IANA Statement on gTLDs ant the Root Zone

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Hello:

In light of recent developments concerning new generic top level
domains (gTLDs) and frequently confusing press coverage of these
developments, the IANA has been receiving inquiries about and requests
for assignment of gTLDs that are not appropriately addressed to the
IANA.

The IANA manages the root of the Domain Name System (DNS) to promote
stability and robustness.  This role is primarily one of making minor
technical decisions about the location of root nameservers, the
qualifications of applicants to manage country code top level domains,
and evaluating any additions to the established generic top level
domains which are proposed by the community.

Through the course of development of the Internet, IANA has
historically played a central role in the management of the DNS to
support and implement the community consensus about the appropriate
overall structure of the system.

There is now a community consensus that additional registries and
additional gTLDs are needed to deal with trademark-related scarcity and
conflicts, to add flexibility to the choice of domain names and to
promote competition in the provision of domain name registration.

The IANA initiated and supported a community process to arrive at a
system for selecting and establishing these new registries and gTLDs.
This process culminated in the International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC)
report and the signing of the gTLD-MoU.  This system is now moving
forward with the formation of the Policy Advisory Board (PAB) and the
Policy Oversight Committee (POC) contemplated by the IAHC report.

The IANA fully supports this activity and expects all new gTLDs to be
established through this new system.   That is, any changes to the root
zone (or the dot domain) to add new gTLDs will be as a result of
decisions made under the new POC/PAB/CORE system.

--jon.


Jon Postel
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
c/o USC - ISI, Suite 1001
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA  90292-6695

Talk:  +1-310-822-1511
Fax:   +1-310-823-6714
EMail: IANA at ISI.EDU

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