Unlike some unfounded stereotypes, the French do not surrender.
Not only the white flag wasn’t raised during ICANN50 in London, but the French lobby pushing for the cancellation of the dot .Wine and dot .Vin gTLDs openly referred to ICANN as “an unfit venue for Internet governance“, adding that alternatives should be sought.
After failing to freeze the allocation of dot .Wine and dot .Vin as “protected namespace” for its real life wine products, France’s representatives at ICANN50 lashed out.
“ICANN’s procedures highlight its inability to take into account the legitimate concerns of states. Today ICANN is not the appropriate forum to discuss Internet governance.”
With that in mind, ICANN51 in Los Angeles, is already scheduled for October 12th – 16th; ICANN president and CEO Fadi Chehadé is expected to have his hands full: one one hand, he’ll have to convince the US Congress that ICANN is ready to remove its “training wheels“, and on the other hand, he’ll have to create a uniting atmosphere to appease the angry French.
What a messy year ahead for domaining! 😀
