[dns-operations] TLD(s) for private use

[Andrew Sullivan]

Hi,

On Wed, Sep 06, 2017 at 10:46:47PM +0530, David Conrad wrote:
> 
> ICANN has, I believe, gone on record to state that 2-letter TLDs are reserved for assignment according to ISO-3166.  Since ISO-3166 had, at one time, designated a number of 2-letter codes as “user assigned”, it seems wildly unlikely that those codes would subsequently be used for country codes.  Since ICANN has indicated they will not assign 2-letter TLDs that do not correspond to ISO-3166 country codes, they would appear to be safe for “private use.”
> 

The problem with that, as I suggested upthread, is that the politics
of "reserved" 2-letter codes as compared to 2-letter codes that are
currently "assigned" to a UN member state mean that, if there ever is
a serious collision between a member state's demands and the
reservation, it is at least unpredictable as to how the conflict will
be resolved.  Under the prevailing rules as many people understood
them at the time, CS should never have been reassigned.  But it was,
probably because Czechoslovakia no longer existed and Serbia and
Montenegro was there (and had demonstrated that they had an army).

It is possible that the lesson has burned itself into the maintenance
organization, and that they would react differently next time; or that
the UN would not make such a request next time around because of the
trouble it caused.  But I don't think anyone knows.

Best regards,

A

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
ajs at anvilwalrusden.com