[P2P-F] Fwd: A Commons In Danger

[Michel Bauwens]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: *Thomas Lowenhaupt* <toml at communisphere.com>
Date: Friday, December 5, 2014
Subject: A Commons In Danger
To: making-worlds at googlegroups.com


 Making Worlds,

60,000 .nyc domain names have already been sold to New Yorkers* through a
willy-nilly process. Many of these might be considered pieces of the
commons. I for example, purchased the domain name MentalHealth.nyc. I'm
free to do with it as I please: create a magic elixir and sell it on a
MentalHealth.nyc website. Or I could open the MentalHealth.nyc comedy club.
While both of these might support a viable economic product, the public
interest could best be served by the name being used as a reference or
directory of the city's mental health resources.

While it's too late to do a thoughtful distribution of those 60K names, the
city administration has set aside 3,069 "Premium Names," that are currently
destined for auction to the highest bidder. Auctions are to begin early in
the new year.

Many of these Premium Names are part of the city's *commons *and could
better serve New Yorkers by having some strings attached to their use. So
rather than having pizza.nyc owned by Pizza Hut, we could have it owned by
a local entity dedicated to the advancement of New York's pizza industry.
Or we could require that hotels.nyc present a directory of all the city's
hotels, not just ones owned by an entity such as Hilton. I think there's a
better way to approach this and am co-sponsoring a panel to explore the
options. (The list of Premium Names, while not officially released, is
available here
<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qeEPuuPQ3MxzDtUjNpWZy5milRVISvt-4QqBmHRgENQ/edit#gid=623997761>.)


The panel is being convened by the New York Internet Society and
Connecting.nyc Inc. on Wednesday, December 17th. It will explore options
for assigning rights to these commons names, perhaps requiring Public
Interest Commitments or some sort. The invitation to the December 17 panel
is reprinted below.

I hope my fellow members of the commons community can join us in this
endeavor.

Best,

Tom Lowenhaupt

 -----------------------------------------------
Thomas Lowenhaupt, Founder & Chair
Connecting.nyc Inc.

tom at connectingnyc.org
Connectingnyc.org

Jackson Hts., NYC
 718 639 4222

* While the rules call for .nyc names to be sold to "New Yorkers only" the
reality might be different. But this is a topic for another time.


The New York Internet Society & Connecting.nyc Inc.

------------------------------

Holiday Panel and Party

December 17, 6 PM - 10 PM

55 Washington Street, Room 321, Brooklyn (DUMBO) Map
<https://www.google.com/maps/place/55+Washington+St,+Brooklyn,+NY+11201/@40.7028583,-73.9893922,17z/data=%213m1%214b1%214m2%213m1%211s0x89c25a315b52f0c3:0xf9997acf98096785>

(late arrivers needing entry assistance should call 917 579 2950)

Livestream too: https://new.livestream.com/internetsociety/dotnyc

6:30pm Premium .nyc Domain Names & Public Interest

            Commitments

Should those receiving development rights to domain names such as
hotels.nyc, news.nyc, pizza.nyc, schools.nyc & sports.nyc have strings
attached to their operation? Should these names be guides to our city’s
resources? Or should Hotels.nyc’s owner be allowed to list only Hilton’s
New York hotels?


    -

      Avri Doria, Internet policy expert
       -

      Gabriel Levitt, V.P. Pharmacychecker.com
       -

      Thomas Lowenhaupt, Connecting.nyc Inc.
       -

      Jeff Merritt, Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation (Invited)
       -

      City’s contractor for .nyc TLD, (Invited)


7:30pm Party with fellow members. Meet prospective members.

Holiday cheer & a light snack

RSVP: info at connectingnyc.org

------------------------------

  ISOC-NY <http://isoc-ny.org/> - advocating for New York’s Internet needs
since 1997

Connecting .NYC <http://www.connectingnyc.org/> - shaping .nyc and our
dotNeighborhoods



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-- 
Kevin Hansen, LEED AP, PG
Director / Principal Scientist
PeterEarth.org
kevinh at peterearth.org




-- 
Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at:
http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

<http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates:
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#82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
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