1. How many new TLDs should ICANN designate, and with what frequency?
a. What are the benefits and costs associated with delegating and operating new TLDs?
b. With what frequency should new TLDs be introduced?
i. Should
applications be accepted at any time and measured against published criteria?
ii. Should strings to be allocated per
round at either at fixed or indeterminate rate?
iii. What feedback mechanisms and criteria
should be used to adjust the frequencies?
c. What are the technical limits on the
number of TLD strings that can safely be included in the root zone file?
d. What are the practical, logistical and resource limits to the frequency of adding new TLDs?
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2. Which naming
conventions should apply?
a. Which strings should be reserved or not
designated? (Consider technical issues, strings in use in alternate roots,
similarity to other TLD strings, one- and two- character strings, and regional
issues: political, cultural, and religious terms, obscenities, and geographical
terms.)
b. What method and who should be employed
to evaluate the appropriateness of particular strings that may be reserved?
c. What level of protection should be given to trademarks and other asserted rights in strings (e.g., pharmaceutical INNs, country names, current registrants of similar TLD strings, IGOs, geographic indications, personal names)?
d. What methods should be used to protect
trademarks or other rights (e.g., a UDRP for TLDs, sunrise
period, list of reserved names)? How should conflicts between parties with
competing legitimate rights in a name be resolved?
e. Who and what form of organization should vet which strings to designate?
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3. Which allocation method
or methods should be used?
a. In what manners do various allocation
methods support the technical, market and geo-political issues described in the
questions above?
b. Determine rules or restrictions that must be applied to any allocation model in order to support the technical, market and geo-political issues described in the questions above?
c. Determine appropriate uses for one-time, positive revenue derived from allocation process.
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4. What conditions should
ICANN impose on new TLD operators?
a. In what cases should market forces versus imposed conditions affect registry behavior and actions (e.g., pricing, data escrow, bonding. reserved second level names)?
b. To what extent should ICANN take steps
to ensure the success or sustainability of registry operations? (Are minimum
financial and technical eligibility requirements appropriate and effective
tools for reducing the likelihood of registry failure?)
c. Should ICANN implement a program to
accredit registry operators (i.e., registry back-end service providers)?
d. What differentiation or classes should
be made (compare today’s unrestricted, restricted, and sponsored TLDs)? How should differentiations be enforced? Can TLDs or SLDs be sublicensed? Can
and should STLD use be governed by agreement?
e. To what extent should new TLDs be required take steps to ensure continuity of operations in the event of a business failure or disruption to the registry sponsor or operator? What failover mechanisms must be in place to protect registrants?
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5. As a special case, how will the deployment of
Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at the top
level impact discussion and findings on the questions above?
a. What are the benefits and costs
associated with delegating IDN strings as TLDs?
b. What are there technical issues
preventing or limiting the use of IDN TLDs?
c. What naming conventions should apply to
the delegation of IDN TLDs (consider objectionable
strings, trademarks, TLD spoofing)? When should proposed strings be referred
for advice or vetting?
d. What are the rights of existing TLDs regarding IDN analogues, homophones and other
equivalents?
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