Ah, it’s finally Phriday! 😀 Time for us to relax a bit and toss around a politically charged Domainer Poll of the Day!
There is a lot of pressure towards ICANN to refuse the applications of several gTLDs, such as .catholic, .baby, .sucks and .wine – all objections were made by Saudi Arabian technocrats.
But does the rest of the world really give a sh*t what the Saudis think?
As always, your opinion matters!
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World is much more than just America or US! And so Internet. Every opinion matters.
Jay – The problem is that in Saudi Arabia women cannot drive. Imagine Saudi Arabia telling American women they can’t hop onto an SUV packed with kids en route to a soccer match. Soccer moms are the heart and soul of American culture.
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The Saudi government has every right to hold its own opinions.
But when they violate human rights and try to impose their views on a global level, then they can pound sand.
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Ms Domainer – We need to be less dependent on oil. The Internet can definitely run on solar power; at night we can use gamma rays from space to power the root servers that keep the Internet rolling. The Saudis can’t stop progress, God willing.
Lucius – I know, but that does not mean that we should not care of their opinion. I am a US citizen, never been in SA, but have been in 42 countries and I like each contry I have been visited. Why communism in Cuba is a big problem, but in China it is okay? Why we (US) ban Cuba, but not China? It is a business, not human rules what we see. There are worst countries than Saudi Arabia and we don’t ban their internet, we don’t rule against them. You should start travel much more to see how foolish we (Americans) are and how nice people live abroad.
Jay – There were 160 comments by Saudis at the gTLD discussion board, objecting to everything that does not fit their culture. If that’s not alarming, what is? I am not talking about the people, but the government that dictates what’s morally suitable or not. Saudi Arabia has every right to block the gTLDs in their own cyberspace, if they must shield their citizens from the “immoral” gTLDs like .baby and .sucks. But they have no right to block their approval for everyone else around the world that doesn’t share the same moral issues.
Lucius – Read what you wrote. I agree that SA has right to block whatever they want on their own cyberspace, so let’s apply same to US. Let’s block .sa in US cyberspace, but not in internet root. That is not okay to me. Regarding SA’s comments – I agree that those comments are not okay and should be denied, but you wrote “the rest of the world really give a sh*t what the Saudis think” – that is not what I like to see in your post – that is not human at all. I don’t agree with SA’s politics, but I care what Saudis think. Not all Saudis are same. Bottom line: Internet should not be a tool for politicians and US should not block any country in the root, just in own cyberspace that does not effect other countries, regardless of fact that root is managed in the US.
Jay – Whether you like it or not, the core infrastructure of the Internet – from IANA to ICANN – is operated by US organizations. It’s not a United Nations of Cyberspace. Even if that were to change, the morals of a single nation would not be ruining it for the rest. Politics exists for a reason: to leverage issues on economy and society. How’s your $4 per gallon gas so far? The Saudis find that morally fit.
Lucius – Okay, so now we going talk about gasoline? Huh… You need to travel. US has very cheap gasoline. Majority of people in Latin America, Caribbean, Europe and development countries pay MUCH more for gasoline and they make MUCH less money than Americans. I see this discussion goes nowhere, but one day you will get it… I care what other people think, regardless of ethnic or national origin, color, race, religion, or sex. Period.
Jay – I’d rather pay $1.25 per gallon, thanks. Why isn’t this discussion going “nowhere”? It clearly is going towards unveiling the way those with the cake and the knife think: it’s ok for Saudi Arabia to keep on raising the price of oil barrel above $120 (was as low as $30 in the 90’s) but the world must not have .bible, .baby, .sucks, .catholic, .gay etc. Since you care about color, race and religion, explain to me why would the world *not* be allowed to have access to those gTLDs, just because the Saudis disapprove of those in their society. For the record, Saudi Arabia has a population of 28 million, less than 1/10 that of the US.
Lucius – quick points starting from your last comment upwards.
– I think using oil prices here is weak, but just so you know, Saudi Arabia is not controlling the oil price. OPEC (opec.org) does, with 12 member countries. Have you ever heard of Supply and Demand?
– Back to domains, Verisign has been raising its .com & .net prices for few years now, and other extension operators are following the same route. IMO there is no technical reason for the raise other than Verisign making more profit. Most domainers complain about it every year as we all read. Verisign is an American company, for a Saudi domainer like me with 2000+ domain names should I blame or disrespect you, Americans, or your government for raising prices? Obviously not. Almost everything else in the world is raising prices, this is called INFLATION. I’m sure you know some basic economics, or don’t you?
– America is the country of ‘Freedom Of Speech’ and ‘Democracy’ as we always hear. Why are you disrespecting others’ opinions and downgrading (or ignoring) it based on where it is coming from? Jay already said it in his last reply, I see this as racism – although I hope it is not.
– I’m not sure if this is your ‘serious’ opinion Lucius or not, but this is real news and it doesn’t come across as humorous in your post nor replies. ICANN invited everybody’s’ comments and ‘opinions’ on new extensions. In your post above you asked for our opinion too “As always, your opinion matters!” hmm… based on your post does it really matter what others think?
Relatively, do you think Saudi Arabia registry – or whoever submitted these comments on Saudi’s behalf to ICANN – really give a sh*t what you think anyway? Don’t expect people to respect you if you dont. However, because I respect your opinion I shall stop here and say no more.
Meshari – Refreshing to see a comment from Saudi Arabia.
Let me return the favor by addressing the issues here:
1. Do you condone your country’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks on World Trade Center? The hijackers were Saudi, not Iraqi. Iraq paid the price, however.
2. Supply and demand in oil cannot justify the extortion levels that have driven oil – and subsequently, food – to their highest levels in every country that relies on oil. The OPEC is a 12 member organization on paper, but in reality Saudi Arabia reigns supreme. Greed drives oil prices up, beyond what’s ethically profitable.
3. Do you condone your government’s assertion that gTLDs such as .catholic, .gay, .baby, .wine should not be allowed to operate on the Internet? If you dissenting from that opinion, why haven’t you posted comments – as a Saudi domainer with 2,000 domains – in favor of those gTLDs at ICANN’s board?
4. Freedom of expression is allowed in the US – and that’s why this comment of yours made it through. In the process, it serves as a reminder that the Internet is still a medium with the core business being regulated by the US, which is not willing to give it up any time soon. Thank God for that, or we might be reading only government propaganda from .gov web sites.
5. This is a domain industry publication and the opinions herein are expressed by its respective authors. Comments and opinions are welcome; the majority of those that voted in this particular poll state that the Saudi’s comments at ICANN are not going to affect the rollout of gTLDs.
6. You are quick to play the “racism” card, but then are you in support of the comments left by the Saudi technocrat, opposing access of special gTLDs aimed at gays, wine consumers, parents and Catholics? Explain that, please.
There’s a ghastly Catch-22 for a tolerant society’s survival:
A tolerant Society (in this case the Internet) cannot give in to intolerance (in this case the Saudi theocracy – ruled by 30,000 Royal Family members – 100% muslim / offence to practice any other religion / no democratic rights or freedom of speech / THE major proselytizers of extreme fundamentalist Islam etc,etc)
If a tolerant society gives in to intolerance in any small way it becomes less tolerant – so in order to safeguard its freedoms and it’s survival a tolerant society can never give in in any way to intolerance and therefore has to end up having to be intolerant of intolerance.