Clement Genty

Organization:	Arts & Metiers ParisTech
Affiliation:	NextGen@ICANN
Region:	Europe
Country:	France
Email:	clement.genty [@] ensam.eu
Website:	http://www.genty.info
LinkedIn:	Clement Genty
Twitter:	@drclementgenty

Clément Genty is an independent French researcher at Arts & Metiers ParisTech in industrial engineering and lecturer at the University of Angers. His research focuses on the financial and extra-financial valuation of domain names. Genty holds a PhD from Arts & Metiers ParisTech and an Engineering degree. He is particularly interested in the technical function of the domain name and its value.

At ICANN58, he suggested the creation of new TLD based on the unused .FX ccTLD to create a trusted space. During the Public Forum, he asked for a better understanding of the Domain Name System, citing his mother who doesn't understand anything. At the end of its answer, Göran Marby, CEO of ICANN added "Good luck with your mother and explaining it. My mother is 85 and she never figured out what I do or why".

In 2017, he made a proposal to resume French possession of Julia Island, an island located at the south of Italia, by creating an economy linked to a dedicated ccTLD, which he named .JU.

Member of EURALO, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the election at the board of 2017-2019. Its Expression Of Interest expressed the will to create the first French School of Internet of Governance, École Française de la Gouvernance de l'Internet, expected to start by 2018.

At the French version of the Three Minutes Thesis competition, named My Thèse en 180 secondes, he explained the Domain Name Industry from the point of view of the ccTLD economy and suggested the creation of a New gTLD, the .FRANCE to recreate trust over the Domain Name System.

In 2021, he presented its Iceberg Matrix at the NamesCon.

Education

Undergraduate years

After its baccalauréat, Genty began its education by a BTS Domotique, a technician certificate about home automation, data governance and telecommunications. For its results, he got an AFDET Honour Award.

Graduate years

Master of Science

Genty's first year in Master of Science in engineering at IstiA in Angers led him to work in several factories including the French brand Louis Vuitton where he got once a remark about his personal life, displayed on the Internet. The HR made a mistake by thinking it was him while it was a homonym too talkative on the Internet. Genty registered its first and family name as trademark and some domain names. Its passion for the importance of domain names began with this story.

Genty worked as an Innovation officer for the American Chamber of Commerce in Dushanbe, Tajikistan where he developed assistance to the establishment of American companies on Tajik soil. Genty helped the French community, the smallest one in the world with less than 40 people. Genty worked with the Tajik registrar Promotion and had some exchanges with Information Technology Center, the .TJ domain registry.

After buying a velocipede from the Chief Information Security Officer of the French registrar Nameshield, Genty worked for this company for five years, first as an engineer and then as a researcher, addressing the evolution of naming rules, the resilience of the Internet and the valuation of domain names as intangible assets.

Graduated in 2015 from Istia with an Engineering degree, Genty began a doctoral thesis at Arts & Métiers ParisTech the following year.

A member of Istia's Board of Directors, Genty was the first doctoral student to join Arts & Metiers ParisTech's Board of Directors and then at HESAM.

PhD Thesis

History

Genty's thesis, funded by the French registrar Nameshield and by several grants, aimed to understand the mechanisms of domain name valuation. Initially presented as a purely economic study, his thesis mixed computer science, history and economics. Genty's research has made it possible to determine via different PCAs the parameters acting on the value of a name. The database used for semantic calculation was DNPRIC.ES.

Results

In his thesis, Genty studied scientific publications, popular articles, commercial services including Estibot, Freevaluator, Domain Appraisal, Domainindex, Domraider, Siteprice GoDaddy and several patents, most of them filed by GoDaddy.

After performing different PCAs, Genty highlighted the correlation effect of price with length, number of words and TLD. However, the prediction of value proved impossible, with an R² too low to be usable.

For Genty, it is not possible to estimate the domain name value at 1-2-3 and 4 characters in the .COM TLD. He thus proposed sales ranges and a human analysis while he recommended value equations for the other lengths.

Positions

Domain Names

Genty considers domain names to be digital serial numbers, thus giving great interest to what he calls digital urbanism. For Genty, the registries have diverted domain names from their primary function, creating value and removing any identification-trust function. He illustrates this situation through three domain names that he considers emblematic: TACO.COM, NISSAN.COM and LECLERC.FR.

Genty compares these developments with vanity plates, vanity numbers and Amateur radio call signs.

Delegation of ccTLD

For Genty, the creation of gTLDs, combined with the creation of ccTLDs, has created a digital economy based on the volume of domain name registrations. Companies, as well as countries, when managing their ccTLDs, have preferred to develop a new source of profits rather than use their TLD to structure the national namespace. The examples, mostly Polynesian, point out that the low development of the Internet in the era of ccTLDs made it possible not to worry about the importance of this digital territory.

On the other hand, in France, Genty's country, ccTLD management is still not regulated, some ccTLDs are still not managed by France (.GP, .GF, .MQ), or not managed at all (.BL, .CP, .FX, .MF).

Deletion of ccTLD

Genty is opposed to the deletion of ccTLD. He quoted on his thesis the example of the Chagos Islands, .IO, and on Nameshield's blog the case of the Swaziland, .SZ and Kazakhstan, .KZ.

In ICANN's calls for comments, Genty opposed the deletion of old ccTLD codes, citing the examples of .TV and .SU. Supported by Evgeny Kuskevich, Genty benefited from ICANN's return, suggesting not the deletion of ccTLDs, "additional conditions should be taken into account which may call for the preservation of the ccTLD, specifically: The ccTLD can still be of commercial, cultural, historical or other relevant use for a broad community and /or if there is a clear successor state, as recognized by United Nations, then the government of this state may show willingness and interest to go on with supporting the ccTLD, which otherwise could be retired"[1].

Prices of TLD

Genty is opposed to the tariff liberalisation of TLDs, proposing a framework, considering that the market and public knowledge are not ready for such fluctuations. He thus protested against the tariff evolution of the .ORG, highlighting the absence of competitors (one registry per TLD) and against the evolution of the .INFO, which he considers to be the first gTLD for the general public, wanted by the IAHC and the ICANN. He made similar comments for the .ASIA and the .BIZ.

Sale of the .ORG TLD

Genty is opposed to the sale of the .ORG TLD. In 2019, he has developed a webpage in French, SAUVONSLEPOINTORG.ORG, similar to the one of the NTEN, SAVEDOTORG.ORG. In contrast to the NTEN, Genty is not opposed to the sale between two private parties but to the opacity of the sale, taken without consultation with the general public. In his EOI written for the election to the Euralo Board of Directors, Genty stated that ICANN was in the FIFAization phase.

Trust on the Internet

Genty's research makes it possible to define on the example of medical questions, that the young people classify Internet sites according to their extensions, that in .GOUV.FR, the French equivalent of .GOV, being the most credible. According to Genty, this observation legitimizes the creation of domain names made up of several subdomains.

For Genty, the revamp of the namespace in the trusted zone must be done through a new TLD, either the .FX, reserved but not used, or the .FRANCE. The .FR ccTLD is now considered a commercial zone, as has the .COM since its inception.

Genty proposed to ICANN that a portion of the revenues from the ngTLD program be used for scientific research related to understanding the loss of trust on the Internet following the massive abandonment of naming charters.

Knowledge of the Internet Governance

Genty was the first student to be invited to ICANN via the NextGen program at ICANN 58 and then to ICANN62 via the NextGen program. Faced with a lack of French academic reflection, he proposed at a scientific conference in Spain the creation of a French school of Internet governance and the sensitization of the general public to these issues during a training course for all young French people.

Valuation of Domain Names

Although domain names are considered intangible assets, Genty separates those that can be valued. Indeed, given the rules of creation, delegation and naming charters, many TLDs are not sustainable and therefore render their valuation obsolete. This situation is explained by the need to meet the three conditions resulting from French case law in order to be an intangible asset: a regular source of profits, sufficient sustainability, possible transferability. If the question of a regular source of profit does not arise, the other two conditions are food for thought:

• Sufficient sustainability: The creation of permissive naming charters and ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 have created gccTLDs. It is important to remember that some physical territories are hidden behind these TLDs and that it is necessary to question their sustainability: global warming (.TV, Tuvalu), geopolitical evolutions (.IO, British Indian Ocean Territory) or name changes (.SZ, Swaziland),...
• Transferability: Some naming charters have resulted in what Genty has called the right to a name. These domain names are not transferable, thus preventing any transfer. Domain names in .GOV, .KP or .MIL are concerned.

Career History

Professional experience

AmCham Tajikistan (2013)

Worked as an Innovation officer for the American Chamber of Commerce in Tajikistan. Exchanges with Information Technology Center, the .TJ domain registry.

Nameshield (2014-2019)

Worked as a research engineer for the French registrar Nameshield. Within Nameshield, Genty was interested in naming strategies, this French registrar being specialized in B2B. He has published articles on the valuation of domain names, on naming evolutions and has proposed the Iceberg matrix, considering that a domain name has an emerged part, its semantics, and an immersed part, which he calls criticality (links, traffic, SEO,...). He has published nearly forty articles on the company's blog, in English and in French. During his work, Genty passed a drone pilot license to show that it was easy to register a domain name in .AERO.

Participation in the Internet governance environment

ICANN meetings

• ICANN 70 in Cancún as a Fellow
• ICANN 69 virtually as a Fellow
• ICANN 68 virtually as a Fellow
• ICANN 67 virtually as a Fellow
• ICANN 66 in Montreal with an Atlas III travel support
• ICANN 65 remotely
• ICANN 64 remotely
• ICANN 63 remotely
• ICANN 62 in Panama City as a NextGen Ambassador
• ICANN 58 in Copenhagen is Clement's first ICANN Meeting, which he attended as part of the NextGen Program

Dialogue on Internet Governance

• EuroDIG 2018 with a grant from EURALO

Summer Schools on Internet Governance

• Fellow 2020 of the India School on Internet Governance. Genty was the first European to attend the inSIG's courses.
• Fellow 2017 of Eurossig

Involvement in Internet governance

• AFNIC member as an individual user (student)
• EURALO member as an individual user

Application to the ICANN Board of Directors

In 2019, Genty applied to Nomcom to become a member of the ICANN Board of Directors. For him, ICANN's three challenges are as follows:

The first is geopolitical. I think that Chinese and Russian decisions are problematic and that it is important to create a reflection around the organisation of a summit for a single Internet. The same applies to communication between peoples.

The second is the general public. As long as the Internet is working, everything is fine.  However, it seems important to communicate to the general public about Internet governance. As a member of the Board of Directors, I will seek to establish research  laboratories in different countries, at least one per continent. Hence my willingness to communicate with my profile as a young researcher.

The third and last is economic. ICANN's economy is linked to domain name registrations. The 2012 opening has resulted in nearly fifty abandoned TLD and it is important that ICANN be at the side of the registries to improve the technological capabilities of these new extensions and at the side of communicators and agencies to improve knowledge on these new extensions and avoid new cases of badbuzz, such as BLOOMBERG.MARKET.

Supported by several registries and researchers, Genty was not selected.

Education

• PhD in industrial Engineering at Arts & Metiers ParisTech
• Listener of the first International Session of Security-Justice, organised by the INHESJ at the EHESP
• Engineer Degree in Industrial Engineering at IstiA Innovation

Scientific production

Publications

Clement Genty is the author and co-author of several publications:

• Does Mc Donald’s properly manage its domain names ? Time management: proposal of the iceberg method fordomain name categorization
• Trust on the Internet: how the French ccTLD .FR went from a remarkable to a speculative system - Best Paper Award
• Représentation sur Internet : comment adopter une stratégie de dépot de noms de domaine coherente avec la réalité du marché. Suivi des évolutions d’usage des réseaux sociaux et des moteurs de recherche. Representation on the Internet: how to adopt a domain name registration strategy consistent with the reality of the market. Tracking changes of the use of social networks and search engines
• Finding Yourself on the Internet: Proposing a Fair and Reliable System
• La valorisation des actifs immatériels numériques , une pratique nécessaire. Revue des méthodes existantes et proposition d’une analyse technico-économique Digital intangible assets valuation, a necessary Practice. Review of existing methods and propose an economical and technical analysis
• Noms de domaine et marques d'entreprise: de la disruption des politiques de nommage à celle des usages

Workshop Presentations

• Valorisation des noms de domaine au titre des actifs immatériels. Entre couche sémantique, technique et gouvernance de l’Internet. Valuation of domain names as intangible assets. Between the semantic, technical and governance layers of the Internet
• Faites comme Jordan Belfort: misez peu, gagnez gros. Act like Jordan Belfort: bet a little, win a lot
• Sur Internet, faisons confiance à Hector Guimard. On the Internet, trust Hector Guimard.
• Domain name valuation: Typology and verification of research hypotheses.
• Pitcairn: l’économie numérique au service des mutins ! Pitcairn: the digital economy at the service of the mutineers !
• Le cybersquattage des username analogue à celui des noms de domaine ? Is the cybersquatting of usernames similar to that of domain names?

Book Chapters

• Transmission du patrimoine africain: le défi du numérique au service d’une tradition immatérielle. Transmission of African heritage: the digital challenge in the service of an intangible tradition. In Patrimoine culturel Africain. Matériau pour l'histoire, outil de développement

Teaching

• La gouvernance de l'Internet appliqué au monde de l'entreprise. The Internet Governance applied to the business world. Institut Catholique de l'Ouest
• Identité numérique. Numeric Identity. Université d'Angers

Awards

• Fellow Program (ICANN 67)
• ATLAS III travel support (ICANN 66)
• IDEX-INT HESAM Université Grant - Field research in Cote d'Ivoire to see the management of the .CI ccTLD
• Community Regional Outreach Pilot Program (EuroDIG 2018)
• NextGen Ambassador Program (ICANN 62)
• NextGen Program (ICANN 58)
• Best Paper Award
• Debayle Grant
• CIFRE Grant
• Passeport Avenir Grant
• AFDET Award

Anecdotes

Registered on eBay since 2002, Genty uses the nickname Hotguy372, used in the series Friends by Joey.

As a candidate in the municipal elections in Meursault, France, Genty used the domain hack meursau.lt as a campaign site. Faced with the winemakers' misunderstanding, he changed to a more traditional domain name.