.pars Pre-Register Domain - .pars Domain Information

There are in excess of a hundred million of Persians worldwide. They are a disparate group, yet they are united through their core beliefs. They are a group whose origins are found several millennia in the past, their ethnicity often inextricably linked with their heritage. Hitherto, however, there has been no way to easily unify them and their common cultural, linguistic and historical heritage. The .PARS gTLD, and the community it creates, will change this.
The origins of the ethnic Persian community can be traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of the greater Indo-European linguistic family. The Ancient Iranian peoples arrived in parts of Iranian plateau around 2000-1500 BCE. Important Iranian tribes such as Old Persians, Medes, Parthians, Bactrians, Scythians, and the Avesta people used the name Arya (Iranian), which was a collective definition, denoting peoples who were aware of belonging to the one ethnic stock, speaking a common language, and mainly sharing a religious tradition that centered on the worship of Ahura Mazda.
The Old Persians (one of these ethnic Iranian groups) were originally nomadic, pastoral people occupying the western Iranian plateau. By 850 BCE they were calling themselves the Parsa, and their constantly shifting territory Parsua. For the most part this was localized around Persis (Pars), bounded on the west by Tigris River and on the south by Persian Gulf. The first known written record of the term Persian is from Assyrian inscriptions of the 9th century BCE, which mention both Parsuash and Parsua. These cognate words were taken from old Iranian Parsava and presumably meant border, borderland and were geographical designations for Iranian populations. Nonetheless, Parsua and Parsuash were two different geographical locations - the latter referring to southwestern Iran, known in Old Persian as Pârsa (Modern Fars). The Greeks (who tended earlier to use names related to ʺMedianʺ) began in the 5th century to use adjectives such as Perses, Persica or Persis for Cyrus the Greatʹs empire, which is where the word Persian in English comes from. In the later parts of the Bible, where this kingdom is frequently mentioned (Books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemya), it is called ʺParasʺ (Hebrew פרס ), or sometimes ʺParas ve Madaiʺ (פרס ומדי ) i.e. ʺPersia and Mediaʺ. As the Old Persians gained power, they developed the infrastructure to support their growing influence including creation of a capital named Pasargadae, and an opulent city named Persepolis.
Starting around 550 BCE, from the region of Persis in southern Iran, encompassing the present Fars province, the ancient Persians spread their language and culture to other parts of the Iranian plateau and assimilated and intermingled with local Iranic and indigenous non-Iranic groups including the Elamites over time. Persians also interacted with other ancient civilizations in Europe and Africa. The first Persian Empire extended as far as the limits of the Greek city states, where Persians and Athenians influenced each other in what is essentially a reciprocal cultural exchange.
The proposed gTLD is, in fact, the name of the accrued homeland of the Persian people, including different areas of the world including Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and many more Persian people around the world. The total number of native Persian language speakers exceeds 81 million people, while the population of the combined global community is around 110 million.
While the .PARS gTLD ties back historically, linguistically and culturally to the Persian people, it also has the potential to tie together the tens of millions of people across the globe who read Persian-script languages.
A robust gTLD has the power to bring together people across national borders in a free-flowing exchange of information and commerce. There is not a .COM or .ORG equivalent of .PARS--a domain that has universal appeal across a common origin. ICANN is dedicated to creating more competition in the TLD space, and the introduction of the Persian community through a .PARS gTLD does so in one simple stroke.
Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. (AGITSys) was founded by individuals of Persian origin who derive a great sense of honor and pride from their community, history and ancestry. AGITSys' founders have gathered together a team with extensive experience in Persian language on the Internet, a daunting but critical task. The team behind AGITSys, including technical advisor/member Dr. Shahram Soboutipour, has taken a leading role in working toward Persian domain names (something it considers inevitable) for more than 8 years. No entity is better suited to manage the .PARS gTLD, nor more dedicated to providing new online tools and services to facilitate the unification of the .PARS community online. The .PARS gTLD will increasingly open up the vast resources of the Internet and the associated global interconnectedness to this Persian community, while stimulating the introduction of more online information and resources in the Persian language - and AGITSys will be at the helm of this change.
The company is not only perfectly situated ideologically, but also physically, as it is headquartered in Turkey, which ties together the global Persian population through close relations both with the citizens of Persian-speaking countries in the East, as well as the diasporas of Persian language speakers in Western nations. Turkey's geographical and political location aids it enormously in the endeavors needed for the .PARS community to be a success, as it literally and figuratively sits in-between the East and West. This is important because the .PARS gTLD is designed to accommodate a global community, and AGITSysʹ team's work with ICANN has always looked toward not just to serving the Afghan, Tajik and Iranian people but all users of Persian-script languages.

The benefits of the .PARS gTLD will be manifold, not just to registrants but also to tens of millions of Persian internet users, as well as many others with an interest in or curiosity regarding Persia. The presence of a Persian-specific gTLD will increase the volume of online Persian resources, as the emergence of the .PARS second-level domains sees a network effect kick in. This network effect will create an additional incentive for the digitization of existing Persian materials, so as to facilitate their posting online as the demand for such material grows.
Consequently, the new .PARS gTLD will also increase access to online resources as the tens of millions of people that read Persian and Persia-related materials are able, for the first time, to find the content they seek within the sites operating under the .PARS gTLD. Existing website registrants will be able to extend their presence to that audience with new .PARS sites, while new registrants will emerge from those Persian populations brought together by the .PARS gTLD, adding to the value of the Internet in ways not currently possible.
As the global population expands, more people become willing Internet users and seek out second-level domains. The .PARS gTLD is flexible, and is thus capable of being used for sites focused on ecommerce, information dissemination, charitable endeavors and many more functions among Persians. A transformation in competition is anticipated for web sites within .PARS, to depart from conventional methods of attracting new customers in this expanding market. This is because it will encourage competitors, targeting the extensive and diverse collection of global Persian Internet users. This incentive doesnʹt currently exist in an online space devoid of the .PARS gTLD, where competition amongst the already saturated existing TLDs is stagnant.
In terms of goals in the areas of specialty, service levels, and reputation for the proposed .PARS gTLD, AGITSys is committed to offering choice in top level domain extensions among the Persian community. AGITSys recognizes many new gTLDs will naturally have a relatively narrow appeal and audience. The .PARS gTLD is different, as it not only targets a distinct online community, but one that spans the globe. AGITSys is prepared to utilize its home market of Turkey as a leading source of registrants and sites, while incorporating the power of the web to connect with myriad other registrants and Internet users beyond Turkey. Further, we intend to adopt and follow the highest standards in registry operations exceeding service levels and expectations thus producing a consistent reputation.
AGITSys has been at the forefront of the ICANN community effort in working to bring the Global Persian community together through a dedicated gTLD, as well as bringing Persians in to the larger online community. No organization has a greater understanding both of the opportunities a .PARS gTLD will afford as well as the challenges that its adoption and spread will bring. AGITSys is prepared to ensure the success of .PARS, such that it is a shining example of ICANNʹs wisdom in granting the gTLD.
The company is committed to bringing top-level domain registration services to registrants. To this end, AGITSys has contracted CoCCA Registry Services (NZ) Limited ("CoCCA") to provide hosted Registry Services for the .PARS gTLD. CoCCA has over nine years experience authoring open source registry software systems and providing TLD registry support services. CoCCA was originally incorporated in Australia in 2003 as CoCCA Registry Services Limited, in January 2009 CoCCA re-located to New Zealand and trades as CoCCA Registry Services (NZ) Limited. CoCCA is a privately held NZ company.
CoCCA's clients are managers of county code top level domains (ccTLDs) as of 31 March 2012, 33 national country code top level domains ("ccTLDs") are have selected CoCCA's SRS technology or services to manage their critical infrastructure. Several other ccTLDs have committed to migration to CoCCA's "pamoja" EPP Shared Registry System ("SRS") in 2012 pending the outcome of re-delegations.
CoCCA's pamoja SRS is the most widely deployed, field-tested SRS in use today. CoCCA's SRS is a mature product that has grown organically over the past decade as new standards have been developed and published. It is doubtful any other Registry Services provider has accumulated CoCCA's level of experience operating multiple small to medium sized TLDs efficiently and securely.
AGITSys' team is well-known in the ICANN community as a selfless champion of the interests of Persians around the world, including communities tied to the Persian heritage. We also have a long history of advising the Turkish internet industry. Our reputation is solid, and we have every incentive to maintain that reputation as we roll out the .PARS gTLD.
Under the shepherding of AGITSys, the .PARS gTLD will increase competition, provide more online differentiation for customers and consumers, while driving digital innovation. The addition of the .PARS gTLD will create new competition for names within the domain name space. Not only will the offering of .PARS domains create competition within content providers for users of Persian content, but it is expected that competition will be enhanced among the varying service providers that users require to deploy said content.
As it is rolled out, the .PARS gTLD will rapidly develop as the gTLD of choice among Persians in all countries. The demand for Persian content from this group isn't and wonʹt be satisfied by .COM or .ORG offerings within the current gTLDs and in fact has hampered collaboration and innovation. The Persian people demand content that is tailored to their own unique needs and wants, under the umbrella of a dedicated gTLD. As stated in 18(a) above, as Persian-content sites increasingly seek to differentiate themselves to consumers, and registrants seek to differentiate themselves to acquirers of second-level domains, the power to differentiate will come from innovative approaches to customer service and the creation of a trusted online environment.
It is AGITSys' mission that competition and differentiation of the .PARS gTLD will be coupled with a user experience online that is reliable and predictable. To make this as likely as possible, AGITSys will work both with existing registrars seeking to reach new audiences, as well as new registrars that may emerge from within the global Persian community, thereby supporting ICANNʹs mission to create more capacity in developing countries. AGITSys feels it can foster more competition at the registrar level by offering assistance and encouragement to new registrars in this way. We also believe that this should and will be coupled with a positive experience for Internet users. Indeed, this is critical to the success of the .PARS gTLD. By working with the right registrars (who maintain the right, stringent) standards for adoption and use by their own customers, AGITSys can reach its goal of having the .PARS gTLD become synonymous with a safe and trusted online experience.
As a part of this, since the .PARS gTLD is community based and designed to serve those of Persian heritage - as well as to protect its good name, AGITSys intends to limit second-level domain registrations to those of Persian heritage, or those with a clear interest in serving the Persian community and culture beneficially. Such a designation is almost impossible to police, because to restrict registrations to those geographically located in Persian nations would alienate the Diasporas mentioned above. Thus, these limitations will mostly be self-imposed, with registrants agreeing themselves that they are either of Persian heritages or have a clear interest in ameliorating the community. Equally, AGITSys will not tolerate radical content, nor will it tolerate content that criticizes Persia and the Persian culture. Immediate and severe action will be taken against registrants promulgating either, and a black list will be created in an attempt to pre-empt any such attempts. Once content is registered, the community will be to an extent self-policing, with facilities to report abusive or non-Persian registrations available on the Registry website
Because of its dedication to the Persian community and the .PARS gTLD which is intended to serve it, AGITSys will implement protection measures for registrations to ensure an abuse free environment whilst maintaining choice. This will be accomplished with Registration safeguards, wildcard alerts, name selection polices, all governed by an Acceptable Use Policy and post registration protections via Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy and Uniform Rapid Suspension. More details on these policies can be found in answer to Questions 28 and 29.
The privacy offered will be total, within the rules and procedures provided by ICANN. These policies will be transparent and rigorous, modeled after successful policies implemented by currently delegated TLDs and accompanied by vigilant processes and technologies to prevent unauthorized access to information. This is a manifestation of the larger goal of the .PARS gTLD, that of a trusted source of safe online transactions, as stipulated in 18(a).
Privacy and security will be key elements of our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP will govern how a registrant may use its registered name, with a specific focus on protecting Internet users. AUP language would specifically address privacy by prohibiting a registrant from using a domain for any activity that violates the privacy or publicity rights of another person or entity, or breaches any duty of confidentiality owed to any other person or entity. The AUP also would prohibit spam or other unsolicited bulk email, or computer or network hacking or cracking, as well as the installation of any viruses, worms, bugs, Trojan horses or other code, files or programs designed to, or capable of, disrupting, damaging or limiting the functionality of any software or hardware. We would maintain complete enforcement rights over the use of the domain name. Should a registrant find itself in breach of the AUP, we would reserve the right to revoke, suspend, terminate, cancel or otherwise modify their rights to the domain name.
In terms of community outreach by the .PARS gTLD, it is expected that the momentum around .PARS will build quickly, given the pent-up demand that has been building for years within the ranks of the Persian people and associated community. AGITSys, as its champion in gTLD discussions, knows full well how popular this service will be.
There is already widespread support within the Persian Community for AGITSysʹ application for .PARS. More than 40,000 people have signed a petition to ICANN supporting our effort. As members of the Persian community, these people recognize the historical and cultural importance of the .PARS gTLD to Persians and endorse this effort. The petition can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dot-pars/.
The growth of the .PARS gTLD will be driven by what economists refer to as the network effect. A network effect occurs when a service becomes more popular as more individuals adopt it. A significant portion of the serviceʹs value stems directly from the increased adoption and usage of the service. Historically the network effect is most powerful in tools of interconnection. The telegraph and telephone were technologies that grew exponentially due to the network effect. The Internet itself is an example of that phenomenon, as seen by the rapid upward growth curve of Internet penetration, broadband speeds, and web site creation. ICANNʹs data on the growth of .COM is an example of the network effect, and now it is seen in social-media platforms atop the Internet, such as Facebook and Twitter. In a short period of time, with very little effort invested in PR or promotion, we were able to recruit more than 40,000 supporters of our application for .PARS. Once delegated and properly promoted, we expect to see even greater results.
As more sites offer information, services, and opportunities for interconnection to the .PARS community as a whole, more members of the community will navigate to those sites. Many of those will provide their own content, and their activity there will spark further growth of second-level .PARS domains. At some point, Persian information and service providers currently not offering sites, will see the demand for .PARS-related content and will migrate their offerings to .PARS sites as well, furthering the offerings to the community and further driving community members to .PARS sites. The future benefits of interlinking this diverse and global community are incalculable but immense.
Augmenting this, AGITSys is also active in the business community within Turkey and Middle Eastern countries, and interconnected across the spectrum of the Persian community due to its promotional efforts with ICANN and elsewhere. It will leverage that network to spread the word of the .PARS gTLD in order to promote adoption. The best steps AGITSys can take to ensure the gTLDʹs adoption and growth, however, are to ensure a system encouraging robust, safe and dynamic second-level domain sites. At that point, the word will spread through the network effect.

AGITSys will endeavor to the utmost in order to minimize the social costs to registrants of a .PARS second-level domain, not least because AGITSys has every incentive to encourage the adoption and growth of the .PARS domain. AGITSys has chosen to adopt CoCCA's tested acceptable use based policy matrix, recommendations for minimizing harm in TLDs, and subject the TLD to the CoCCA Complaint Resolution Service ("CRS").
The CoCCA Best practice policy matrix has been developed over a decade and has currently been adopted by 16 TLDs. It was developed for (and by) ccTLDs managers that desired to operate an efficient standards-based SRS system complemented by a policy environment that addressed a registrants use of a string as well as the more traditional gTLD emphasis rights to string.
A key element of CoCCA's policy matrix is that it provides for registry-level suspensions where there is evidence of AUP violations. The TLD will join other TLDs that utilize the CoCCA's single-desk CRS. The CRS provides a framework for the public, law enforcement, regulatory bodies and intellectual property owners to swiftly address concerns regarding the use of domains, and the COCCA network. The AUP can be used to address concerns regarding a domain or any other resource record that appears in the zone.
The CRS procedure provides an effective alternative to the court system while allowing for Complaints against domains to be handled in a way treats each complaint in a fair and equal manor and allows for all affected parties to present evidence and arguments in a constructive forum.

AGITSys is also currently developing procedures for competition resolution regarding multiple registrations for the same second-level domain in addition to offering the required Sunrise offerings through general availability. AGITSys will model these procedures after the techniques and approaches that have succeeded best to date. The history of .COM will be of interest here, because .PARS should grow quickly and face demand as high among the Persian community as .COM has in the English-language online community.
In terms of cost, benefits, and incentives to registrants within the Persian community, AGITSys will offer fair and competitive pricing campaigns for tens of millions of people, introducing them to the wonders of the Internet and the Persian culture therein. Competitive pricing and/or discounts will be used and adjusted accordingly to ensure the right incentive matches the phase of operation and business goals. AGITSys' business plan increases our confidence in offerings that will encourage growing adoption of the .PARS gTLD.
Each year, AGITSys will review its financial goals versus actual performance of registry operations. Output from the analysis will include the consideration of pricing versus demand for registrations. As with any for-profit entity, adequate cash flow and predictable revenue streams are essential to successful operations. As such, AGITSys may adjust pricing of domain registrations to align with evolving business goals. Adjustments can include not only price increases, but perhaps price decreases, but only current market analysis will dictate change. Therefore, AGITSys will document in the Registrant Agreement domain price change procedures and how they can be expect to learn about changes through our communications platform. In the end, serving the Persian community through Internet technologies remains our first priority.

The .PARS gTLD community is global; peoples of various nations united through their historical, ethnic and linguistic connections which date back more than two millenniums. The term ‘Pars' (Pârs: پارس) refers to the original homeland of the Persian people. The native name of the Persian language is Fârsi or Pârsi. Persia and Persian both derive from the Hellenized form Πέρσις Persis of the root word Pârs. The Old Persian word was Pârsa. The Persian Community: The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of the greater Indo-European linguistic family. The term Persian translates to ʺfrom or of Persisʺ which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid Empire is the first Persian Empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya and ruling on an estimated population of 40 million, about 500 B.C. Ancient history and origin: The Persians are believed to be descendents of the Indo-Iranian (Indo-Europeans) tribes that began migrating from Central Asia into what is now Iran in the second millennium BCE. The ancient Persians from the province of Pars became the rulers of a large empire under the Achaemenid dynasty (Hakhamaneshiyan) in the 6th century BCE, reuniting with the tribes and other provinces of the ancient Iranian plateau and forming the Persian Empire. The founding dynasty of the empire, the Achaemenids, and later the Sassanids, were from the southern region of Iran, Pars. The latter Parthian dynasty arose from the north. However, according to archaeological evidence found in modern day Iran in the form of cuneiforms that go back to the Achaemenid era, it is evident that the native name of Parsa (Persia) had been applied to Iran from its birth. The origin of the ethnic Iranian peoples/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of the greater Indo-European linguistic family. The Ancient Iranian peoples arrived in parts of Iranian plateau around 2000-1500 BCE Important Iranian tribes such as Old Persians, Medes, Parthians, Bactrians, Scythians, and the Avesta people used the name Arya (Iranian), which was a collective definition, denoting peoples who were aware of belonging to the one ethnic stock, speaking a common language, and mainly sharing a religious tradition that centered on the worship of Ahura Mazda. The Old Persians, who were one of these ethnic Iranian groups, were originally nomadic, pastoral people in the western Iranian plateau and by 850 BCE were calling themselves the Parsa and their constantly shifting territory Parsua for the most part localized around Persis (Pars), bounded on the west by Tigris River and on the south by Persian Gulf. The first known written record of the term Persian is from Assyrian inscriptions of the 9th century BCE, which mention both Parsuash and Parsua . These cognate words were taken from Old Iranian Parsava and presumably meant border, borderland and were geographical designations for Iranian populations. Nonetheless, Parsua and Parsuash, were two different geographical locations, the latter referring to southwestern Iran, known in Old Persian as Pârsa (Modern Fars, the Arabized version of Pars, since Arabs use "F" instead of "P"). The Greeks (who tended earlier to use names related to ʺMedianʺ) began in the 5th century to use adjectives such as Perses, Persica or Persis for Cyrus the Greatʹs empire, which is where the word Persian in English comes from. In the later parts of the Bible, where this kingdom is frequently mentioned (Books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemya), it is called ʺParasʺ (Hebrew פרס ), or sometimes ʺParas ve Madaiʺ (פרס ומדי ) i.e. ʺPersia and Mediaʺ. As the Old Persians gained power, they developed the infrastructure to support their growing influence including creation of a capital named Pasargadae, and an opulent city named Persepolis. Starting around 550 BCE, from the region of Persis in southern Iran, encompassing the present Fars province, the ancient Persians spread their language and culture to other parts of the Iranian plateau and assimilated and intermingled with local Iranic and indigenous non-Iranic groups including the Elamites over time. Persians also interacted with other ancient civilizations in Europe and Africa. The first Persian Empire extended as far as the limits of the Greek city states, where Persians and Athenians influenced each other in what is essentially a reciprocal cultural exchange. Ethnicity: While a categorization of a ʺPersianʺ ethnic group persists in the West, Persians have generally been a pan-national group often comprising regional people who often refer to themselves as ʹPersiansʹ and have also often used the term ʺIranianʺ (in the ethnic-cultural sense). As a pan-national group, defining Persians as an ethnic group, at least in terms used in the West, is not inclusive since the ethnonym ʺPersianʺ includes several Iranian people including the speakers of Modern Persian. Some scholars, classify the speakers of Persian language as a single ethnic unit (the ‘Persians') and exclude those Iranians who speak dialects of Persian, or other Iranian dialects closely related to Persian; however this approach to ethnicity in Iran is erroneous, since the designation Iranian (Irani) as an ethnic term has been used by all these ethnic group in Iran, including the ʺPersiansʺ irrespective of their origin, language and religion. Although the Persian community is connected through ethnicity, origin and language, but they are now separated by borders. The major community of Persians can now be found in Iran, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Northern Pakistan. Like the Persians of Iran (Western Persians), the Tajiks (Eastern Persians) are descendants of various Iranian peoples, including Persians from Iran, as well as numerous invaders. Tajiks and Farsiwan have a particular affinity with Persians in neighboring Khorasan due to historical interaction some stemming from the Islamic period. Scholars also include Iranian language speakers such as Talysh, Gilak, Lurs, Mazandaranis and speakers of Central Iranian languages in Iran under the term Persian. Specifically, the Lurs speak an Archaic Persian language. The introduction of .PARS gTLD will re-connect the Persian Community, living in countries where the old Persian Empire existed: PARS The total population of Persian community living in in Iran, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Northern Pakistan, talking Persian as their mother tongue is more than 120 million, who know themselves as one group with the same origin, culture and heritage. It is impossible to estimate how many of these people will actively participate in the online .PARS community, because internet penetration various hugely in the various Persian and Persian-hosting nations. However, it is anticipated that millions of people will participate as the network effect (as described in section c below) begins to have an impact.

• Relations to any community organizations. Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. (AGITSys) was founded by individuals of Persian origin who derive a great sense of honor from their community, history and ancestry. AGITSys' founders have gathered together a team with extensive experience in Persian language on the Internet, a daunting but critical task. The company is headquartered in Turkey, which ties together the global Persian population through close relations both with the citizens of Persian-speaking countries in the East, as well as the diaspora of Persian language speakers in Western nations. Turkey's geographical and political location aids it enormously in this endeavor, as it literally and figuratively sits in-between the East and West. The .PARS gTLD is designed to accommodate a global community, and AGITSysʹ team's work with ICANN has always looked toward not just to serving the Afghan, Tajik and Iranian people but all users of Persian-script languages. The team behind AGITSys has pioneered the introduction of Persian text on the Internet, a daunting but critical task. They have taken a leadership role in working toward Persian domain names for more than 8 years. No entity is better suited to manage the .PARS gTLD, nor more dedicated to providing new online tools and services to facilitate the unification of the .PARS community online. The .PARS gTLD will open up the vast resources of the Internet to this community, while stimulating the introduction of more online resources in the Persian language. ICANN is well-positioned to facilitate Persian-based domain names due to the efforts of AGITSysʹ leadership. Mr. Shahram Soboutipour, an expert in Persian linguistics has labored for years in anticipation of ICANNʹs introduction of Persian TLDs including: GNSO Internationalized Domain Names Working Group Soboutipour engaged directly with this IDN-related ICANN Working Group. Over a four-month period ending in 2007, Shahram participated in policy discussions regarding new TLDs as the only representative of Persian concerns. The report can be found here: http://gnso.icann.org/drafts/idn-wg-fr-22mar07.htm GNSO Policy Process Steering Committee (PPSC) Since 2008, AGITSys has been working with the GNSO PPSC. Soboutipour indirectly promoted policies and steering processes for future development of Persian TLDs within the Working Group-Work Team (WG-WT). The WG-WT is responsible for making recommendations concerning processes and methods involved for a new WG model, including suggestions for transition to a new model. As has been the case in other Working Groups, we were the only representatives looking out for Persian concerns. Public Interest Registry (.org Registry) Advisory Council Shahram has been a member of the Advisory Council of PIR, Public Interest Registry (.org Registry) from April 2008 to 2012. He was especially engaged in the Advisory Council's Working Group, where PIR was interested in programming its future activities in this world. Arabic Script IDN Working Group (ASIWG) Is a self-organizing group that consists of interested parties in the implementation of Arabic script in Internationalized Domain Names. Persian script is known as part of the Arabic script (Perso-Arabic script). Soboutipour was also active in this group, • Relations to the community and its constituent parts/groups. As stated above, AGITSys operates at the heart of the community as defined both by geography and population. But as this application demonstrates, it has a clear understanding of the larger community that would be served by .PARS, the spread over more than two millenniums of the Persian people and alphabet. • Accountability mechanisms of applicant to the community. AGITSys will oversee the formation of a .PARS Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) populated by members of the .PARS gTLD community. AGITSys intends that the PAC be representative of the entire broad spectrum of the Muslim community. It therefore intends to engage religious figures, academics, public figures and a broad range of community members and simply interested parties as a part of this board. Anyone with a desire to do so will be able to apply to become a member of the PAC, and AGITSys will not discriminate against any applicants; if their application is strong then the simplest farmer has as much chance of joining the board as a distinguished academic. The PAC would serve as a conduit for the community to weigh in on any policy matters that impact the operation of the gTLD. These can range from abuse prevention and mitigation to registration policies and the maintenance and structure of the .PARS community. This advisory Board will also be critical for our continued outreach across the community as we spread the word about the .PARS gTLD. It will serve as a key channel of communication with, and anchor to, the community which this effort hopes to serve. AGITSys has received endorsement letters from the following organizations and individualsʺ 1 The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Cultural Institute 2 Ferdowsi Foundation 3 Iran-Tajikistan Friendship Association 4 Institute for Trade Studies and Research 5 Iranian Scientific Society of Command And Control 6 Iranian Cavers & Speleologists Association 7 Dr. Majid Tafreshi, Historian and Researcher In addition to the support of these leading organizations, there is already widespread grassroots support within the Persian Community for AGITSysʹ application for .PARS. More than 40,000 people have signed a petition to ICANN supporting our effort. As members of the Persian community, these people recognize the historical and cultural importance of the .PARS gTLD to Persians and endorse this effort. In a short period of time, with very little effort invested in PR or promotion, we were able to recruit more than 40,000 supporters of our application for .PARS. Once delegated and properly promoted, we expect to see even greater results. As it is not possible to upload all 40,000 signatures, we encourage you to view the petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dot-pars/.

• Intended registrants in the TLD. The .PARS gTLD is intended for Members of the Persian Community who live in one of the countries: Iran, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan; people who wish to promote, participate in or learn about Persian heritage, language and culture and who use it in any way in their daily lives. Equally, many companies worldwide use the word "Pars" or some derivation of Persian in their business names or even second-level domain - and thus the .PARS gTLD will benefit their internet presence, offering expansion for those already online and opportunities for those who are not. • Intended end-users of the TLD. Persians can be found in Iran, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Northern Pakistan. Sizable Persian communities can also be found across North America in large cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Ottawa and Toronto. It is estimated that as many as 1,560,000 Persian-speaking individuals live in the United States alone. Other major concentrations of Persian immigrants include Turkey (800,000), U.A.E. & Bahrain (560,000), Iraq (250,000), Germany (110,000), UK (80,000), Canada (75,000), France (62,000), India (60,000), Australia (60,000), CIS (50,000), Israel (50,000), Lebanon (50,000), Philippines, Korea & Japan (50,000), Russia & Other Former Soviet Union countries (50,000), Syria (50,000), Pakistan (40,000), Egypt & North Africa (20,000), Greece (20,000), Kuwait (20,000), Austria (15,000), Spain & Portugal (15,000) and Sweden (15,000).Many of these Persian communities are served by Persian-script newspapers and periodicals, but the readers of those publications would welcome greater connection to their fellow citizens online through .PARS sites. The .PARS gTLD will also serve as a reminder of their glorious ancient homeland. Within all of these populations, the intended end users of the .PARS gTLD are manifold: Persian-language speakers with ties to the Persian heritage: This would include a significant percentage of the population of Persian Community along with other nations. Persian-language native speakers: As demonstrated above, this includes millions of individuals in Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan as well as other continents. Persian-language students: Those learning Persian as a foreign language would benefit from increased resources online that would help them learn and grow in their new language. Persian businesses: Tens of thousands of entities hold the word "PARS" as part of their legal trading name, where it is needed to indicate their origin. Businessmen have chosen the word "PARS" as a symbol of honor and glory, and as an indication that they belong to the Persian community, leaving aside the simple popularity of the word. The word "PARS" is thus already used widely among Persian websites. A simple search for the word "PARS" limited to just "Persian language websites" and "in the page title" results more than 50,000,000 web pages, clearly indicating this popularity: http://goo.gl/bG3VF A list of the regional and social varieties of modern Persian include; Western variant (Farsi) Eastern variant (Dari) Central Asian variant (Tajik) Hazara dialects (Hazaragi) Judeo-Persian (Dzhidi) Judeo-Tajik (Bukhori) It is hoped that not only will these intended users derive individual benefit from the existence of a .PARS community, but that they will also contribute in turn. This should create a group benefit, which will in turn feed back in to individual benefits - establishing a beneficial cycle. • Related activities the applicant has carried out or intends to carry out in service of this purpose. Anticipating the diversification of TLDs now being realized, and the consequent introduction of a Persian culture-specific online space, AGITSys has been working with a wide variety of related parties for several years in preparation, and will continue to do so going forward. A key element to the success of the .PARS gTLD is a strong and interactive community, which Persians around the world are proud to associate with and keen to contribute to. In order to ensure this, AGITSys will engage in and sponsor community outreach and marketing, in order to raise awareness of the forthcoming possibilities and to gather input for how the .PARS gTLD will take shape, and what they intend to subsequently give back to it. Launching the .PARS gTLD in concert with the desires of the community will be key to its success. Quality content will also be fundamental to a thriving .PARS community, especially because AGITSys is committed to ensuring that .PARS is populated by quality second-level domain offerings. With this in mind, AGITSys will be talking with those most likely to contribute quality content, from news and media agencies to academics and libraries (who will be able to digitize Persian-script materials and then distribute them online comprehensively for the first time) about how they can and will contribute, and what AGITSys can do to facilitate this process. Ultimately, however, culture and history will always be the most important element for a successful .PARS community online. The entire gTLD concept is designed as a place of online respect and reverence for those of Persian heritage to appreciate it - and appreciate their association with this heritage. As such, the involvement, blessing and feedback of the Persian cultural, political and religious community is fundamentally important. Aware of this, AGITSys has been in prolonged and continued contact with important Persian figures around the globe- asking them what they want to see and how they would like to see it done, whilst also encouraging them to spread the word and prepare themselves. This should mean that when the .PARS gTLD comes online, there will be a large swathe of information posted almost immediately - therefore instantly creating a rewarding user experience. • Explanation of how the purpose is of a lasting nature. The community that will be served by .PARS--growing as it has out of the Persian people and the Persian alphabet--has thrived and grown for more than a millennium. Remarkably, it has done so largely without the level of connection online found with English-speaking cultures. This existing community interconnection speaks to the cultural staying power of the community and the many ways it enriches world culture. With the adoption of a .PARS community, this robust group will be further empowered to interconnect and grow, allowing it to take its equal place on the Internet stage. The community thrives now, but will reach new heights with a .PARS gTLD. The growth of the .PARS gTLD will be driven by what economists refer to as the network effect. A network effect occurs when a service becomes more popular as more individuals adopt it. A significant portion of the serviceʹs value stems directly from the increased adoption and usage of the service. As more sites offer information, services, and opportunities for interconnection to the .PARS community as a whole, more members of the community will navigate to those sites. Many of those will provide their own content, and their activity there will spark further growth of second-level .PARS domains. At some point, information and service providers currently not offering sites in Persian will see the demand for .PARS-related content and will migrate their offerings to .PARS sites as well, furthering the offerings to the community and further driving community members to .PARS sites. The future benefits of interlinking this diverse and global community are incalculable but immense.

• relationship to the established name, if any, of the community. The .PARS gTLD is the name of the geographic location where the Persian community belongs to. Every member of the community can trace its heritage ethnically and linguistically to the Persian people, and millions of residents of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan --among others worldwide--are descendents of the Persians who lived in the PARS land. There will be an instant connection to anyone in the community as to the meaning of .PARS, and the fact that any second-level domain with the .PARS gTLD will be a site providing them with information and access critical to them as a community member. • relationship to the identification of community members. As stated above, community members will feel an affinity and self-identification with the .PARS gTLD, as well as formal identification by their place of residency. As adoption of .PARS grows, use of domains using this community gTLD will grow exponentially, helping to cement the obvious connection between the string and the community. • any connotations the string may have beyond the community. AGITSys knows of no other connotations the .PARS string might have outside of this community.

• Eligibility: who is eligible to register a second-level name in the gTLD, and how will eligibility be determined. As mentioned above, the primary goal of the .PARS gTLD is the protection and promulgation of Persian culture, language and heritage. To this end, In order to register a .PARS Domain Name, you declare during time of registration that you are part of the Persian Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Community. Our policies may permit registrations in .PARS gTLD by the following: Universities, schools, research institutions and other academic entities that use Persian in their academic activities or teach/promote aspects of Persian culture. Public or private entities whose aim is promoting the Persian culture. Writers, translators, correctors and journalists publishing (or contributing to) works in Persian Publishing companies that publish works in the Persian language or relating to the Persian culture Media using the Persian language for their communications Individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, entities or initiatives, however constituted, carrying online communications in Persian Individuals, groups, businesses, organizations, entities or initiatives, however constituted, carrying the word "Pars" as part of their name In order to register a names in the .PARS TLD, all registrants must attest that they are members of the Persian Community who live in one of the following countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, The Caucasus, Georgia, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey, or Uzbekistan and provide a valid address demonstrating their residence. The .PARS gTLD is intended for people who wish to promote, participate or learn about the Persian heritage, Persian language, Persian culture and Persian history and who use it in any way within their daily lives. The .PARS gTLD will be open to anyone complying with AGITSys Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), .PARS registration policies and with ICANN guidelines. • Name selection: what types of second-level names may be registered in the gTLD. Generally, eligible registrants may register names of their choice in the .PARS gTLD as long as they are in compliance with key registry polices such as the Acceptable Use Policies and not on the PAC Reserved list described below. AGITSys will also follow ICANN guidelines regarding potential restrictions of second-level domains. To help preserve the cultural importance of the gTLD, we will also develop and implement a reserve list of names that will represent key cultural, traditional and historical values of the Persian community. The development of this list will be spearheaded by this restriction can be controlled by creating the list of prohibited names managed by the .PARS Policy Advisory Board. This list will contain a broad listing of names that have particular significance to the .PARS community. It will include key holidays, religious institutions cultural icons and described above. • Content/Use: what restrictions, if any, the registry operator will impose on how a registrant may use its registered name. AGITSYS will have an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and registration policies that will govern how a registrant may use its registered name. We will ask all members to honor the Persian Culture, Heritage and language. We will also require registrants to ensure that websites hosted under these domain names contain Persian scripts to promote the Persian language as a valuable resource of the Persian Community. AGITSYS will explore the use of automated measures to search for and evaluate the use of Persian scripts on websites registered in the .PARS gTLD. Those registrants who do not comply with the usage requirements above will have punitive action taken against them, potentially leading to their website being de-listed. These requirements will be enforced through the AUP and contracts registrants must sign with their registrars prior to the registration of a domain name. • Enforcement: what investigation practices and mechanisms exist to enforce the policies above, what resources are allocated for enforcement, and what appeal mechanisms are available to registrants? As part of the AUP and registration polices, AGITSys will have complete enforcement rights over registrants' use of .PARS domain names. AGITSys will randomly audit domain names registered in the .PARS gTLD to ensure compliance with all eligibility and use criteria. If a violation is discovered, an investigation will begin immediately to rectify said violation.

Protection of Geographic Names
Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. has chosen CoCCA Registry Services (NZ) Limited (CoCCA) as their registry services provider. CoCCA has over 12 years of experience in authoring registry software and providing registry support services. With 35 national TLDs relying on CoCCA's technology to manage critical infrastructure, the CoCCA EPP Shared Registry System (SRS) is the most widely deployed, field-tested SRS in use today. In many respects new niche market gTLDs are predicted to more closely resemble existing ccTLD name spaces than the current gTLD ones. CoCCAʹs commercial model and technology enables TLD Sponsoring Organizations to focus on operating the front end portion of the registry including sales, marketing and community relations while leaving the operational aspects to the proven team at CoCCA.
In addition to technology CoCCA has a considered and tested set of leading - practice policies designed to address security, stability, rights protection, abuse mitigation, privacy and other issues, CoCCA is a trusted partner for Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. to operate the .pars in a manner that is fully compliant with all ICANN rules and regulations.
CoCCA, on behalf of the Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti., intends to implement the following measures to protect geographical names at the second and at all other levels within the TLD:

Reservation Measures for Geographical Names
Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. will adhere to Specification 5 of the proposed Registry Agreement, "Schedule of Reserved Names at the Second Level in gTLD Registries" / section 5 titled "Country and Territory Names." The geographic names listed in the following internationally approved documents will be reserved at the second level within the TLD and at all other levels where registrations occur:
(22.1.i.1) the short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166- 1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 list, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union
(22.1.i.2) the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and
(22.1.i.3) the list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

Potential Release of Geographical Names
Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. is committed to working with governments and other stakeholders that may have a concern regarding the registration of names with national or geographic significance at the second level. If Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. decides to release reserved geographical names, Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. will abide by the process outlined in Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement by seeking agreement from the applicable government(s). Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. understands that any release of the geographical names may be subject to Governmental Advisory Committee review and approval by ICANN.

Review, Audit, and Updates to Policies
Policy management is dynamic in nature requiring continual management. The Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. in conjunction with CoCCA's assistance will be engaged in policy development efforts in general and with respect to protections of geographical domain names. Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. will review and consider suggestions or concerns from government, public authorities or IGOʹs regarding this policy. And as with all required policies, Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. will perform openly and transparent should updates to existing policy or the creation of new policy be required. Further, Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti.ʹ internal process continually reviews and manages its reserve lists as one part of the abuse prevention mechanisms described in greater detail within question 28, "Abuse Prevention and Mitigation."