<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><br><br>---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b>Thomas Lowenhaupt</b> <<a href="mailto:toml@communisphere.com" target="_blank">toml@communisphere.com</a>><br>Date: Friday, December 5, 2014<br>Subject: A Commons In Danger<br>To: <a href="mailto:making-worlds@googlegroups.com" target="_blank">making-worlds@googlegroups.com</a><br><br><br>
<div bgcolor="#CCCCCC" text="#000000">
<div lang="x-unicode"> Making Worlds,<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
Many of these Premium Names are part of the city's <b>commons </b>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 <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qeEPuuPQ3MxzDtUjNpWZy5milRVISvt-4QqBmHRgENQ/edit#gid=623997761" target="_blank">here</a>.)
<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
I hope my fellow members of the commons community can join us in
this endeavor.<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial"> <br>
Tom Lowenhaupt<br>
<br>
</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial">----------------------------------------------- </font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial">Thomas Lowenhaupt,
Founder & Chair</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial">Connecting.nyc Inc.</font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><a>tom@connectingnyc.org</a></font><br>
<font face="Arial"><a href="http://Connectingnyc.org" target="_blank">Connectingnyc.org</a></font><font face="Arial"> </font><font face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><br>
Jackson Hts., NYC<br>
</font></div>
<font face="Arial">718 639 4222</font><font face="Arial"><br>
<br>
* 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.<br>
</font><br>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>The
New York Internet Society & Connecting.nyc Inc.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span></span></p>
<hr>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>Holiday
Panel and Party</span><span>
</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>December
17, 6 PM - 10 PM</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>55
Washington Street, Room 321, Brooklyn (DUMBO) </span><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/55+Washington+St,+Brooklyn,+NY+11201/@40.7028583,-73.9893922,17z/data=%213m1%214b1%214m2%213m1%211s0x89c25a315b52f0c3:0xf9997acf98096785" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span>Map</span></a></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>(late
arrivers needing entry assistance should call 917 579 2950)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>Livestream
too: </span><a href="https://new.livestream.com/internetsociety/dotnyc" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span>https://new.livestream.com/internetsociety/dotnyc</span></a></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>6:30pm
Premium .nyc Domain Names & Public Interest </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>
Commitments</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:36pt"><span>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? </span></p>
<br>
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>Avri
Doria, Internet policy expert</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>Gabriel
Levitt, V.P. Pharmacychecker.com </span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>Thomas
Lowenhaupt, Connecting.nyc Inc.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>Jeff
Merritt, Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation
(Invited)</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>City’s
contractor for .nyc TLD, (Invited)</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span>7:30pm
Party with fellow members. Meet prospective members.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>Holiday
cheer & a light snack</span><span>
</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>RSVP:
</span><a style="text-decoration:none"><span>info@connectingnyc.org</span></a></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span></span></p>
<hr>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span>
</span><a href="http://isoc-ny.org/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span>ISOC-NY</span></a><span>
- advocating for New York’s Internet needs since <a href="tel:1997" value="+661997" target="_blank">1997</a></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.15;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><a href="http://www.connectingnyc.org/" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span>Connecting
.NYC</span></a><span>
- shaping .nyc and our dotNeighborhoods</span></p><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<br>
<br>
<br>
</font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
</font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<p></p>
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<br><br><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><span style="border-collapse:collapse"><span style="border-collapse:collapse"><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:13px">Kevin Hansen, LEED AP, PG</div><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:13px">Director / Principal Scientist</div><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:13px">PeterEarth.org</div><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:13px"><a href="mailto:kevinh@peterearth.org" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">kevinh@peterearth.org</a></div></div></span></span></div><br>
</font></span></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a href="http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan" target="_blank">http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan</a> </div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div></div>
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