Parliamentary backing for dotSCOT

The Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee today formally endorsed the dotSCOT campaign, after receiving assurances from the Government that it was doing all it could to help ensure an application could be submitted to ICANN.

The unanimous vote cast by the Committee means that our campaign now has cross-party support - a crucial step in demonstrating to ICANN a widespread desire across Scotland and its diaspora for a Scottish domain.

The dotSCOT team are delighted that both Parliament and Government have been so supportive of our campaign. Less than nine months after we started collecting signatures to submit the petition, we are now well on the way to submitting an application to ICANN - no small feat.

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First Minister announces support for Scots internet domain

We are delighted that the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond MSP, has announced that the Scottish Government will be supporting a bid for new top-level internet domain (TLD) for the Scots community of interest online.

The Scottish Government setup a working group to consider a community top-level for the worldwide family of Scots in response to a petition from dotSCO earlier this year. As our previous newsletter highlighted our Director, Davie Hutchison, has been an active member of that working group.

The First Minister has released research from the working group which shows that there is strong support for a new community TLD. 58% of organisations (from the public, private and third sectors) in Scotland support the creation of a Scots community TLD with only 18% being against. A huge 82% of organisations in the Scots Diaspora back the application with just 8% being against.

As was indicate in the last newsletter the final choice of what string or code to apply for was still under consideration, either ‘.sco’ or ‘.scot’ .The research from the working group has shown that some 59% have supported ‘.Scot’ with 14% preferring ‘.sco’. With .scot being the clear preference of the community we will continue our campaign for a new TLD using that code.

The dotSCO campaign team is looking forward to the year ahead and helping to prepare the bid to ICANN for a new Internet domain for the worldwide family of Scots!

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Survey shows support for dotSCOT

The internet campaign group behind the campaign for a Scots community top-level domain (TLD), dotSCOT, are delighted with the strong support for the campaign revealed in the Scottish Government's survey of key stakeholders.

The survey was organised by the Scottish Government’s Internet Domain working group; it showed that 58% of organisations backed the proposal, with only 18% against. Among Scottish Diaspora organisations the level of supported soared to 82%.

Commenting on the figures, dotSCOT Director Davie Hutchison said:

"The high level of support that the Scottish Government has found for a Scots community TLD reflects our own experience since we launched the campaign in 2005. The dotSCOT campaign has received a tremendous level of support from people all over the world who want a community TLD for the worldwide family of Scots.

“Earlier this year over 1100 people signed our petition to the Parliament's Public Petitions Committee, which asked for support for creating a new Scottish internet domain. The Scottish Government responded positively to the petition by establishing the Scottish Internet Domain working group, of which dotSCOT is a member. We are delighted that the Government has been so supportive of our campaign, and welcome their commitment to supporting an application to ICANN in 2009.

"The Catalan online community blazed a trail with the ‘.cat’ domain which went live in April 2006.The First Minister will learn of the fantastic success of the Catalan internet domain for himself during his visit to Catalonia. Every indication shows that a Scottish domain will match and possibly exceed the success of the Catalans.

"Finally, although we started out campaigning for a ‘.sco"’, we have always believed that the ‘string’ that was applied for should be determined by the community itself. The survey has shown that ‘.scot’ is their choice and we are delighted to support the views of the Scots internet community. After all, it is for them that we started this campaign."

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Scottish Government backs campaign

The Scottish Government has announced its backing for top-level domain for the Scots community of interest online, following a petition to the Scottish Parliament from dotSCOT.

In May 2008, the Petitions Committee considered our petition, which requested that the Scottish Government support our application, and they agreed to write to Ministers to seek their views. The response was very positive. The Government wrote to the Committee and said:

“Ministers are very supportive of the idea of a top level domain that would give Scotland and Scottish culture a clear identity on the worldwide internet with the potential to lead to economic and cultural benefits.

A Scottish Internet Domain Working Group has recently been set up to examine all aspects of the issue. It includes representatives from the Government’s international and cultural divisions, Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, the Government’s domain advisers, and the dotSCOT campaign group which submitted the petition.

The Working Group has been asked to begin preparations for a bid to obtain a new domain when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) invites applications, as it is expected to do during 2009.”

The Petitions Committee recently considered this letter, recognised the positive reaction from the Government, and agreed to write to Ministers once more to clarify if they can offer financial support as well. This was in response to the decision from the Welsh Assembly to award our Welsh counterparts, dotCYM, £20,000 to aid with the application.

We at dotSCOT are obviously delighted that the Government has been so positive. A representative from dotSCOT was invited to participate in the Government's working group, which is currently discussing how to put together a bid.

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