Thanks to Joan Dzenowagis for forwarding this and for her good work on
this and other ehealth issues.
WHO advances an interesting proposition which is deserves very careful
consideration. The implications of WHO certification of ".gov" health
sites (OR their exclusion) would need to be addressed. Also, since
the implementation might involve assessing some substantive aspects of
web sites (though not perhaps as a primary function) it would be
helpful to know about models of international certification of content
in other domains. Since the application states that policies would be
set by the World Health Assembly itself, which meets once a year,and
subject to the processes of WHO, would timeliness be an issue? It's a
pity that there is only about 1 week to frame comments on this
important proposal. Perhaps a good course of action is to encourage
ICANN to extend the public comment period.
Mary Jo Deering, Ph.D.
Director, Health Communication and eHealth Team
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: RE: [MWM-L] FW: Dot-Health: a new top level domain
Author: "Kun; Luis Dr." <[log in to unmask]> at INTERNET
Date: 10/27/00 5:00 PM
I am interested in the idea, offer to participate and think we should put a
position statement. Regards, Luis
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Luis G. Kun, Ph.D., FAIMBE
Acting Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO)
National Immunization Program, OD/NIP/CDC
1600 Clifton Rd. NE, MS EO5
Atlanta, GA 30333
voice: 404-639-8680
fax: 404-639-8626
email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Rippen, Helga [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 4:40 PM
To: Ieeeusa-Mtp (E-mail)
Subject: FW: [MWM-L] FW: Dot-Health: a new top level domain
What do you think about this? Do we want to put together a position
statement?
helga
-----Original Message-----
From: Margaret Winker [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
<mailto:[mailto:[log in to unmask]]>
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 12:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [MWM-L] FW: Dot-Health: a new top level domain
This is an interesting proposal but one that raises the same issues many
organizations have run up against in determining and enforcing quality
standards on the Internet. How does WHO propose to select sites that would
be eligible to receive the .health domain?
>>> Joan Dzenowagis <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> 10/27 9:37 AM >>>
Dear Colleagues, This is a key opportunity for those of us in the health
community to help shape the future of the Internet. Please take a moment to
support the creation of the dot-health top-level domain by registering your
comments on the ICANN web site!
Dot-Health: a new top level domain
----------------------------------
The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken a major initiative to-wards
improving the quality of health information available on the Internet. It
has proposed the creation of .health as a new, instantly recognisable
Internet top-level domain (TLD) designed to enable rapid access to
trustworthy information on health matters worldwide. If the proposal is
accepted, WHO, as a specialized agency of the United Na-tions, would be
uniquely positioned to provide neutral, international support for standards
of health information on the Internet.
Many national and international groups (such as Health on the Net
Foundation, Health Internet Ethics, and Internet Healthcare Coali-tion's
e-Health Ethics Initiative), have been struggling to find a way to ensure
the quality of health information on the Internet, given its variability and
uncertain reliability, the problems of sheer volume, plus the undesirability
and impossibility of regulating Internet content.
As the sponsoring organization of .health, WHO would have the
respon-sibility to set policy on how the name is distributed and used. By
managing it as a "restricted" rather than an "unrestricted" TLD, WHO will
ensure that there are enforceable rules on who may register un-der it, and
how those registrations can be used. The standards will be enforceable in
that the TLD can be suspended or cancelled if do-main-name holders violate
the rules. WHO is committed to working within an international consultation
process to establish fair and equitable standards and policies for serving
the .health community.
WHO has officially submitted the proposal to the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This private sector, not-for-profit
corporation has the authority to prescribe the means by which TLDs are added
to the domain name system. For the first time since the mid-1980s, new TLDs
will be introduced as part of a careful proc-ess designed to maintain the
stability of the Internet while coping with its ever-growing use. ICANN has
invited and received proposals from many organizations, businesses and
individuals for new TLDs, in-cluding .health from WHO. These proposals will
be subject to a tech-nical review and public comment, after which some TLDs
will be se-lected for more detailed negotiation and implementation.
WHO's intention is that the TLD .health will immediately identify the
domain-name holder as adhering to known quality and ethical stan-dards,
instilling confidence in the information provided. This has high value for
enhancing consumer protection as well as for improving public health and
medical information, products and services.
The creation of a .health TLD with the World Health Organization as the
sponsoring organization is a unique opportunity to explore and expand the
role that an international organization might play in im-proving information
on the Internet. The .health TLD has the poten-tial to become a reference
model for how international organizations can support and promote
transparent, high quality information in their respective fields on the
Internet.
By registering your support for this initiative, you can help to shape the
future of the Internet. The ICANN review process is now un-der way, and
public comments are being taken until 5 November at http://www.icann.org
<http://www.icann.org> , where the full TLD application is posted. Please
visit the ICANN site under Public Comments at the end of .health, to
register your support for the creation of a new top-level domain with a goal
of improving health information on the Internet.
Dr Joan Dzenowagis
Scientist
Health Information Management and Dissemination
World Health Organization
Geneva
mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
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