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The status quo is that the registry proactively reserves a large list of 2LDs corresponding to attested personal names and surnames, making them unavailable for registration. One can register 3LDs underneath these. It will also reserve a 2LD reactively if someone wants to register a 3LD underneath it. Or, if a 2LD is not on the reserved list, someone can register it outright.

As far as I know the list of reserved 2LDs is not available, but you can query individual names via whois to see if they are reserved or not.

I don't know the history of when the offerings were available, but I initially bought my-first-name.my-rare-last-name.name, and fortunately nobody else bought another-name.my-rare-last-name.name, and I was able to let mine lapse then buy my-rare-last-name.name.

They altered the deal. Now they are altering it further.