".travel" registry policies posted

ICANN and the USA Department of Commerce remain silent on my requests for independent review of ICANN's decision to create a ".travel" top-level Internet domain (TLD), and to stay that decison pending independent review.

But the ".travel" registry operator designated by ICANN, the Tralliance Corp. subsidiary of TheGlobe.com/Voiceglo, has quietly posted what appears to be a prototype (not yet linked from anywhere else on the Tralliance.info site) of a Flash intro page for the Web site that will be at http://www.travel.travel if ".travel" goes live, including a link to a version of the .travel registry policies .

The newly posted policies give no indication of by whom, or through what process, they were or are being proposed or approved. They continue and extend the bias toward the travel "industry", at the expense of travellers and consumers, that has characterized the ".travel" applications from the start.

Among the more obviously unfair provisions of the ".travel" polices is that a decision by the "Travel Partnership Corporation (TTPC) that an applicant is not eligible to register a "travel" domain name is final and unreviewable. But a decison by Tralliance and/or TTPC to allow a particular ".travel" registration can be appealed to an arbitration panel under ICANN's "Uniform Charter Dispute Resolution Policy" (UCDRP).

Why would eligibility approvals be subject to the UCDRP, but eligibility denials not be? On its face, this policy flatly contradicts the supposed ICANN requirement (not that ICANN ever enforces or follows its rules) that all eligibility disputes be subject to the UCDRP. The only reason I can imagine for such a policy is for the travel industry -- which along with Tralliance controls TTPC -- to guarantee their unreviewable authority to exclude from the ".travel" domain the industry's critics from amongst NGO's, journalists, and consumer advocates and organizations.

And while no dates have been announced to travellers, consumers, or the public, organizations that have affiliated with TTPC are telling their members that "pre-authentication" of would-be registrants of ".travel" domain names will run from 1 July - 23 August 2005, with the first ".travel" registrations beginning 1 September 2005.

That's if ICANN continues to disregard its bylaws, and my request for independent review, and if the USA Department of Commerce approves the addition of ".travel" to the root name servers.

".travel" TLD moving forward despite my request for independent review

Ignoring my request that the launch of the .travel top-level Internet domain (TLD) be stayed pending independent review of the process by which it was approved, Tralliance Corp. (a subsidiary of the financially troubled TheGlobe.com/Voiceglo, operating in conjunction with an insolvent sham entity called the "Travel Partnership Corp." (TTPC) and apparently acting as a front for the airline cartel IATA under a still-secret 22 October 2002 memorandum of understanding between IATA and Tralliance), says today that Tralliance is preparing actively for pre-authentication of applicants for ".travel" domain names to commence 1 July 2005, and for a limited launch of ".travel" registrations 1 September 2005, "as prescribed by ICANN".

ICANN hasn't even acknowledged my request for a stay, and has taken no action on it or my request for independent review -- both rights guaranteed by ICANN's bylaws, and promised by ICANN to the USA Department of Commerce (DOC). The DOC must give its approval before ".travel" can be added to the root name servers, but they haven't responded to my request either. I still don't know whether ICANN has requested or recommended to the DOC, or whether the DOC has approved, such an action.

The notice posted on the Tralliance Web site also says that "travel industry businesses and organizations that are not members of an authenticating travel association" will be eligible to register ".travel" domain names only if they have a Dun and Bradstreet D-U-N-S Number and are approved by Dun and Bradsteet.

Nothing about Dun and Bradstreet's eligibility decision-making criteria or procedures has been disclosed by ICANN, Tralliance, TTPC, or D & B. And it's not clear whether individuals, civil society entities, or other would-be registrants that are not "businesses" are eligible for a D-U-N-S Number, highlighting the economic reductionism, corporatism, and producer-centric (and anti-consumer, anti-"civil society") worldview under which, for purposes of ".travel", travel as a sphere of activity and aspect of life continues to be co-opted by by the travel industry.