

Most of the potential applicants that I’ve seen describe their key metric of success as wide adoption and use of their TLD. Picking the right focus, Open or Community, will be an important decision.

Surfrider today announced that it supports the new .ECO top-level domain. Surfrider has long been a booster for .ECO, but today announced its official endorsement.

Some excerpts from the press release:

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – (Business Wire) Today, Surfrider Foundation announced its official support for Dot Eco LLC’s application for the new top level domain .eco. On the heels of Dot Eco LLC entering into an integrated partnership with former Vice President Al Gore and his philanthropy, the Alliance for Climate Protection, to secure and promote the .eco top level domain, Surfrider Foundation is expressing its support for the .eco application.

Surfrider is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of visionary surfers in Malibu, California, the Surfrider Foundation now maintains over 50,000 members and 90 chapters worldwide.

“Dot Eco LLC and Surfrider Foundation share similar missions – to make a significant contribution towards protecting our planet’s environment. Dot Eco has our full support for its application to ICANN for the .eco top level domain.” said Jim Moriarty, Surfrider Foundation’s CEO.”

.eco will be established for individuals to express their support for environmental causes, for companies to promote their environmental initiatives, and for environmental organizations to maintain their websites in a namespace that is more relevant to their core missions. By charter, a majority of the profits of the .eco initiative will be distributed to support environmental causes.

Dot Eco is getting some major endorsements. .ECO is a great example of what this kind of new top-level domains can do — rally support for a cause, give it high Internet visibility, and provide resources to do good in the world.

I know of some TLDs I can’t talk about, but here’s a list of those who have announced to the world that they are planning to go through the ICANN process. These are either people who have let me know it’s ok to talk about them, or are otherwise publicly announced. With thanks to Dirk Krischenowski at .berlin for his list and to Michele Neylon for his help.

City gTLDs

• .bcn (Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain)
• .berlin
• .hamburg
• UPDATED: .london or .london (One initiative, 2 web sites)
• .köln (Köln/Cologne, Germany)
• .munich (no web site yet)
• .nyc
• .paris
• .pdx (Portland, Oregon, USA)

Regional TLDs

• .africa and .africa
• .bayern (Bayern/Bavaria, a region in Germany)
• .bzh (Brittany, a region in France)
• .cym (Wales, a principality in the U.K.)
• .eng (England, a kingdom in the U.K.)
• .gal (Galicia, a region in Spain)
• .ker (Cornwall, a region in the U.K.)
• .lli (Leon, a region in Spain)
• .lat (Latin America)
• .med (Mediterranean) — no web site yet
• .que (Quebec, a province in Canada)
• .sco (Scotland, a kingdom in the U.K.)
• .vla (Flanders, a region in Belgium) — no web site yet
• (UPDATED) .yks (Yorkshire — thanks to AB)

Ethnic/Language gTLDs

These may be similar to geographical TLDs, but these strings are not official territorial names, so they likely fall outside the ICANN rules for geographical names.

• .arab – web site not operational
• .eus (Basque)
• .indigi (for indigenous peoples)

Industry/activity-specific gTLDs

• NEW: .health (thanks to AB)
• .movie
• .music (there are several other .music initiatives)
• .sport (initiative #1)
• .sport (initiative #2)
• .xxx (adult)
• .web (there are many other unannounced .web initiatives)

Charitable gTLDs

• .eco (Ecological)
• .green (Ecological)
• (UPDATED) .fam (Family — Initiative #1) (thanks to Chad)
• (UPDATED) .fam (Family — Initiative #2)

Brand gTLDs

Brands have been very hesitant to announce, but there are many waiting in the wings. Some are just thinking of defensive registrations, others have innovative marketing and branding plans.

• .deloitte

Know of any others? Please leave a comment. This list will soon find its way to our resources page.