Here's the text of the remote comment I submitted to the Public Forum this morning (with bonus links included).

Three annual meetings ago, NextDNS Incorporated, in partnership with Sarnoff Corporation, watched as it's proposal for a personal name space -- .iii -- remained in the Board's "shopping basket" as the new TLD applications were pared down from 47 to 20 to 10 and, penultimately, to 8. With 8 TLD applications remaining, the NextDNS proposal for .iii remained "in the basket." Based on a misconception about the application, however, the .iii TLD was dropped from the final list. A timely Reconsideration Request seeking to correct that misconception was denied, and a timely Request for Independent Review has never been acted upon and remains pending. Nevertheless, NextDNS was assured that its application had not been denied, only tabled for another day, and that the .iii proposal would be revisited as soon as the testbed was complete. We still don't know when, if ever, that day will come.

While reasonable people can disagree about the need for new TLDs, no one should doubt that the prospective registries and sponsoring organizations waiting to enter the closed registry market have been treated shabbily by ICANN these last three years. That needs to change. NextDNS and all of the other prospective registries and sponsors need clear guidelines about whether, when, and against what criteria their applications will be reviewed. The Board can start that process tomorrow and bring welcome clarity and certainty to the companies and organizations that have acted with patient good faith these last three years.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Bret Fausett
Counsel to NextDNS, Incorporated

I'm sorry I missed hearing the discussion about new TLDs, but I'll look forward to reading the transcript later today.