[AfrICANN-discuss] Tr : ITWebAfrica Story - Ali Baba and the 40
Thieves.Africa
Neil Dundas
neild at dundas.co.za
Sun Aug 26 21:33:52 SAST 2012
Hi All,
Please see comments and responses below. I trust this provides some clarity on the matter.
On 26 Aug 2012, at 9:41 AM, Kivuva <Kivuva at transworldafrica.com> wrote:
> Can someone give us clarifications on the following:
>
> 1. Is .africa and .dotafrica in competition? Are DCA and
> AfricaInOneSpace competing to manage the same resource?
AfricaInOneSpace (UniForum SA) has applied for the .africa gTLD. DotConnectAfrica (DCA) wanted to apply for the .africa gTLD but they made error on their application and instead applied for .dotafrica. This fact can be verified on the ICANN site by following these links:
.africa : http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1184
.dotafrica : http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1276
> 2. Is there a difference between a geoTLD and a communityTLD? Where do
> .africa and .dotafrica fall?
Yes there is a difference, especially in terms of how they have been regulated in the Applicant's Guidebook. In a nutshell, you CANNOT get away from the fact that .Africa is a geographic TLD.
A more detailed analysis:
Paragraph 2.2.1.4.2 (section 2-16) of the Applicants’ Guidebook prescribes that certain applied-for-strings may qualify as “Geographic Names” and must therefore be accompanied by documentation of support or non-objection from the relevant governments or public authorities. In particular, the guidebook requires at least 60% of the relevant national governments in a region to provide documentation in support of new applications for geographic strings and there must be no more than one written statement of objection.
Africa is a clearly designated geographic region as defined in the UNESCO “Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings” list. In this regard the designation of the official AUC endorsed dotAfrica (.Africa) TLD string application, submitted by UniForum SA, as a geographic name is therefore technically and procedurally correct. UniForum SA is confident that the "geographic evaluation process" that its application is subject to provides sufficient checks and balances for the protection of interests and rights of African governments and the pan-African community.
The issue as to whether DCA’s application for the .dotAfrica string (1-1165-42560) will constitute a geographic name as outlined in the Applicant’s Guidebook is uncertain, notwithstanding the fact that DCA itself has designated the application as a “geographic name”. According the Applicant’s Guidebook (section 2-17) “Strings that include but do not match a Geographic Name will not be considered geographic names as defined in section 2.2.1.4.2 and therefore will not require documentation of government support in the evaluation process.”
UniForum contends that DCA’s .dotAfrica string application, although not a direct match to the AFRICA geographic name, is so confusingly similar that it must be regarded as a geographic name for purposes of evaluation. It must consequently be subjected to the criteria and rules applicable to the evaluation of geographic names, including government support. In particular we contend that the addition of the “dot” in DCA’s .dotAfrica application does not sufficiently differentiate it from UniForum SA’s dotAfrica (.Africa) geographic string application and will therefore confuse the public.
[BTW: The above has been posted as a public comment against the DCA application]
> 3. Must AfricaInOneSpace be a registered organisation? Are there any
> consequences if it is not registered?
UniForum SA (AfricaInOneSpace) is a non-profit organization incorporated in South Africa since 1988. It has been administering the CO.ZA domain name space since 1995. It has a long and well established track record as a technical registry provider.
> 4. Should the AU endorse one side between .africa and .dotafrica? And
> if it has endorsed one party, what are the grounds for it to recant
> that endorsement?
.Africa is a geographic name and therefore requires government support in terms of the Guidebook. African Heads of State have mandated the AUC to setup the structures and modalities to facilitate the application and administration of the .Africa gTLD, which the AUC has done through and open and transparent Expression of Interest (EOI) process and which has resulted in the endorsement of UniForum SA. Refer top the following links for further details:
- Clarification by AUC on .Africa gTLD: http://www.au.int/en/content/africa-union-commission-clarification-dot-africa
- Endorsement of UniForum SA: http://africainonespace.org/downloads/AUC_ZACRLetterofAppointment.pdf
>
> Regards
> Mwendwa Kivuva
>
> On 25/08/2012, Pierre Lotis NANKEP <lnankep at yahoo.fr> wrote:
>>
>>
>> For the interest of the whole community, it would be desirable that
>> Uniforum gives us some comments into the DCA article below :
>>
>>
>> --
>> Pierre Lotis NANKEP
>> IT Engineer / ANTIC
>> Web : http://www.antic.cm
>> Email (Pro) : pierre.nankep at antic.cm
>> GSM : +237 77 66 10 07
>>
>> ----- Mail transféré -----
>> De : DCA Exclusive Commentary <press.africa at dotconnectafrica.org>
>> À : lnankep at yahoo.fr
>> Envoyé le : Samedi 25 août 2012 7h11
>> Objet : ITWebAfrica Story - Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.Africa
>>
>>
>> Having trouble viewing this email? Click here
>>
>>
>>
>> Press Contact:
>> Thomas Kamanzi, Newsletter Editor
>> tkamanzi at dotconnectafrica.org
>>
>> DotConnectAfrica
>> www.dotconnectafrica.org
>> DotConnectAfrica
>> 25 Aug 2012
>>
>> DCA's Commentary on ITWebAfrica Story
>> The 185,000 Misunderstanding on .africa
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> To: The Editor-in-Chief, ITWebAfrica
>> We thank you for your recent article (Re: 'The $185,000 dotafrica
>> internet domain name 'misunderstanding'?' located at
>> http://www.itwebafrica.com/internet/334-africa/229830-the-185000-dotafrica-internet-domain-name-misunderstanding).
>> Even though your published story written by Mr. Gareth Van Zyl is
>> quite balanced, we wish to use this opportunity to provide some relevant
>> comments that would help to further elucidate this issue for the interest of
>> your readers and the global Internet and African publics.
>>
>> We believe that it is also pertinent to respond to the comments made by Mr.
>> Neil Duncan Dundas of UniForum SA trading as ZA Central Registry, who also
>> happens to be a director of DNS (Pty) Ltd., African Registry Consortium
>> (ARC) and is now the public face, fronting the .Africa new gTLD application
>> that was submitted on behalf of the unregistered AfricaInOneSpace.
>> Not A Community TLD Application
>>
>> One very important issue that needs to be immediately clarified is that the
>> .Africa new gTLD application submitted by UniForum ZA Central Registry
>> (Application ID: 1-1243-89583) is not a Community TLD application. The
>> attempt that is being made to position or characterize the application as
>> the official African Community application that is sanctioned by the African
>> Union Commission and about '40' African countriesis a veryegregious and
>> fraudulent misrepresentation.
>> LetDCA Trust be on one side as Ali Babaand let UniForum ZA Central Registry
>> and its so-called partners represent the forty (40) thieves, and the outcome
>> of this saga can be easily predicted.
>>
>> One only needs to see the published parts of UniForum's application and
>> their answers to Question numbers 19 and 20 to verify that UniForum
>> deliberately failed to acknowledge any Community in their official answers
>> to ICANN. The global Internet public should know this:
>>
>> Question No. 19 an unequivocal "NO"
>> In their answer to Question No. 19 ("Is the application for a Community
>> based TLD?"), they unequivocally stated "No".
>> Mission & Purpose of Proposed TLD
>> In describing the Mission and Purpose of their proposed gTLD (Question No.
>> 18), UniForum have noted inter alia: "The ZACR and its partners in Africa,
>> representing governments, ccTLD administrators, the technical and user
>> communities, share a collective vision of establishing and running a
>> successful, African-based registry operation for the benefit and pride of
>> Africa. "
>> How could such a bold statement indicating a diverse community partnership
>> be truly reconciled with their blank answer to Question 20(a)?
>>
>> Answers to Q 20 (a) to (f) - Blank
>> (a) Provide the name and full description of the community that the
>> applicant is committing serve; UniForum intentionally left it blank, thus
>> indicating that they have not actually named any community that they claim
>> to be committing to serve in their new gTLD application for .Africa.
>>
>> Interestingly, UniForum also left their answers to the following important
>> Community TLD-related questions blank:
>>
>> The question No. 20 (b) - (e) which immediately follows:
>>
>> (b) Explain the applicant's relationship to the community identified in
>> 20(a).
>> (c) Provide a description of the community-based purpose of the applied-for
>> gTLD.
>> (d) Explain the relationship between the applied for gTLD string and the
>> community identified in 20(a).
>> (e) Provide a complete description of the applicant's intended registration
>> policies in support of the community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD.
>> Policies and enforcement mechanisms are expected to constitute a coherent
>> set.
>> (f) Attach any written endorsements for the application from established
>> institutions representative of the community identified in 20(a). An
>> applicant may submit written endorsements by multiple institutions, if
>> relevant to the community.
>> DCA Trust strongly believes that the application submitted by UniForum is an
>> outright misrepresentation and fraud. According to the published parts of
>> their application, all the pertinent questions relating to a Community TLD
>> have been answered with a blank (Nos. 19, 20 (a) - (e); meanwhile, they keep
>> waving a purported Letter of Appointment from the AU Commission whilst
>> trying to identify their application as belonging to the African Community
>> based on their relationship with African Internet Community Organizations.
>>
>> ICANN Evaluation cannot be Fooled
>>
>> UniForum cannot fool the ICANN Evaluation with this very silly and dishonest
>> gimmick. If they have actually submitted an application on behalf of the
>> African Community according to their putative, or rather specious, letter of
>> support from the African Union Commission, then they should have been
>> confident enough to truthfully answer question Nos. 19, 20 (a) - 20 (e), and
>> reconciled same to their stated Mission & Purpose. Therefore, their claim
>> that they have the support of African country governments cannot be
>> substantiated, since the African Governments have been misled to provide
>> support for an African Community TLD application, but none was actually
>> submitted to ICANN based on the answers provided to question numbers 19 and
>> 20 by UniForum in their .Africa new gTLD application.
>>
>> Letters of Support from 40 African Countries
>>
>> Moreover, if the boastful claims of letters of support from "over forty (40)
>> African countries" are actually coming from the country code Top-Level
>> Domains (ccTLD), since the AfTLD (African Top-Level Domain) has lent its
>> name and support to the UniForum new gTLD application for .Africa, DCA Trust
>> will also challenge the involvement of AfTLD and whatever role that they are
>> playing in assisting UniForum to garner questionable letters of support from
>> African ccTLDs. DCA believes that the role of the ccTLDs should be strictly
>> limited to managing and administering the country code TLD, and should have
>> no involvement whatsoever in the management and administration of a
>> continental Top-Level Domain such as .Africa. . If the Internet Governance
>> Model does not allow the ccTLDs to own a Continental gTLD, we do not believe
>> that the same African ccTLDs should be involved in any cooperative framework
>> with UniForum SA to apply for, and own the new .Africa gTLD.
>> The Individual African ccTLDs cannot participate at the country-code level
>> and also at the continental level.
>>
>> Looming Threat of African Countries
>> Objecting DCA Application Accordingly, the threat implied by Neil Duncan
>> Dundas that some African countries have stated their intention (communicated
>> through ZACR) to object to the DCA application for .Africa is unfounded and
>> lacks merit, since such an Objection will be treated as frivolous.
>>
>> The African countries can only participate in a Community Objection
>> procedure against DCA, but i n a situation where no African Community TLD
>> application was actually submitted for the .Africa gTLD by UniForum, how do
>> they intend to validate such an Objection? DCA believes that this is
>> just an empty threat, and Mr. Neil Dundas and his cohorts should now be
>> held to account by the African country governments and the African Union
>> Commission to explain the egregious fraud that UniForum has perpetrated by
>> misrepresenting their application; to wit, obtaining specious support for an
>> African Community TLD application from the AUC, but failing to indicate a
>> relationship with any community in the official answers contained in their
>> .Africa new gTLD application submitted to ICANN.
>>
>> African governments should NOT have a case against DCA-
>> Instead they should withdraw support from UNIFORUM
>>
>> Once the African governments discover that they really have no case against
>> DCA Trust, they will start withdrawing their support from UniForum. DCA
>> therefore stands ready to defend itself against any form of Objection. Mr.
>> Neil Dundas should save his personal integrity and reputation and that of
>> the organization that he represents by explaining to the global Internet
>> Community and African Governments that have supported UniForum's .Africa
>> gTLD application, why he deliberately failed to submit a DotAfrica
>> (.Africa) new gTLD application on behalf of the African Community. After
>> all, if African country governments have provided any form of support for an
>> African Community TLD application, they should also make sure that one was
>> actually submitted to ICANN.
>>
>> The same way Ali Baba managed to expose and defeat the dishonesty of the
>> forty (40) thieves is the same way DCA Trust will expose and defeat
>> UniForum's dishonesty over the matter of DotAfrica, after which there will
>> be no misunderstanding anymore over the DotAfrica Internet domain name.
>> We thank you for your attention.
>>
>> Yours sincerely,
>> DCA Public Communications Team
>> Nairobi, Kenya
>>
>> Related Articles on UNIFORUM, founders of ARC and AU EOI/RFP Process:
>>
>> -Exclusive Commentary from DCA: AFTLD seeks mandate to manage .africa
>> -Rejoinder: Official Response: Kevin Murphy- DOMIANINCITE -Only ICANN
>> should decide on .Africa
>> -DCA Exclusive Commentary:A Moral Victory: "The Structure" - The Internet
>> Kill Switch for Africa
>> -DCA Press Briefing :African Union & UNIFORUM SAshould beware of Wrong
>> Doing
>> -DCA: Yes2dotAfrica Campaign say "NO" to African Union RFP (11/23/2011)
>> -Say "NO" to the Masquerade 'African Agenda' for Dakar and the Illegal
>> Cabal Supporting It!
>> -Say NO to DotAfrica CABAL (Whither DotAfrica amidst Confusion,
>> Promiscuity and...)
>> -Say NO to African Registry Consortium (ARC)
>> -Beware: DotAfrica has been hi-jacked by new gTLD cuckoos
>> -DCA REJOINDER:African Union requests proposals
>> for.africa domain registry
>> -Yes2DotAfrica Campaign say "NO" to African Union "EOI"
>> -DCA Alarmed over AU Unofficial mandate over dotafrica registry
>> -DCA REJOINDER: African Union and the .Africa debate
>>
>> Related Articles on .africa (DotAfrica) issues:
>>
>> -Say "NO" to the Masquerade 'African Agenda' for Dakar and the Illegal
>> Cabal Supporting It!
>> -You Asked, We Clarified: The Justification for our NO Campaign
>> -Say NO to DotAfrica CABAL (Whither DotAfrica amidst Confusion,
>> Promiscuity and...)
>> -Say NO to African Registry Consortium (ARC)
>> -Our Score Card- Regarding our NO Campaign
>> -Beware: DotAfrica has been hi-jacked by new gTLD cuckoos
>> -DCA REJOINDER: Misleading and Unfair reportage on dotafrica - The Daily
>> Champion Newspaper
>> -The Daily Champion: AFTLD, DCA battle for the Soul of DotAfrica
>> -The Daily Champion: Ministers seek framework for DotAfrica Project
>> -DCA REJOINDER:African Union requests proposals
>> for.africa domain registry
>> -ComputerWorld Kenya: African Union requests proposals for .africa domain
>> registry
>> -DCA Response to AU TaskForce/Infrastructure & Energy "Briefing Note on
>> .africa"
>> -Yes2DotAfrica Campaign say "NO" to African Union "EOI"
>> -African Union Yanks .Africa Bid Support - Seeks Registries
>> -DCA Commentary: Response to the African Union Commission Communiqué
>> -Say "NO" on Nii Quaynor, Vice Chair of African Union ".africa" Task
>> Force
>> -"Corruption" claims as .africa fight heats up.
>> -DCA Alarmed over AU Unofficial mandate over dotafrica registry
>> -DCA to Challenge AFTLD on DotAfrica Domain
>> -DCA REJOINDER: AfTLD seeks mandate to manage .africa
>> -ComputerWorld Kenya: AfTLD seeks mandate to manage .africa
>> -Yes2dotAfrica Campaign Successful at ICANN 40, SanFrancisco, CA
>> -Vote 'NO" on AfTLD to manage the .africa TLD
>> -Competition for .africa heats up
>> -DotAfrica project alleges Sabotage from AU
>> -DCA REJOINDER: African Union and the .Africa debate
>> -ComputerWorld Kenya: African Union Joins the .Africa debate
>> -Vote "NO" to Candidate Pierre Dandjinou for ICANN Board
>> -Yes2dotAfrica campaign announced in Kenya
>>
>> Make your comments or hear what others have to say: click here...
>>
>> Before Africa does
>>
>> "brand.africa"let it do
>>
>> "goodgovernance.africa"
>> Excerpt from Key Note Address: DCA Executive Director at AITEC ICT Summit
>> French Press
>>
>> Join Our
>>
>> Taking Africa to the Promised land!
>> ....one Country at a time!!
>> ---------------
>> Join our PanAfrican Social Media followings:
>>
>> DotAfrica; DotAfrique; DotAfriqya
>> DotAfrica; DotAfrique; DotAfriqya
>> DotAfrica Videos
>> Sign the petition for "Yes2dotAfrica" here
>>
>> __________________________________________
>>
>> Our Fulfilled Promise
>> Our increasing successes and accomplishment so far!!
>>
>> DotConnectAfrica ...Connecting the dots in Africa ...Bridging the Digital
>> Divide
>>
>> Our Campaign Archives
>> Our Press Room www.dotconnectafrica.org
>>
>> support at dotconnectafrica.org
>>
>> . BizCommunity covers DCA's"yes2dotafrica" campaign: "Dot Africa campaign to
>> brand continent"more...
>>
>> . Radio Netherlands Worldwide: A Dotafrica Generation soon to be
>> born:more...
>>
>> . Sophia Bekele DCA founder and former ICANN gNSO policy advisor was noted
>> byThe Economist, Sept 15, 2010, as "leading the dotafrica initiative": Can
>> "Africa" get a make-over? more...
>>
>> . Brains behind .africa,Diplomat East Africa more...
>>
>> . DCA is endorsed by African Union (AU), the Economic Commission for
>> Africa(ECA), and the Internationalized Domain Resolution Union (IDRU)
>> DCA in the News more.
>>
>> About DotConnectAfrica:
>>
>> DCA is a not-for-profit, non-partisan org incorporated in Mauritius Africa &
>> will sponsor, establish & operate a TLD registry with global recognition &
>> regional significance dedicated to the needs of Pan-African &African
>> community. DCA Reg.ID.CT8710DCA90
>> Press Contact:Thomas Kamanzi, Newsletter
>> Editortkamanzi at dotconnectafrica.orgDotConnectAfrica, www.dotconnectafrica.org
>>
>> Forward email
>>
>> This email was sent to lnankep at yahoo.fr by press.africa at dotconnectafrica.org
>> |
>> Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ |
>> Privacy Policy.
>> DotConnectAfrica| 1/F River Court| 6th Denis Street | | Port Louis|
>> Africa| Mauritius
>
>
> --
> ______________________
> Mwendwa Kivuva
> For
> Business Development
> Transworld Computer Channels
> Cel: 0722402248
> twitter.com/lordmwesh
> transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing
> kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
> _______________________________________________
> AfrICANN mailing list
> AfrICANN at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/africann/attachments/20120826/b9cd8c9c/attachment-0001.htm
More information about the AfrICANN
mailing list