[thelist] New TLD .eu

[Palyne Gaenir]

> Since the USSR no longer exists and all of the successor states
> have TLDs one has to assume that no new domains have been
> registered under the .su TLD in years... [SNIP] ... I can't
> imagine the circus that would ensue if they pulled all of those
> TLDs, staggered or not. 

Bear with me, this sort of relates...

When The Wall fell, I was doing some patent mgmt and the funniest 
darn thing was getting notices from every tiny little country in the 
Eastern bloc that had decided to become independent, now wanting 
separate fees for each patent (which previously had been covered 
under one).  It delighted me they had the optimism to see this as a 
new income for their recently-re-established country, as if some guy 
with a bootleg Army gun said, "Yup, killed the local rep, our guys 
are in the admin building, we got 6 sheets with our new flag painted 
on 'em hanging from it, and now it's time to go send out patent 
notices to the world."  They would send photocopies of badly hand-
drawn maps, with their tiny sector circled and an arrow pointing to 
it.  As if to say, "What good will it do you to patent worldwide if 
our 60 miles of frozen country don't honor it?"  (As if China doesn't 
just outright steal anything worth having anyway.)  

It made me think of the complication that starting a new country 
(under even the best of circumstance) must be -- sheesh -- I once did 
mgmt for a firm that changed name, logo, colors, product line, opened 
a new chemical div and two new warehouses and moved half the mfg base 
-- while growing over 200% -- all in about 14 months.  I did much of 
that by myself and nearly had a nervous breakdown over it (and also 
came close to proving the old adage that 'working for people with 
substance abuse problems can give you a substance abuse problem').  
The chaos with new countries must be a little similar.

EU internet makes me wonder.  What happens in the future, if some 
country 'falls out of' the union?  Does whoever runs EU have the 
right to say, "Sorry, you won't let us build our bases in your 
country anymore, you just can't have web sites."  (Web sites are now 
used seriously as propaganda tools, if you aren't aware.)  What 
happens when a little country splits into two -- who gets to say yes 
or no to a new extension?  Who chooses "who deserves to call 
themselves a country" and who doesn't?  Or who gets their own 
extension?  Does every country or conglomerate with enough tech 
decide, or is it gov't? 

There is something in the back of my mind saying that whoever ends up 
with this control in the end would have a lot more control in the 
future than we may realize it entails now.

Palyne

I owe, I owe.  It's off to work I go.  To find something useful 
enough to tip here, everything I can think of right now is so basic 
it's stupid.


--------
Palyne Gaenir
ScienceHorizon Web Media
http://www.sciencehorizon.com
palyne at sciencehorizon.com
Toll-Free 877-316-0763