Many in the business community are concerned about the unnecessary burden ICANN’s proposal imposes upon brand holders, in addition to a higher potential for fraud, identity theft, and cyber security. To minimize these effects as well as the costs of initial registrations, which could be as much as $185,000 per application, and defensive registrations, a coalition was formed in order to delay the new domain program. The Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Name Oversight (CRIDO), of which RILA is a member, has created a letter writing campaign and a Hill and Administration meeting schedule in order to make our concerns known, and also has testified at two Hill hearings on the subject.
The initial letter included 54 companies, including 3 RILA member companies, and 49 associations, including RILA. The coalition letter was sent to the Department of Commerce, House and Senate Commerce Committees, House and Senate Judiciary Committees and the appropriators from both bodies. The coalition letter requested that the Department of Commerce influence ICANN to postpone the opening of the gTLDs until it has proven it promotes consumer trust and enhances internet security and provides economic benefits, and that benefits exceed the costs on the Internet community.
ICANN is an independent agency and does not receive federal appropriations, and was established this way in order to keep the Internet independent of influence. ICANN is under contract with the Department of Commerce to operate this portion of the Internet.
CRIDO was asked to testify at the Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing on this issue on December 8, and again at the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology’s hearing a few days later. At the hearings, Committee members pointed out that Congress cannot legislate on ICANN, but members and senators stated that they hoped ICANN would hear their concerns and delay the roll out.
In addition, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Jon Leibowitz was asked about ICANN in a recent hearing, stating that an unlimited gTLD roll out would be a “disaster for business and consumers” and provides very little benefit. He also said that it would create major additional problems for law enforcement and that these problems will increase if ICANN doesn’t enhance transparency of the WHOIS database, which lists who actually owns Internet domain names. Chairman Leibowitz said he is talking to Department of Commerce and ICANN about his concerns.
In June 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided to approve the top-level domain Applicant Guidebook and to move forward with plans to open the new gTLD application window on January 12, 2012. There are currently 22 gTLDs, such as .com, .org, and .gov. Under ICANN’s decision, virtually any word, generic or trademarked, could be used as an Internet top-level domain name.
RILA first submitted comments on the Draft Guidebook in December 2008, raising concerns over the exorbitant cost of purchasing additional, unnecessary domains and fending off abuses.