.cymru (December 01, 2011)
Wot no .cymru?
How would you like to use a .cymru domain at the end of the web address of your business, sports club, society or maybe family website? Sounds good doesn’t it.
Well, in theory, it could happen in a couple of years time … if Carwyn Jones, Wales' First Minister, agrees to it.
 Ble mae .cymru?
You see, in a direct question by Elin Jones AM at the Senedd on 8 November 2011, Carwyn Jones said he didn't want a .cymru Top Level Domain name (TLD) – only a .wales. Yes, funny, the First Minister of Wales is against giving Welsh people the option of a .cymru domain. Some joke, surely? Well, erm no, unfortunately – unless things change. Carwyn Jones' reasoning was that he wanted a domain which would be most beneficial to the economy of Wales. Fine, but check this out.
Research conducted by LE Wales found that .cymru was the most popular choice of those questioned – so, the people who actually want a Welsh domain (and would pay to buy it) would prefer .cymru. Economy? Well, when asked which domain business people selling within Wales would prefer, it was basically equal between .cymru and .wales. Only the businesses selling outside of Wales preferred .wales. So, a small, though important, segment want .wales. But most people would prefer .cymru. My hunch is that a lot of those businesses selling to outside Wales would stick with .co.uk or .com or other domains, so .wales would languish, largely unused. But why not have both .cymru and .wales anyway?
Well, one problem is that the Welsh Government has decided to basically farm out the decision over which name we should have. They are also in danger of giving that name and choice to a company based outside Wales rather than a company which has lobbied internationally for a Welsh TLD for over the past five years – dotCYM Cyf.. Rather than taking a strategic decision on what is best for promoting the Welsh economy, Welsh culture, Welsh language, Welsh sport and Welsh society, they've gone out to tender. Edwina Hart, the economy minister responsible for the internet, who told the Senedd on 9 November 2011 that she "regretted" capitalism and we should read Karl Marx, has gone all free market on Welsh identity.
So here's the score: there's a danger that the choice of a Welsh TLD could be chosen because of the bottom line and decision of a private company. One company could be Nominet, who run the much respected and popular .uk domain, but also wish to run a Welsh domain. It costs $185,000 to submit an application for a TLD (like .cymru) to the world’s internet naming authority, ICANN. The application process starts on 12 January 2012, so time is short. The Welsh Government won’t fund the application – a company has to take the whole risk – though it's highly unlikely that ICANN would refuse a bid from Wales if it had the support of the Government in Cardiff, Westminster and Welsh society. You would have to pay for two applications to submit for .cymru and .wales. So, if a company thinks it is a lot of dosh to spend around £300k for the two domain names, it won’t happen. Welsh online identity – the most important branding this century – is being farmed out. Mad. In 2006 the Welsh Government paid £116k for a new logo and brand. It will spend £1.4m on Wales Rally GB. I’m not arguing about those projects, I’m just trying to put these sums in context.
By farming the decision out, the Welsh Government has done two things. Firstly, they've potentially subcontracted the name and brand of the country, a nation and language, to the private sector. Secondly, by not supporting a bid financially – which could have been done via a loan to be paid back with the sale the domains – they've made it more difficult for an indigenous Welsh company to be able to compete to run a Welsh domain. The fact is, Nominet has a lot of capital, capital built on being the state monopoly company for the state's TLD - .uk. That capital is now being used in the free market to undermine other bids. So, rather than investing a small amount of money in building up a Welsh company and infrastructure, the Welsh Government is subcontracting the work to outside Wales. Haven't we learnt anything as a country from some of the shortsighted deals made as the WDA tried to lure in outside companies?
So, this is the state of play. We could be in a bizarre situation where people who may not particularly use a Welsh domain decide on which domain name those people who do want a Welsh domain can have! That is, a .wales only and not .cymru. From a Welsh language point of view Carwyn Jones' comment in the Senedd was essentially going back to the 1950s when road sings in Wales were only in English. There was a big campaign to get Welsh on the road signs of our country where hundreds went to jail or broke the law. Were there not to be a .cymru domain you can bet there'll be a big campaign against a .wales only domain. After all, for many of us, Wales, which means 'foreigner', is nothing much more than a 'slave name' – a name given to us by our conquerors who thought of us as foreigners in our own country.
 Time to re-erect English-only roadsigns too?
We could also be in the situation where, rather than backing a bid for a Welsh domain by a Welsh-based company, dotCYM Cyf., who've lobbied for Wales and built up the support of Welsh society over years, the Welsh Government just farms out the country brand to a company built on a monopoly.
'Cymru' means 'compatriots'. Now’s the time to get together and decide how we want to see ourselves as well as how others know of us. Now’s the time to try and start building the Welsh economy, together, from the ground up.
If you'd like make sure that the Welsh public and Welsh diaspora can buy a .cymru domain for themeselves, club, business or society, then why not drop Edwina Hart an email? The address is edwina.hart@wales.gov.uk
Siôn Jobbins, 1 December 2011
www.dotcym.org
You can follow Siôn Jobbins and DOTCymru on Twitter - www.twitter.com/dotcymru
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