RE: [bc-gnso] FW: NYTimes Calls for Slowdown of New gTLD Program

[Phil Corwin <psc@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Following a barrage of criticism and a number of formal requests that the 
organization hold off on its 12 January launch date, we understand that ICANN's 
Board has started asking serious questions of its CEO and staff and has asked 
them to justify the decision to move ahead regardless of the increasing number 
of warnings.



Perhaps the Board should make inquiry of itself -- as it was the Board, by 
near-unanimous vote, that made the decision to move ahead in the face of 
arguments that were strikingly similar to those that were heard at the 
Congressional hearings.



Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal

Virtualaw LLC

1155 F Street, NW

Suite 1050

Washington, DC 20004

202-559-8597/Direct

202-559-8750/Fax

202-255-6172/cell



"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey



________________________________
From: Michael D. Palage [michael@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, December 26, 2011 3:07 PM
To: Phil Corwin; bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [bc-gnso] FW: NYTimes Calls for Slowdown of New gTLD Program

Phil,

I actually found Kieran’s blog piece the more news worth development, see 
http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/12/24/icann-crisis-talks-gtlds

Best regards,

Michael

From: owner-bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
Phil Corwin
Sent: Monday, December 26, 2011 2:16 PM
To: bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bc-gnso] FW: NYTimes Calls for Slowdown of New gTLD Program








FYI---



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/opinion/expanding-internet-domains.html?adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1324876267-RrLuv13+KPv4Owy/HvA0Mg



________________________________
December 25, 2011
Expanding Internet Domains

Come January, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers plans to 
allow businesses, nonprofits and others to apply for their own “top-level 
domain” with their own online suffix, like the familiar .com and .org suffixes 
that now rule the Internet.

Icann, the nonprofit that manages the Internet’s address system, says 
increasing the number of top-level domains will ease crowding and create 
opportunities for businesses to connect with consumers. For instance, Canon 
plans to buy .canon to put its Web sites in one spot and the American Bankers 
Association is reportedly considering .bank, where banks could offer secure 
online banking.

But a plethora of new suffixes is just as likely to cause confusion for 
consumers and enable malefactors to use the new arenas for deception. Icann 
expects 500 to 1,000 applications in next year’s 90-day application window. 
Before it approves any of them, it needs to slow down and put in place better 
safeguards against consumer fraud.

The expansion of top domains could be costly for businesses, which might have 
to buy new domains (Icann is charging $185,000 per application) to protect 
their brands from fraudsters making money by squatting on brands. The Web is 
full of sites that masquerade as legitimate companies to sell pirated goods or 
steal consumers’ financial information. Fraudsters avoid detection by 
registering their sites using proxy services and false identities. The 
administrators of the online address system — Icann, the registries that 
operate suffixes like VeriSign, and agents like GoDaddy that sell Internet 
addresses to the public — are doing a terrible job curbing fraud. A recent 
Icann report acknowledged that the system to identify Web site owners “is 
broken and needs to be repaired.”

Icann says it will increase security in the new domains, including thorough 
background checks of all applicants. There will be a clearinghouse for owners 
of trademarks, who would get first dibs on domains connected to their brand. If 
anybody but the Coca-Cola Company applied for .coke, he or she would have to 
prove a legitimate, non-infringing reason to run it. And there would be a 
“rapid takedown” procedure to close infringing domains.

But companies will still have to spend a lot on defense, registering domains to 
avoid squatting on their brands and keeping an eye out for potentially 
infringing Web sites across hundreds of new suffixes. And Icann’s current 
inability to deal with abusive domain name registrations undermines confidence 
in its ability to address the risks of this vast expansion.

The Federal Trade Commission is rightly 
urging<http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/12/icann.shtm> Icann to require that 
registries and registrars be able to verify the identity of owners of all 
domains that have a commercial purpose, and to impose meaningful penalties for 
those who break the rules. There is no pressing need to create hundreds of new 
suffixes next year. It would be far better for Icann to start with a pilot 
program to work out problems before expanding the system.



Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal

Virtualaw LLC

1155 F Street, NW

Suite 1050

Washington, DC 20004

202-559-8597/Direct

202-559-8750/Fax

202-255-6172/cell



"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey