Ongoing Strategies

On a daily basis we’re bombarded with information about ways in which technology can be “bad”: from cyberattacks on critical infrastructure to social media digilantism in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, to Craigslist scams and cyberbullying.

Fortunately, for almost every negative example, we are also presented with a truly revolutionary solution or opportunity that’s entirely dependent on the existence of the Internet (which just celebrated its 20^th birthday).

A recent article by the Raleigh News & Observer, republished on Pass/Fail, described one of the latter situations:

“In a windowless conference room in a Las Vegas casino, about three dozen people are swishing their fingers across iPads, trying out test versions of new apps and screening for glitches. But these are no Silicon Valley techies in town for one of the city's massive electronics shows. Many are from far-flung American Indian reservations, and their high-tech devices are serving a decidedly old-school purpose: trying to save their languages from the brink of extinction.”

Google jumped in on the language revitalization movement in a big way about a year ago when it launched the Endangered Languages Project, “an online collaborative effort to protect global linguistic diversity.” What better place than a website to house videos, audio and text of endangered languages from far-flung corners of the globe?

What about a whole top-level domain full of websites dedicated to the community that speaks the endangered language? As noted by tech company owner Don Thornton in the News & Observer article, “Language revitalization advocates say they applaud the new technology, but note it's just one part of broader efforts that could include mentorship, classes and a community commitment to using tribal languages in daily life.”

But technology could integrate an endangered or tribal language into modern, daily life by creating an online world in which email addresses, social media platforms, blogs, reference sites and e-commerce are in the language as well. A new generic top-level domain (gTLD) – like the "sponsored" top-level domain
created for Catalonia (.CAT) – allows for a community to mirror the physical community and serve the nation, people, region, or culture of its members in a way that individual websites cannot.

The landing page for the PBS series “We Shall Remain” makes an excellent case for a community-run gTLD. The three sections - Language, Sovereignty, Enterprise – would easily translate into the body of a community based-application for .HOPI or .CHEROKEE.  The tribal communities are excellent candidates for closed new gTLDs because a) the United States recognizes domestic tribes as sovereign nations and b) tribes already have a set of codified criteria to determine who is considered a member of the tribe -  “Tribal enrollment criteria are set forth in tribal constitutions, articles of incorporation or ordinances.” When applying for the gTLD the tribes could choose their guidelines or requirements for registering a domain name within the gTLD entirely upon the existing enrollment criteria. Once awarded, the governance and operation of the gTLD would align with the physical tribe’s governance and operation.

As a result, .HOPI would be run by the existing and single Hopi nation, avoiding the challenges faced by an application for a religion practiced in multiple countries by millions of individuals who may have very different ideas about who has the right to own the gTLD.

As an example, the Potawatomi tribe and various bands of the tribe, from the upper Mississippi River region, are already very active online: there are multiple websites with current and relevant content. (For a list of websites currently associated with Native American tribes and/or tribal communities, click here.) Earl Meshigaud, Hannahville, PA
Potawatomi Indian Community,  explained the significance of the Internet to the tribe and the Hannaville Community on its website,

This may not be exactly what our Elders had in mind when they said that it is our responsibility to orally hand down to the next generation the things that we learn so that those coming behind us would have what we have and more…we hope that the 'memory' of the computer (wzhobontakchegan) world will hold for future generations what we may have otherwise forgotten. Live a good, healthy life because your actions serve as the best teacher – and let the computer assist you in your learning.

By now you’ve hopefully filed your taxes and received your refund – and if you buy and sell BitCoins, you definitely filed that information and any losses or gains, right? Sounds wacky but Forbes explains in a recent article that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCen) considers the online currency to be a traded and taxable good or service.

"The IRS already gets a piece where you swap one product or service for another, as the IRS explains at its Bartering Tax Center. Soon the IRS may have a Bitcoin Center too. The Treasury unit called FinCEN... already has rules about Bitcoin and the IRS is likely to follow."

This may be due to all of the attention the digital coin has been getting recently as media outlets report wild fluctuations and question its value. The coins, which can be purchased on bitcoin.org, reside in an online wallet (like an online bank account) and a Bitcoin address is “the only information you need to provide for someone to pay you with Bitcoin,” according to the site.

Clearly users trust Bitcoin’s cryptography and the website itself in order for the currency to survive and thrive. Consumer trust is critical to the success of online banking as well – and bank IT security leaders work tirelessly to stay on top of or ahead of an endless barrage of cyber attacks, especially in the form of phishing. As recently as April 5, Ars Technica reported a phishing attack on Coinbase, a Bitcoin wallet service: “Someone has been sending e-mails to Coinbase users claiming that they need to log in to confirm recent transactions but directing them to a website not controlled by Coinbase.”

So maybe Bitcoin should apply for its own branded top level domain (TLD) .BITCOIN in the next round of applications? If Bitcoin operated a closed registry, meaning that it didn’t allow anyone else to purchase secondary domain names in the TLD, some phishers could be thwarted. IF enough consumers understand that addresses in the address bar cannot be spoofed, they will KNOW corp.BITCOIN can only be a Bitcoin site. Moving the currency to its own, more secure TLD may also please government officials, who are beginning to discuss regulating the purchase and trade of these cyber coins.

As Neil Irwin described the idea of bit coin in a recent Washington Post article, “There is a certain theoretical elegance to the idea of a borderless currency.” The same is true of the Internet itself: there is elegance to the idea of borderless communication, or transactions in the currency of information and knowledge. But the same issues that exist within boundaries and between countries exist in even a borderless cyberspace: issues of security, politics, culture, and governance. Online currency is in its infancy, but seems an inevitability – and also one of the ‘innovative business models’ that supporters of new gTLDs imagined when launching the new gTLD program.

General Motors’ decision to withdraw three of its five new gTLD applications, which became public last week when the status of those applications changed on ICANN’s website, left many of those connected to the New gTLD Program – both applicants and observers – scratching their heads. (more...)

With all the attention and fervor surrounding the gTLDs that are poised to launch as part of the New gTLD Program, it’s easy to forget that other new top-level domains have launched over the past year or so. These include .SX and .CW, the country code extensions for Sint Maarten and Curacao, and .POST, the recently delegated top-level domain sponsored by the Universal Postal Union. According to a recent post on Domain Incite, it’s not just businesses and Internet users who have overlooked these newly launched TLDs – apparently, major browsers have as well. (more...)

New gTLDs are on track to begin delegating into the Root Zone as soon as the second quarter of next year. With the first launches fast approaching, brand owners and other new gTLDs applicants have been gathering information in order to form strategies and make decisions about how they will use and market their new gTLDs. But a crucial piece of information has been missing – until now, that is. (more...)

If you’re anywhere near the East Coast of the U.S. like we are at FairWinds, then you’re likely in the throes of Hurricane Sandy right now. We closed our Washington, DC office and had our employees work from home today – but that didn’t stop us from thinking about new gTLDs. (more...)

Early this morning, at 7:30 AM Prague time, a group of new gTLD applicants and members of the gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) gathered in a meeting room to adopt the charter for a new group, the New TLD Applicant Group, or NTAG. The group was established under the umbrella of the RySG; its charter was based off the RySG charter and the group will utilize RySG resources like a mailing list and an administrator who can set up conference calls. (more...)

One week after ICANN revealed 1,930 applications for new gTLDs, the Internet community continues to debate the validity of many parts of the application process. In particular, a great deal of chatter kicked up over the weekend about whether or not a brand’s ownership of a generic-term gTLD is anti-competitive. This debate has been fueled largely by corporate applications for generic words as gTLDs, like Amazon’s application for .MOVIE (in fact, Google and Amazon have been taking most of the flak, given their large volume of applications). (more...)

People sometimes wonder why ICANN hosts three public meetings annually, and in such varied geographical locations (this year’s meetings will start in Costa Rica, move to Prague, and then end in Toronto). While outsiders may regard these meetings as somewhat excessive, the truth is, much of ICANN’s “work” – discussing issues, developing policies, and even voting to approve or reject those policies – takes place at these meetings. (more...)