--On Thursday, July 23, 2015 17:54 -0400 Ted Lemon <ted.lemon@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Ideally, ICANN ought to give IETF an opportunity to say "no, > don't allocate that name" for any common word or common > abbreviation for a common word (modulo the one-letter, ISO > country code and similar constraints, of course). That would > cover all of the cases we're talking about. I think it's > too late to do that now, but that's what I'd want if it > were possible to do it. Ted, At the risk of being pragmatic... ICANN has developed a complex and expensive application process for new gTLDs. I've heen told by applicants that the circa $186K (USD) fee isn't even half of the total application costs. So someone makes one of those applications, moves a name through the ICANN process, and then ICANN comes to the IETF and says "is it ok to approve and delegate that name". I hesitate to think about what would happen if we said "no", but assume it would involve organizations trying to get their $300-$400K (each) back and lawyers. One could imagine a completely different process, but it probably is, as you suggest, too late now. One useful property of the model I suggested is that it would be, AFAICT, compatible with ICANN's current new gTLD process and its likely successors. Of course nothing is going to solve the problem that would exist if ICANN delegates a root-level name and the IETF (or someone else) comes along and says "whoops, that conflicts with...". john