Bret,

Keep in mind that .pro is an Unsponsored domain right now (see http://www.icann.org/registries/listing.html). This puts it in the same category as .info and .name. If history is any guide, then .pro will evolve just like .name and .org, with fewer restrictions for eligibility.

It would be great to make this the subject of a public policy debate although I suspect that the contract for unsponsored tld's makes this a process handled between RegistryPro and ICANN.

Here are my two cents: The original proposal is dead. We need to move .pro forward, not backward.

I believe that .Pro needs to be opened up to all countries and all licensed professions. In my home state of Massachusetts, that translates to dozens of professions, from fishermen to electricians to real estate appraisers to insurance brokers.

Eligibility at the second level would be reduced to a single profession with no requirement to also own a third level domain. The Whois record would indicate the licensed profession of the registrant.

And there would be an acceptable use policy so that the domain is used in the context of the registrant's profession.

Regards and many happy debates over the holidays.

Tom Barrett
EnCirca






I think this would be most effective

Thanks, Tom. I agree that we should have a public policy debate on this, and perhaps the best way to have that debate is in the context of the renewal or rebid. I would like to see us move .PRO to a sponsored model, and I have no qualms about opening the TLD widely to other professionals.

Bret

As you mentioned in today's podcast, some registries want to bypass the registrars entirely.

You will recall, I trust, that one of the main objections by ICANN to IOD's original .Web proposal was the fact that IOD was going to open for business without registrars because the registry was ready to go. ICANN called that a non-starter and, even after IOD committed to using the registrar model from day-one, ICANN said that the damage had been done by even suggesting it.

Unless ICANN is prepared to do yet another 180-degree reversal, I don't see how this could ever happen.