ICANN and GAC: negotiations on disputed domains
Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and ICANN continue the dialogue regarding the so called “New gTLD Applicant Guidebook”. The Guidebook is intended to be a principal regulatory document for all prospective owners of the new top-level domains, but in order to launch application process, ICANN and GAC must reach consensus on all disputed issues, with the Applicant Guidebook giving rise to plethora of them.
One of those issues, which will directly affect the future of some applications, concerns a refusal to register "controversial" top-level domains. In other words, it concerns domains, which may appear inappropriate to some GAC members. Previously, domains .gay, .jewish, among others, were named as such. In the latest draft version of the Guidebook submitted by the ICANN, the organization suggests that the GAC comments on objections will be taken into consideration only on condition that the GAC will reveal information about the countries that raised objections against a "disputed" domain name. GAC, in its letter to the ICANN, makes it clear that it considers this practice unacceptable and requests removal of this item from the Applicant Guidebook. The editor of the portal Domainincite believes that giving the GAC carte blanche to file objections will lead to back-room horse-trading. He gives an example when you might find a bloc of theocratic nations refusing to agree on an objection to .nazi unless other governments agree to object to .gay.
GAC and the ICANN agreed to hold another meeting at the ICANN public meeting in Singapore on 19-24 June 2011, where the Applicant Guidebook is set for approval.
ICANN plans to screen applicants for integrity
ICANN is planning to ban organizations that previously were caught in deception of users to register their top-level domains. The latest version of the Applicant Guidebook specifically holds that, “final verdict rendered by the court of the country of applicant or by an organization of consumers’ interests’ protection stating that an applicant was exposed in fraudulent or deceptive commercial practices… may serve as a reason for rejection of the application.” The ICANN is about to take the OECD Guidelines, where these notions are sufficiently clearly defined under the international law framework, as a basis for defining deceptive practices.
What’s more, the ICANN currently requires from applicants to submit information on fines or penalties imposed on them for unlawful practices or an unlawful diversion of third parties’ funds. This kind of information is also present in the new version of the Applicant Guidebook for a new top-level domain.
Brand holders can exhale
Certain issues regarding domains whose names coincide with brand names, have been resolved in the new version of the ICANN Applicant Guidebook. In order to protect brands, a certain fraction of registrations of new top-level domains in one way or another will contain applications from companies that hold these brands. The initial versions of the Applicant Guidebook provoked a great deal of comments from potential owners of such domains. In particular, the issue of transfer of domains to another entity in the event the company decides to discontinue the use of the domain stirred concern among companies. Moreover, the requirement to provide all registrars with equal opportunities to market domain names in such domains has also raised concern among companies because many of them will most likely to use new top-level domains only for their own purposes.
Both these issues were resolved in the new version of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook: for example, ICANN now allows corporate holders of domain-brands to ignore the requirement to provide access to registrars and not to be afraid of delegation of the domain to third parties. To this end, however, ICANN requires providing an evidence that all domain names belong to the domain administrator and are used solely by him; plus, the brand holder will have to prove that the domains are not sold to third parties.
DNSSEC has been implemented in domain .de
German registry DENIC has completed implementation of DNSSEC technology in domain .de. Root zone .de was signed with DNSSEC key on 31 May 2011. At the moment, it is one of the largest signed DNSSEC zones, with zone .com remaining the largest signed TLD with 90,000,000-plus entries. This might help reduce the number of DNS attacks and the so-called DNS substitutions, which may cause damage to the users. DNSSEC technology is implemented in 50-plus domain spaces, of which national domains represent the majority.
Domain .co hit 1,000,000-plus domain names
Domain .co has crossed the landmark of 1,000,000 domain names. By the domain industry standards it is rather an impressive achievement. For example, in the same circumstances it took domain .mobi more than 5 years to achieve the same landmark.
It is worth noting that it took domain .co literally less than a year, just about 10 months, to cross the 1,000,000 landmark. The domain launch was backed by a massive marketing campaign. The results of the domain .co launch can be discussed with full confidence in July-August. By that time, the domain will celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of registration. It is envisaged that a fraction of owners would not extend the use of their domains, as it often happens after the launch of a new domain space. The number of domains, which will not be extended is so far unclear; however, as the registry of domain co. claims, a considerable part of domain names owners (over 80%) in Columbian domain own 1-2 domain names, while 2% of registrants in .co have 10 or more domains, and the total of their portfolios is about 17.5% of all registered domains. In order to prevent the fall in registered domain names and provoke a new wave of registrations, the .co registry has launched a new marketing campaign under the slogan ‘Let ‘Em Drop’.
.xxx against cybersquatting
Many companies whose business is far from the "adult" industry still are concerned about the launch of the domain .xxx: corporations fear that the domain name in the "adult" domain coinciding with a product name or a trademark, can be used for other purposes. Anxiety grew because of numerous discussions about the new domain in the printed media and beyond them: thus, according to the editor of Domainnamewire, foreign legal firms are warning their clientele about the need to register respective domain names to protect themselves against undesired consequences.
By all appearances, ICM Registry, the future registry of domain .xxx, has already taken care of such prospective clients: at the moment the registry offers a possibility for the “lifetime” blockage of the domain name for a certain fee. This means that having paid a one-time fee, brand holders will no longer have any troubles: the domain name bearing the name of an organization will be blocked for registration in domain .xxx. In all likelihood this possibility will be granted to organizations for the sunrise period in the domain, which apparently will be rather short. The fee for which one can “buy off” from domain .xxx once and forever so far has not been disclosed. However, according to Domainnamewire, it is unlikely to exceed several hundred dollars.
