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Multiple Companies Seek Control of Dot Eco
in case you didn't know, ICANN is meeting this week in Sydney (did they get the memo that it's winter there?). Tantalizing topics on the schedule include "Prohibiting Redirection and Synthesized DNS Responses" and "ccNSO Structure and Background Information." The really big news from ICANN, of course, is the launch of new generic top level domains (gTLD) next year. Depending on your perspective, the proliferation of any number of imaginable TLD's could be a golden marketing opportunity or a real nightmare.
One of the proposed gTLDs is ".eco". Presumably, sites that end with .eco have something to do with being green and environmentally conscious. In order to maintain some level of control and trust that .eco means environmentally friendly, however, a registry will have to control the TLD (much like .edu domains are currently controlled). This week two companies announced plans to bid for .eco.
The first is Dot Eco LLC. Dot Eco LLC aims to provide .eco registrations for free to non-profits, and to provide a common standard for companies, organizations, and individuals with information on the environment to present. Over 50% of Dot Eco LLC's profits are to be donated to environmental causes. The company released a short film today featuring Al Gore supporting its efforts, which you can see on its website.
The second contender is Big Room, a Canadian company. Big Room believes it should be picked as the registry because:
In addition to being lifelong tree-huggers, we are experienced at building consensus for global sustainability issues. Big Room's Co-founders, advisors and partners have a long history of working globally with technology and communities to build sustainable development solutions.For example, in 2005 we worked as part of an international team to create the Principles for Responsible Investment, a global alliance of investors committed to integrating environmental, social and governance issues into their investment decisions.
Big Room has launched a pretty tech-savvy website and a series of videos to explain their goal. At this stage it's pretty hard to tell the differences between the two efforts, but it does appear that ICANN has a task to select the best registry for .eco, and hopefully the winner will be serious about maintaining the integrity of the TLD so that it's trustworthy.
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Hi T. Lau,
In follow up to your post, there are several profound differences between the bids, including:
1. Background and experience of founders and the backgrounds of their supporters and advisors.
2. Processes for developing policies for dot eco. (following established standards vs. decided by the registry.)
3. Process for creating a foundation and allocating funds (profits vs. revenues)
By reading our about page: http://doteco.info/about/ anyone with a stake in the fight in greenwash will understand why Big Room's bid is fundamentally more robust.
Hi T. Lau,
In follow up to your post, there are several profound differences between the bids, including:
1. Background and experience of founders and the backgrounds of their supporters and advisors.
2. Processes for developing policies for dot eco. (following established standards vs. decided by the registry.)
3. Process for creating a foundation and allocating funds (profits vs. revenues)
By reading our about page: http://doteco.info/about/ anyone with a stake in the fight in greenwash will understand why Big Room's bid is fundamentally more robust.
Hi T. Lau,
You've basically got a classic celebrity vs. substance approach here.
Dot Eco LLC is basically a shell company for TLD Holdings, which used to be Hecta Media, an Internet advertising company. See: http://www.tldh.org/
Compare to Big Room, which was set up to help people make greener choices, and is working to practice what we preach ( i.e. we actually have an environmental policy - http://www.bigroom.ca/environmental-policy )
None of Hecta Media's founders have any environmental experience, they seem to be working on a bunch of domains and apps, and I really worry about how they are going to allocate profits, or make policies that ensure dot eco will be protected.
The risk is they just give names and money to anyone who endorses them.