Grounds for objection to the ICANN application for the .nyc top-level domain, focusing on the absence of civic engagement in the preparation of the application, and its lack of integration into a vision of .nyc as a catalyst for a commitment to vision and commitment for New York City as a state-of-the-art digital city.

1. Community Objection Grounds for __.nyc__
Submitted by: Information Habitat: Where Information Lives
No public consultation in preparing .nyc application
The fundamental source of the flaws in the .nyc application(1) is the process by which the
application was prepared, namely the failure to provide any meaningful opportunity for public
consultation. This is despite New York City’s proclaimed commitment to the use of information
and communications technology in support of enhanced civic engagement and open
government as expressed in its “Road Map for the Digital City: Achieving New York City’s
Digital Future”(2), “New York City’s Digital Roadmap: Progress & Innovation”(3) and elsewhere.
Inconsistency with principles of civic engagement and open government
A sound and well-developed application for .nyc could have provided New York City with an
exceptional opportunity to prepare an application that would be worthy of its status as a worldclass city. Home to a dynamic community of digital expertise and experience - including
designers, policy advocates, publishers and users - and a host of citizen advocacy
organizations and acivist, a broad-based public consultation would surely have given rise to a
much more powerful expression of the mission and goals of a .nyc gTLD. With suitable publicity
and readily accessible opportunities for participation, issues such as linking the development of
.nyc to a commitment to address the digital divide, to provide for universal broadband access,
and to strengthening digital literacy - and more broadly for .nyc to be developed as a catalyst
for a greatly enhanced Digital NYC.
Unpublicized late notice for the one and only “Public Hearing”
The only public hearing on the .nyc application was held with just three days notice - instead of
the normal seven - and the only “publicity” for the hearing was a small notice buried at the
bottom of page 676 of the March 20 NYC City Record as a ''Late Notice'' on "Agency Public
Hearings on Contract Awards'. Furthermore, the hearings were held only three weeks before
ICANN’s April 12 application deadline for new gTLDs, effectively leaving no time for New York
City to incorporate any concerns expressed at the hearing.(4)
New York City’s Chief Digital Officer has defended the City’s public hearing process in a recent
response to an objection by Tom Lowenhaupt on behalf of Connecting nyc, and while her
defense may be narrowly valid as far as the letter of the law is concerned, New York City made
no meaningful or substantial effort to embody the spirit of New York City’s proclaimed
commitment to citizen engagement and open government. The simple and clear fact is that
New York City made no real effort either to publicize the application initiative, nor to provide for
and invite broad-based participation from the highly diverse communities of New Yorkers.
State of the Digital City: Government 2.0 and its Impact on Policymaking
Ironically, two days before the only public hearing on the application for the .nyc gTLD, the
annual State of the City event hosted by the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
with the theme “State of the Digital City: Government 2.0 and its Impact on Policymaking”(5),
hailed New York City’s growing status as a leading Digital City and the opportunities for
enhanced civic engagement, open government and universal access.
.nyc & the Digital Road Map for New York City
The 2012 Digital Roadmap, as part of its “Next Steps for Engagement” promises to “Launch
ongoing listening sessions across the five boroughs to encourage input”(6), however, more than
a year has passed since the “@nycgov Meetup: Shape New York City Government's Digital
Future”(7) was set up, and not a single Meetup or listening session has been scheduled. The
City’s failure to follow through on its promise of public participation raises serious concerns as
the extent of its commitment to citizen engagement and open government, as well as the extent

2. that the Digital Roadmap - in addition to the .nyc application - addresses the digital &
information needs of New Yorkers.
Meanwhile, the .nyc application gets scant attention in the 2012 Digital Roadmap, and is the
last-but-one item - on page 51 of a 52-page report - and listed under “Next Steps for Industry”
focusing on promotion, advertising and revenue opportunities for the City, rather than as a key
unifying overall theme for a state-of-the-art Digital New York City.
“With the historic launch of the .nyc TLD, the City will embrace its digital future in a
powerful way and bring an unprecedented level of geographic authority to the digital
sphere. In addition, the City will generate revenue, help residents locate government
services, encourage local businesses to thrive, market and promote tourism, and spread
the dynamic image of New York City around the world.”
However, consideration of .nyc as a promotional tool for the City, a source of revenue for New
York City reflects a very short-sighted perspective on the potential long-term benefits of the
gTLD and of a Digital New York City, and fails to recognize the far more significant economic
and social benefits that would accrue to the City and to New Yorkers from addressing the issue
from holistic perspective that recognize the vital importance of universal access and the
development of broad-based digital literacy and digital capabilities necessary to strengthen New
York’s competitiveness as a leading global city.
.nyc Community Advisory Board
It was encouraging to read in the 2012 Digital Roadmap that:
“Crucially, the City of New York will establish a community advisory board and convene
public listening sessions to encourage meaningful input into the development of the .nyc
strategy.”
However, it was less than two weeks ago that any steps were taken to begin the process of
setting up a .nyc Advisory Board - seeming at least in part in response to the first objection from
Connecting nyc. Meanwhile, the draft terms of reference for the Advisory Board are very limited,
and significantly, make no reference to a role or responsibilities of the Board in actively
soliciting public input and in convening open, well-publicized and readily-accessible public
listening sessions in all the City’s five boroughs; nor have any budgetary provisions been
offered for appropriate publicity or to cover the costs of such listening sessions inclusing the
requisite administrative expenses.
Smarter, Greener, Climate-Friendly NYC
An important omission in the ,nyc application - and in the Digital Roadmap - is a failure to
recognize the ways in which smarter, more digitally-connected and digitally-literate and digitallycapable residents, businesses and government agencies can play a key role in reducing New
York City’s ecological footprint and its notorious traffic congestion - by providing for the
increasing substitution of material goods with digital goods, by significantly reducing needs for
the time, cost and carbon footprint of physical travel, e.g. by the use of high-speed broadband
connections for meetings, and through the availability of convenient and affordable co-working
space.
“PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York” - and “PlaNYC 2011 Update: A Greener, Greater New
York”(8) - has been developed as a key component of New York City’s strategy for long-term
sustainability including the City’s preparedness for climate change. By contrast wih the .nyc
application, the preparations for the 2011update of PlaNYC were supported by well-designed
and well-publicized online consultation & participation opportunities; supplemented by active

3. online fora, the PlaNYC consultation process should have served as a model for public input
into the .nyc application - as well as for public consultation by the .nyc Advisory Board.
Meanwhile it would be important for the next update of PlaNYC to incorporate and address the
vital potential role of the .nyc gTLD and an enhanced Digital Roadap in reducing the ecological
footprint of New York City
.nyc and Long-term Planning
The importance of substantial integration of .nyc and the Digital Roadmap with PlaNYC is also
based on a recognition that preparations for a state-of-the-art Digital New York City is clearly a
long-term planning issue, and as such, needs to be fully integrated with planning for
sustainability.
Digital Technology as Key Driver of Economic Development
The .nyc application and the Digital Roadmap also fail to recognize the profound significance of
information and communications technologies as a key driver in economic development that
extends far beyond the growth of the City’s digital industry. If New York City is to realize a vision
growth to include the adoption of digital technology throughout almost economic, social and
cultural sectors.
Key Detriments of the .nyc application
If the .nyc application is approved in its present form, New Yorkers in all walks of life will suffer
the major loss of what could otherwise have been a framework for a world-class top-level
domain had it been prepared with the benefits of significant public participation. New Yorkers
deserve better.
_______________________________________________
Submitted on behalf of Information Habitat: Where Information Lives - habitat.igc.org , NGO
in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic & Social Council, and a pioneer in
supporting and promoting the use of information and communication technologies in support of
broad-based participation in major UN Conferences beginning with preparations for the 1992
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Information Habitat has also played a lead role in focusing on
the role of information and communication technologies as a critical foundation for a
sustainable common future.(9) Robert Pollard, Founder & Information Ecologist,
ecology2001@gmail.com, linkedin.com/in/robertpollard
Notes:
1 . See “.nyc gTL D A pplica tion H ighlights ” - re form atte d, easy-to-read non-tec hnical highlights of the .nyc
app lication: nyc-info.net/nyc-application-excerpts.pdf
2 . “Road Map for the Digital City: Achieving Ne w Yo rk City’s Digital Future” - bookm arked version
nyc-info.net/digitalroadmap2011.pdf
3 . “New York City’s Digital Roadmap: Progress & Innovation” - bookm arked version
nyc-info.net/digitalroadmap2012.pdf
4 . Se e: “March 23, 2011: Last-minute hidden "Public Hearing" on .nyc top-level domain #dotnyc
#opengov #AskMike #nyc plus.google.com/u/0/106632164238171300064/posts/YeKFhujdbMz
5 . “State of the Digital City: Governm ent 2.0 and its Impa ct on Policymak ing”, sponsored by Ne w York
University’s W agner's Urban Planning Student Association and NYU Law School's Law and Government
Society - wagner.nyu.edu/events/wpa-03-21-2012 Video at isoc-ny.org/p2/3168

4. 6 . Fro m : “New York City’s Digital Roadmap: Progress & Innovation”, page 47
“To ensure the success of public-private partnerships and constantly evaluate engagement
efforts, NYC Dig ital, in partnership with th e D epartm ent of Inform atio n T echnology &
Telecomm unications, will conduct listening sessions with local communities and partners with the
aim of collecting feedback concerning the main areas of focus of the digital roadmap: access,
educatio n, open governm ent, en gagem ent and industry. Through these sessions, th e C ity will
sha re up date s with the public and e nco urag e fee dba ck and sug ges tions to m ake im prov em ents
that serve New Yorkers
To facilitate these listening sessions, the City, in partnership with the New York Tech Meetup,
launched an NYC Gov Meetup, leveraging the homegrown startup’s format used widely within the
tech comm unity. New Yorkers interested in participating in the first listening session in fall 2012
are encouraged to sign up for the NYC Gov Meetup: meetup.com/nycgov
7 . @nycgo v Mee tup: Shape N ew York City Governm ent's Digital Future - m eetup.com /nycgov/
8 . “PlaNYC: A G reener, Grea ter New York ” - nyc-info.net/planyc.pdf - “PlaNYC 20 11 Up date: A Gree ner,
Grea ter New York ”- nyc-info.net/planyc2011update.pdf - bookmarked versions
9 . See “Information & Comm unications Technologies: Critical Foundation for a Sustainable Comm on
Future” - Zero Draft contribution for the Rio+20 / United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
sub m itted by Info rm ation H abitat: W here Inform ation L ives. hab itat.igc.org/ie/ict4s cf.htm &
habitat.igc.org/ie/ict4scf.pdf (bookm arked p df)