news - Unstoppable reveals gTLD bid doomed to fail

ryan87

Established Member

Aug 21, 2024

The ICANN staff/community working group drafting the rules has spent a huge amount of time arguing about the language of the plurals rule. It’s a surprisingly tricky problem, especially when ICANN is terrified of being seen as a content regulator.

Preventing confusion isn't content regulation. ICANN isn't preventing anyone from publishing a website by refusing to allow .farms in addition to .farm.

Forbidding plurals like .farm(s) is a necessity. Lookalike domains are enough of a problem when it comes to phishing. We don't need lookalike TLDs. If those were allowed, and assuming they're vulnerable to lookalike abuse, ICANN would be increasing the need for content moderation because, eventually, someone has to be responsible for moderating abuse.

Unstoppable said last week that the two companies are launching .farms domains on Unstoppable’s alternative naming system, and that an ICANN application for a proper gTLD is in the works.

I wonder what their plan is with that. Do you get a blockchain domain with your ICANN domain or vice versa? I don't see how either would work. The technologies aren't compatible. Blockchain domains allow for absolute control and anonymity while ICANN domains don't. It's not possible to maintain the status quo for both systems at the same time.

Either you put the TLD at risk by ignoring ICANN's rules or you throw away the appeal of the blockchain and make the blockchain domains revokable. What's the value of a blockchain domain that adheres to ICANN's rules?

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