Rod Beckstrom Interviewed on PBS

ICANN President, Rod Beckstrom was recently interviewed as part of a debate on new TLDs. He did a good job.

It’s sad to see the ANA misunderstand most of the nuances of new TLDs. It’s a disservice to their members. Rather than digging in and profiling the opportunities, they’ve maligned the program. I’ll bet that many ANA members will see past this and apply for a new TLD.

The fact is that new TLDs are neither good nor bad. They are just another choice and we will see some amazing new (and old) businesses who will use this to their great advantage in the coming years.

Watch Domain Names: Debating the Effects of a Dot-Anything World on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Rod Beckstrom led ICANN when they signed the affirmation of commitments with the Department of Commerce.  You can view a copy of it here.

ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments

 

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Surge of Articles About New TLDs Likely

Governments are applying for new TldsWe’re only two days away from seeing an open window for new Top Level Domain (TLD) applications. So expect a lot of press over the next week, but don’t expect many answers about who is applying and what new TLDs they are applying for. Most corporations don’t want anyone to know that they are applying and those who are doing it as an investment don’t want any competition. After all, why invite competitive bidders? News of who applied and what they applied for will come from ICANN after the window closes on April 12th.

Many of those that are being public about their applications are government entities and that is because the program won’t allow a new TLD naming a city or most other government place names to occur without that government’s blessing; no worries about competition there! An article came out today pointing out that a good portion of new TLD applicants are governments or those representing city and place names.

ICANN CEO: Cities, States Eager for New Top-Level Domains

Some of the greatest interest in the slate of new top-level Internet domain names set to be opened up Thursday has come from governments, the chief executive of the non-profit body that will oversee those new domains said…

Read the story… | Source: Tech Insider | Date posted: 1/10/2012

Here are some other stories coming out in the past few days…

ICANN To Expand Domain Despite Web Of Protest

The non-profit organisation that oversees internet domain names has said it will go ahead with plans to create several hundred new suffixes to rival .com and .net from January 12, despite intense pressure from big companies and US lawmakers to delay or limit the programme…

Read the story… | Source: FT.com | Date posted: 1/10/2012

From Application To Use: How The Internet Will Get New Domain Name Suffixes

On Thursday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will start accepting applications for new Internet address suffixes. They could represent hobbies, ethnic groups, corporate brand names and more…

Read the story… | Source: Washington Post | Date posted: 1/10/2012

Web-Domain Plan Launches This Week — Are You Prepared?
What to Know as ICANN Opens Application Process

Despite heavy opposition from some members of Congress and the Association of National Advertisers, among others, the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers on Jan. 12 will begin accepting applications from businesses and other groups to create and operate pieces of internet infrastructure known as generic top-level domains, or gTLDs…

Read the story… | Source: Ad Age | Date posted: 1/10/2012

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Go Daddy Bets on Web-Address Expansion Beyond .Com

In spite of some opposition, everything seems to be going forward for new Top Level Domains. This article appeared on Bloomberg.com today…

The expansion of the Web’s address system beyond .com and .net has sparked a land rush among startups seeking new suffixes and may spur sales for Go Daddy, VeriSign and other companies that help consumers and businesses obtain Web addresses. Photo: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Go Daddy Group and VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) are among online-services companies that may reap a sales windfall from an expansion of the Web’s address system beyond .com and .net opposed by some of the largest U.S. brand owners…

Read the story… | Source: Bloomberg.com | Date posted: 1/10/2012

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FTC Chairman Weighs in on New TLDs

Jon Leibowitz

FTC Chairman, Jon Leibowitz

Chairman Jon Leibowitz wrote a letter to ICANN yesterday asking them to:

“(1) implement the new gTLD program as a pilot program and substantially reduce the number of gTLDs that are introduced in the first application round,

(2) strengthen ICANN’s contractual compliance program, in particular by hiring additional compliance staff,

(3) develop a new ongoing program to monitor consumer issues that arise during the first round of implementing the new gTLD program,

(4) conduct an assessment of
each new proposed gTLD’s risk of consumer harm as part of the evaluation and approval process, and

(5) improve the accuracy of Whois data, including by imposing a registrant verification requirement.”

The tone of this letter sounds very serious. It was copied to powerful Sentators and Committee Members. But I still sense that the FTC knows that new TLDs will go forward. He also stated:

“Before approving any new gTLD applications, we urge ICANN to take the steps described below to mitigate the risk of serious consumer injury and to improve the accuracy of Whois data. We look forward to working with ICANN as it honors these commitments to ensure that the new gTLD program benefits both consumers and businesses alike.”

As I read through the letter, I kept thinking, “these are all things that ICANN has been focusing on for the last ten years. There aren’t perfect answers but certainly ICANN has improved in all of these areas and continues to do so.

I suspect that the ANA lobby got to the FTC and motivated them to write this letter. The requests aren’t unreasonable and do hit many of ICANN’s weaknesses but misses the point that ICANN has already addressed many of these things and is actively addressing them now.

Some of the points seem exaggerated because there will be no more harm to consumers because of new TLDs. Anything that crooks will be able to do with new TLDs is being done already. It’s the same number of criminals and will be the same number of crimes; just with different names.

Read the letter… | Source: FTC | Date posted: 12/17/2011

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