> And let's not forget that DNS is ultimately a global issue, which means that the rule of law cannot be taken for granted.
I think this strongly points towards ccTLDs being the best solution. It is very difficult to get all the different countries to agree on common rules/governance for the legacy TLDs, but if everyone gets their own independent corner then that should be easier to get agreements on.
Dividing the control by country also conveniently avoids any single one being able to cause as much damage as ICANN now is.
I think ccTLDs don't work so well in a globalised world. Many internet services are not country specific, and ccTLDs sort of put you in the local business category.
The companies and/or owners of those services do operate under a certain legal aegis, though. It’s not like they are stateless.
I just happened to read the text on a food product; it had text in three languages, and the www.* domains listed in the three texts were in the ccTLD for each country. No .com was mentioned anywhere.
Domain names should never change and be easy to remember whereas legal ties to countries are often complex (i.e not 1 to 1) and subject to change.
Should I really have to remember going to apple.ie because that's where the Apple shop happens to be legally based at the moment? Or should it be apple.eu because consumer protection is an EU matter? Or apple.us because that's where Apple's headquarter is located?
And when a company gets sold to a different country, should all their URLs have to change?
Multinational companies should be the exception, not the rule. “Designed by Apple in California”; will Apple ever stop being a U.S. company? Why would “apple.us” not be appropriate?
A company is an entirely legal construction, and, as such, is entirely bound to the laws of a certain country.
I think this strongly points towards ccTLDs being the best solution. It is very difficult to get all the different countries to agree on common rules/governance for the legacy TLDs, but if everyone gets their own independent corner then that should be easier to get agreements on.
Dividing the control by country also conveniently avoids any single one being able to cause as much damage as ICANN now is.