During the ICANN83 conference in Prague, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) developed a draft advice stating that policy work on bulk regs should get underway. The problem is quite acute, especially regarding new generic top-level domains. Their registries often try to attract new clients lowering prices as much as possible, which is widely exploited by malicious actors who register hundreds of domains, fully aware that many of them will soon be blocked for distributing spam, malware, phishing content, or engaging in other forms of illegal activity.
The advice may still be revised, but the core message is clear: the ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) should initiate the development of a policy aimed at curbing bulk domain registrations used for malicious purposes. Moreover, it should include a provision requiring registrars to review and investigate registrant accounts if any of their domains are found to be abusive.
The second provision is especially important, because under the current ICANN contracts, registrars have to deal with abuse reports concerning their domains, but can only block one specific domain without investigating other domains belonging to the registrants of those domains. Once the advice is approved, registrars will definitely have more work to do.
Meanwhile, GAC ICANN regards the adoption of this policy to be a prerequisite for the launch of the second phase of the new gTLD program, according to Domain Incite. With less than a year remaining before the program’s scheduled start, there is a growing urgency to begin work on this policy before the next ICANN meeting, which will take place in October in Muscat, Oman.
