ICANN's Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) Working Group has released its final report summarizing its four years of work. It follows that some of the domains prohibited from delegation at the first stage of the new domains program may be unbanned at the next stage. In particular, this applies to the domains .HOME, .MAIL and .CORP, for which more than 20 applications were submitted at the first stage of the program - 6 for .CORP, 7 for .MAIL and 11 for .HOME. Moreover, among the contenders were such “heavyweights” as Google, Amazon, GoDaddy and Identity Digital (Donuts).
The reason for the ban was fear of possible domain name conflicts. All of the listed domains are actively used in internal corporate networks. And they receive more than 100 million DNS queries per day. Accordingly, their delegation could theoretically lead to disruptions in the operation of corporate networks and leakage of confidential data. However, the NCAP Working Group report suggests that the sheer number of possible domain name conflicts should not be a reason for a ban. Instead, her report proposes a new framework for assessing the risk of domain name conflicts—the Name Collision Risk Assessment Framework.
It is fundamentally different from the existing model, according to which a domain can only be included in the DNS root zone after ICANN has formally entered into a contract with its registry. The Name Collision Risk Assessment Framework assumes that domains that pose a risk of name collision will be included in the DNS root zone before a decision is made on them - as a testing procedure. During this period, a specially created group of technical experts, the Technical Review Team, will monitor the domain and study the requests it receives. If serious problems are detected, the domain will be immediately removed from the root zone and added to the list of prohibited delegation.
The working group's recommendations are based, in particular, on the fact that a number of domains also actively used in internal networks - .NETWORK, .ADS, .PROD, .DEV, .OFFICE and .SITE – were ultimately delegated during the first stage of the new domains, and the number of complaints about serious domain name conflicts was minimal. The Domain Incite, reporting this news, notes that the proposed Name Collision Risk Assessment Framework is likely to be the subject of heated debate in the domain community. But the very fact that the working group’s report was prepared ahead of schedule can already be considered good news. Its conclusion is seen as one of the key steps in preparation for the second stage of the new domains program. And the publication of the report strengthens hopes that the second stage will start as previously envisaged - in the second quarter of 2026.
