Changes

CIO East Africa calling her views "controversial" on who should run gTLDs, saying "Sophia Bekele has been in the news if not for promoting DotConnectAfrica’s bid for the DotAfrica geographical gTLD for the past three years, then in a controversial statement about the same":<br />

CIO East Africa calling her views "controversial" on who should run gTLDs, saying "Sophia Bekele has been in the news if not for promoting DotConnectAfrica’s bid for the DotAfrica geographical gTLD for the past three years, then in a controversial statement about the same":<br />

::<small> ".. Governments have a role to play, especially regarding the establishment of an enabling and supportive environment for ICT initiatives to thrive. However, there is a role for everybody, and global Internet governance is currently based on a multi-stakeholder modeled by ICANN.  Governments already have their two-code country-level top-level domains (cc TLDs), but they also have a role to endorse geographical gTLDs.  The problem is that this power to endorse is often interpreted and extended to include overall sovereignty over the new gTLD. We believe this should not be the case since it is monopolistic and anti-competitive coupled with problems of lack of transparency and accountability...-Sophia Bekele, in an interview on 09 March 2012, for the main story of ''[[CIO East Africa]]'',</small> <ref>[http://www.cio.co.ke/news/main-stories/Governments-have-no-role-in-managing-gTLDs Governments have no roles in gTLDs]</ref>."

::<i> ".. Governments have a role to play, especially regarding the establishment of an enabling and supportive environment for ICT initiatives to thrive. However, there is a role for everybody, and global Internet governance is currently based on a multi-stakeholder modeled by ICANN.  Governments already have their two-code country-level top-level domains (cc TLDs), but they also have a role to endorse geographical gTLDs.  The problem is that this power to endorse is often interpreted and extended to include overall sovereignty over the new gTLD. We believe this should not be the case since it is monopolistic and anti-competitive coupled with problems of lack of transparency and accountability...-<b>Sophia Bekele</b>, in an interview on 09 March 2012, for the main story of ''[[CIO East Africa]]'',</i> <ref>[http://www.cio.co.ke/news/main-stories/Governments-have-no-role-in-managing-gTLDs Governments have no roles in gTLDs]</ref>."

Ms. Bekele currently oversees the [[.africa]] new gTLD initiative of DotConnectAfrica Trust.  As Executive Director of DCA Trust & CEO of DotConnectAfrica Registry Services Limited, she has led a multi-national team of experts to prepare and submit an application for the DotAfrica (.AFRICA) generic Top-Level Domain. [[DotConnectAfrica]] Trust (DCA Trust) has already submitted an application in May 2012 for the .AFRICA (pronounced as ‘DotAfrica’) geographic name string to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a U.S.-based non-profit organization that is overseeing the global Internet expansion project to introduce new generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs) under the new gTLD Program. <ref>[http://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1276;jsessionid=2500230032894FB8CB3F16550E33DF0Farchive.constantcontact.com/fs053/1102516344150/archive/1110237447043,ICANN New gTLDs - Application Details]</ref>.

Ms. Bekele currently oversees the [[.africa]] new gTLD initiative of DotConnectAfrica Trust.  As Executive Director of DCA Trust & CEO of DotConnectAfrica Registry Services Limited, she has led a multi-national team of experts to prepare and submit an application for the DotAfrica (.AFRICA) generic Top-Level Domain. [[DotConnectAfrica]] Trust (DCA Trust) has already submitted an application in May 2012 for the .AFRICA (pronounced as ‘DotAfrica’) geographic name string to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a U.S.-based non-profit organization that is overseeing the global Internet expansion project to introduce new generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs) under the new gTLD Program. <ref>[http://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1276;jsessionid=2500230032894FB8CB3F16550E33DF0Farchive.constantcontact.com/fs053/1102516344150/archive/1110237447043,ICANN New gTLDs - Application Details]</ref>.