ICANN Approves .cat TLD, Cat Lovers Need Not Apply

[mandy]

.cat domain extension approved, .xxx extension deferred again

.Cat, on the other hand, is a domain space reserved for members of the Catalan ethnic group.

cat lovers will not be happy 

http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3549441

[accentnepal]

.Cat, on the other hand, is a domain space reserved for members of the Catalan ethnic group

cat lovers will not be happy 

It is a little known fact that the Catalans are decended from Bas, The Egyptian Cat God. Thus the name Basque, also from that area, and the name Cat-A(t)lan(tis).

Feel Better now?

[accentnepal]

Seriously, this move is perhaps an indicator - how many ethnic groups are there without their own countries?? Zillions. If you let one have its' own TLD they all will want one. Good or bad, I do not know, but they have cracked open the door.

The Catalans live in France, Spain and Italy. Does kinda fly in the face of those who claim ICANN is only about America. Unless they are just trying to irritate the French.

[misteroriginal]

[quote author=accentnepal link=topic=426.msg1693#msg1693 date=1126939945]
Seriously, this move is perhaps an indicator - how many ethnic groups are there without their own countries?? Zillions. If you let one have its' own TLD they all will want one. Good or bad, I do not know, but they have cracked open the door.

The Catalans live in France, Spain and Italy. Does kinda fly in the face of those who claim ICANN is only about America. Unless they are just trying to irritate the French.
[/quote]

Edit to add (since the first reply was empty): I like the way you think. Since I'm a German-Swedish-English-Scottish American, I need a .GERSWEENGSCOTUSA TLD. The guy who invented this mess was a computer geek with no clue about how popular the web would become, so it's no surprise it's heading this way.

[bargainbloodhound]

It was a controversial decision for the reasons you both said (which by the way echo what was said in comments submitted to ICANN: http://forum.icann.org/lists/stld-rfp-cat/ ).

This comment sums up the problems that the approval of this TLD will likely cause:

... I believe that the approval of this application, or any of its variations, would create a significant precedent for ICANN and immediately generate expectations from a large number of other cultural and political entities internationally.

If ICANN approves this application without first having established a clear policy and process for granting cultural or political TLDs, it will then find it difficult, if not impossible, to reject any other similar applications...without placing itself in the position of judging cultures and politics – an extremely undesirable position at best and quite contrary to what I believe to be a core value of the Internet.

http://forum.icann.org/lists/stld-rfp-cat/msg00024.html

EDITED to add:  this is the original application submitted when the .cat TLD was proposed:  http://www.icann.org/tlds/stld-apps-19mar04/cat.htm

[accentnepal]

I have been doing research on country code domains. Most have fairly strong restrictions that the domains they sell are to be used for sites related to their country.  It is totally the decision of the country.

Some countries have opened their domains to the world. The obvious example is .TV.  Far from being a television domain, TV is the country code for Tuvalu, an island in the Pacific.

Global warming will erase the island in a few years (height above sea level is 20 feet) so the Nation of Tuvalu has sold rights to it's domain to promoters and is going to buy a new island. (Read that again to get the image - they are going to buy a whole new island!)

Others have done the same thing -- .CC is not Credit Card, it is another Pacific island, .LA is not Los Angeles, it is Laos. Top Level Domain names are a license to print money and .CAT is very sexy for that purpose.

I guess we will soon see their true motivation.

[misteroriginal]

[quote author=accentnepal link=topic=426.msg1735#msg1735 date=1127032156]
...TV is the country code for Tuvalu, an island in the Pacific.

Global warming will erase the island in a few years (height above sea level is 20 feet)...[/quote]

Can't believe EVERYTHING you hear on .TV.

"But science is divided with a recent study showing sea levels are not rising. The theory is that the land is subsiding because of improper land use and population pressure."
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/...10,00.html

[accentnepal]

"But the sun is going down....."

"No No, the horizon is moving up!"

                    -------Firesign Theater


Either way, wet is wet.