Saudi Arabia attempt to block Vatican control of new top-level domain “.catholic”
Back in June I noted the Vatican were seeking control of the newly proposed Internet address extension “.catholic” and now it would seem that Saudi Arabia are objecting to this move, on the grounds:
This application is sensitive as the term CATHOLIC which has been applied-for as a gTLD string represents the multitude of Christians across the world.
The term has been incorporated into the name of the largest Christian communion, the Catholic Church (also called the Roman Catholic Church). However, many other Christians use the term “Catholic” to refer more broadly to the whole Christian Church regardless of denominational affiliation. Other Christian communions lay claim to the term “catholic” such as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church.
We do not believe that the applied-for gTLD string (.catholic) should be under the control of one church which cannot, and does not, represent every catholic communion.
Further, we believe that any and all gTLD applications for any name in relation to religion or a specific community should be presented to the whole of that community for evaluation before an application is denied or granted. If this cannot be accomplished then such names should be restricted completely from being used as gTLD’s.
Failure to do so would give the use and control of an important religious name to one group, unjustly elevating its influence above others and permit that group to solely represent a spectrum of different churches.
The current applicant cannot demonstrate that it possesses a monopoly over the term “catholic” nor can it demonstrate that its intended ownership of that term is accepted by Catholics around the world.
To allow this string to be registered may be offensive to many people and societies on religious grounds.
Therefore, we respectfully request that ICANN not award this gTLD string.
So there you go.
Tags: Catholic, Internet & Technology
August 15th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Well said, Saudis. They should have included Anglicans as also considering themselves “catholic”. I’m glad they have also been consistent in objecting to anyone claiming TLDs like .islam.
August 15th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
I was quite disturbed by this:
US Evangelical Megachurch LifeChurch.tv seeks control of new top level ‘.church’ domain
It’s a terrible can of worms isn’t it.
August 16th, 2012 at 9:12 am
The Saudi objections to this and other strings are interesting. Internet in Saudi is very heavily censored, with very many sites blocked. I would have thought the suggested gTLDs would help them further in restricting the content available.
August 16th, 2012 at 11:19 am
I think it depends whether the Vatican intended to run it like a .brand (only for their use) or whether they were going to allow other churches to register .catholic domains. The same applies to .church. Both scenarios are possible.
August 19th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
This video comes highly recommended, it explores a lot of the tensions and contradictions of combining new TLDs with faith and social issues.