Stephane Van Gelder - New TLDs

ICANN's final preparations for new gTLDs

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:23:31 +0100

I think it's fair to say that ICANN is in a state of near meltdown at the moment. With less than a week to go before the new gTLD program's first application window is opened, on Thursday January 12, 2012, the amount of work being done is mind-bending.

The ICANN Board held a special meeting on January 5 to determine the program's state of readiness ahead of the launch. Out of that meeting comes a roadmap showing key dates, major steps already completed, and others still to complete.

Biggest shock to prospective applicants might be that a new version of the applicant guidebook - the program's bible - is scheduled for release on January 11. The day before the program launches!

And while the application and fee processing systems are now listed as ready, the batch processing mechanism will not be completed until February 29. That's more than a month into the Jan 12 to Apr 12 application window.

The entity tasked with running the trademark protection database known as the Trademark Clearinghouse won't be selected until the end of February either. While the governmental early warning system designed to enable states to point out those applications they don't like will have to wait until the end of March.

However, this is part of the normal launch program and should not give cause for concern. Apart from the late publication of a new version of the guidebook, the other steps can be covered concurrent to the launch window. And ICANN is being very open about these final preparations so that applicants are not taken by surprise.

Bottom line, there can now be little doubt. The new gTLD program will launch on January 12… and ICANN will be ready!

Pressure mounts on new gTLDs

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:29:12 +0100

Yesterday evening, the GNSO held its last teleconference of the year. We had invited ICANN's new gTLD supremo Kurt Pritz to give an update on the recent US Congress hearings.

Kurt was ICANN's spokesperson in both hearings, and felt that the first was more favourable to ICANN than the second. When I asked him if he thought the launch of the new gTLD program might be delayed as a result of these hearings, his response was a cryptic: "the risk is greater than zero".

Although there are calls for a delay to the program, it was fiercely defended by both Pritz and some American politicians who want to see ICANN's unique model of non state-centric governance succeed. "The New gTD Program demonstrates the strength of the bottom-up, multi-stakeholder process," Pritz said in his testimony to the US House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. "The New gTLD Program under discussion today is the implementation of an ICANN-community policy recommendation to achieve one of ICANN's foundational mandates."

Continue reading "Pressure mounts on new gTLDs"

Needy applicants to pay USD 47,000 for new gTLDs

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:45:09 +0100

As part of its drive to open up its new gTLD program to potential applicants that do not have the financial resources to fulfil the full program requirements, ICANN is reducing the fees from USD 185,000 to USD 47,000. A 76% rebate!

But before applicants decide to drop their current business model and relocate to an under privileged country, they should know that there are strict criteria to qualify for the rebate. The first prerequisite: that their TLD serve the public interest and operate in the benefit of the public.

Applicants applying for the support will also have to accept being evaluated later. ICANN needs the extra time to evaluate the requests for support. Those TLD applications that are successful will then be evaluated in the same way as all the others.

However, applicants requesting support and not passing that evaluation would then be invalidated for the whole TLD application process. A logical attempt to discourage those that do not need support from "trying it on".

The amount of applications that can be supported will be limited by the amount of money available in the support fund. So far, ICANN has set aside USD 2 million for the fund, and has called for others to chip in. If no-one does, then a maximum of 14 needy applicants will be supported. That means some applicants may qualify for support, but ICANN may not have the funds to grant it. In such cases, the applicants will be given the choice to either continue as non-supported applicants and pay the full fee, or withdraw from the process.

ICANN's plan is to recruit the applicant support evaluation panel by June 2012 and to be able to notify those applicants that have been deemed in need of support by November of next year.

ICANN playing ostrich

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:13:45 +0100

Does ICANN have its head stuck in the sand on new gTLDs? The campaign against the Internet governance organisation has been building up in the past few months, with public protests from entities like the American national advertisers' association ANA or CRIDO, a group of major corporations.

The protest themselves play like a broken record.

"Where's the economic studies to show that new gTLDs are needed?" or "new gTLDs will make it more difficult to deal with crime on the Net."

ICANN has done economic studies. But how can a study predict innovation? Did studies prove that Facebook or Google might work? Thankfully, there was no need. Those major Internet initiatives where the result of private enterprise doing what it does best: innovating without being constrained by politics.

Those worried about crime point to the WHOIS as a potential flaw that might be exploited by cybercrooks. There again, this is waving away years of policy development by the ICANN community to try and find solutions to these (very real) problems.

That community is still working hard. Recent results include fresh proposals on how to improve WHOIS.

But in the light of a US Senate hearing happening today on "ICANN's Expansion of Top Level Domains", it’s the critics that are getting all the press. As former ICANN staffer Kieren McCarthy notes, ICANN is missing a lot of PR opportunities here by simply not responding to critics.

Worse, this is the second such hearing where ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom has chosen not to attend in person but rather to send his Senior VP Kurt Pritz. While Kurt, as the man in charge of the new gTLD program, is probably one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on this topic, you might have expected ICANN to front its CEO for such an important event.

Because despite the fact that the launch date has been set at Jan 12, 2012, new gTLDs aren't here yet. And as storm clouds gather in an ever-more ominous show of protest from the new gTLD naysayers, ICANN needs to be as convincing as it can be today in front of the US Senate, with a panel where Kurt Pritz can expect to feel very much on his own opposite staunch critics like ANA VP Dan Jaffe or ex ICANN Board member turned ICANN opponent Esther Dyson.

New gTLDs and ICANN face renewed pressure

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:26:52 +0100

The forces of resistance to change and innovation are stepping up their fight against the rollout of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs).

Never mind the fact that the program itself is the result of:

21 months (from 2005 to 2007) of intense work by the GNSO resulting in a consensus vote to approve the program's guiding principles from the various groups that make up the GNSO – ICANN's manager of policy development for gTLDs.
7 draft versions of the program's Applicant Guidebook, documented and augmented by 47 comment periods during which over 2,400 comments were received and analysed by the ICANN team in charge of implementing the GNSO's new gTLD policy recommendations.
55 explanatory texts or independent reports were produced during this implementation phase which lasted from June 2008 to June 2011.

Since the ICANN Board vote to approve the program on June 20 2011, America's Association of National Advertisers is the driving force behind a new movement to stop new gTLDs, teaming up with businesses and companies to create the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight, or CRIDO.

On November 10, CRIDO sent a letter to the department of commerce to express its "strong concern with respect to the June 2011 decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers".

The letter mentions "troubling conflict of interest questions" which can no doubt be read as references to Peter Dengate Thrush's move, just after the June 2011 Board vote and as soon as he stepped down from his position as Chairman of the ICANN Board, to a gTLD consultancy firm.

In its letter, CRIDO seems happy to forget that ICANN is no longer under US control and calls on the DoC to postpone the January 12, 2012 application window. The letter is signed by 40 companies, including Amex, Adobe, Coca Cola, Dell, Ford, HP, Kellogg, Nestle USA, and Samsung.

Talking new gTLDs in Bulgaria

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:45:06 +0100

I'm at the Domain Forum in Sofia, Bulgaria, today doing a couple of presentations on new gTLDs. The first is an introduction to the program itself and the following panel I'm on is looking at what registrars will have to face as many new gTLDs come online and they are asked to connect to them.

The Domain Forum itself is a great opportunity to get outside the usual "ICANN bubble" that those of us who are used to attending ICANN meetings and working in that community tend to live in month-in, month-out.

It's a clear reminder that for some people, the acronyms "new gTLDs", "IDN, "GNSO" or GAC" don't mean anything. And yet, the GNSO's recommendations for the new gTLD program were clear: there needs to be enough communication ahead of launch so that as many potential applicants as possible are aware of the program.

Events like the Domain Forum in Sofia are an important part of achieving that aim. Looking around the room, this is clear. ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom is here in Sofia speaking just before me as part of ICANN's outreach efforts on the new gTLD program. In attendance here in Bulgaria are the country's minister for IT, the country's GAC representative, and many people just wanting to learn more about the program itself.

Find out more about the Domain Forum here.

ICANN launches dedicated new gTLD website

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:49:16 +0200

As part of its drive to make sure its new gTLD program has maximum visibility, ICANN has opened a FAQ and general guidance site on new gTLDs.

The site provides help and information for potential new applicants, including useful links to the latest version of the applicant guidebook.

Video guides to new gTLDs and a calendar of upcoming gTLD-related events also feature.

As the program itself ramps up, the site will provide data on actual applications and stats for the first application round.

Latest version of the new gTLD applicant guidebook published

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:47:14 +0200

ICANN has published the latest version of the Applicant Guidebook. This September 19 version brings only limited changes compared to the May 30, 2011 guidebook.

The first and most noticeable is the inclusion of an actual first application round start and end date, and time!

Quoting from the new guidebook: The user registration and application submission periods open at 00:01 UTC 12 January 2012. The user registration period closes at 23:59 UTC 29 March 2012.

The new AG also takes into account the June 20, 2011 ICANN Board resolution which officially gave the new gTLD program a green light but included extra instructions. For instance, module 2 of the guidebook now describes how key terms associated with the Red Cross and the Olympic Committee cannot be requested as gTLDs.

These rules are subject to change however, as ICANN community work continues on issues such as whether the aforementioned organisations should also benefit from having their names protected at the second level, and how support can be provided (financial or otherwise) to needy applicants.

Closing in on the finish line?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:25:34 +0200

As amazing as that may sound, ICANN is keeping to its schedule! The new gTLD Applicant Guidebook was published on the target date of May 30, 2011.

This version is considered final. So if ICANN can weather the continued opposition from some groups with particularly strong lobbying skills, then its Board will be voting to approve the new gTLD program during a special meeting on June 20 in Singapore.

Could this really be the home stretch?

Still on (the) time(line)?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sat, 21 May 2011 12:41:25 +0200

The ICANN unofficial timeline for the launch of the new gTLDs seems to be on track. A planned teleconference between ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and the Board happened yesterday (Friday May 20) on schedule.

Unofficial reports say the meeting was very positive, although differences of opinions are still said to exist on trademarks.

The next major milestone will be May 30, when the final Applicant Guidebook is scheduled to be posted.

An extra GAC/Board meeting, not featured on the timeline, has been confirmed for June 19, in Singapore. The day before the planned final meeting of the Board to give the program its official green light.

Kurt Pritz to represent ICANN in front of US Congress

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:11:24 +0200

The Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet of the US Congress has called a hearing into ICANN's new gTLD program for Wednesday May 4, 2011.

Considering who has initiated this, no-one will be surprised to see much of the proceedings centre around trademark protection.

What may be more surprising to some is that representing ICANN in front of the US congressmen attending the hearing will be Kurt Pritz. Although Pritz is ICANN's Senior Vice President of Stakeholder Relations and the man in charge of the new gTLD program, most would probably have expected Rod Beckstrom, the organisation's CEO, to take centre stage.

Instead, it appears that Beckstrom will not even make an appearance. Many will no doubt be surprised by this as when ICANN was heard by the House of Representatives in June 2009, then-CEO Paul Twomey went to Washington in person.

The reason for Beckstrom deciding not to go may be due to his past links to the US administration (he was US cybersecurity tsar in 2008) and a desire not to see those colour this hearing…

Updated Applicant Guidebook published on schedule

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 13:42:48 +0200

It had been promised for April 15… It's out on April 15th!

The new DAG (Draft Applicant Guidebook) is out. This shows both the incredible amount of work ICANN Staff is putting into getting this program finished and that the June 20th date for green-lighting the new gTLD program is one that ICANN really wants to keep to.

Read the new DAG here.

Dot XXX is live!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 13:23:59 +0200

Following final approval at last March's San Francisco ICANN meeting, the newest Internet domain's roll-out has started.

Dot XXX registry ICM had already announced details of the adult entertainment domain's sunrise periods and launch program.

Now comes the news that the domain has been activated at the root and is therefore fully functional, as evidenced by ICM's new website address.

As of today, there are 22 active generic Top Level Domains on the Internet.

Governments to cause more delays to new TLDs?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:44:53 +0100

The ICANN Board and the GAC met in Brussels for what was scheduled as a 2-day meeting but turned into a 3-day marathon on Feb 28, March 1 and 2.

The meeting was called in an attempt to resolve the remaining issues of contention between ICANN's decision-making body and the representatives of the world's governments on the subject of the new gTLD program. ICANN's bylaws state that if the GAC gives advice and if the Board, after having listened to that advice, is not ready to follow it, a formal consultation must take place in order to air the differences.

Brussels was not that meeting. It was a first step in the bylaws process. The consultation meeting has been scheduled for March 17, the day before the Board meeting that will bring ICANN San Francisco, the first of 2011's three International ICANN Meetings, to a close.

Continue reading "Governments to cause more delays to new TLDs?"

Final applicant guidebook to be published on April 14?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:41:43 +0100

In the run-up to an upcoming meeting between the GAC and its Board, ICANN has published a set of briefing papers. The page used for this also includes a proposed set of dates listed as ICANN's expected path forward.

Of special interest is the April 14 date listed as the date for publication of the AG. This is tentative and does depend on the outcome of the two GAC/Board meetings that will happen in Brussels next week and then in San Francisco on March 17.

But it also sets a clear target date for the start of the new gTLD program.

Creators of .GAY working on a .FLORIDA

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:05:09 +0100

According to an open LinkedIn group focused on new gTLDs, the man behind .GAY is planning a .FLORIDA.

Alexander Schubert is fast becoming one of the major players in the new gTLD space and has acknowledged plans for a .FLORIDA project to be announced this January.

A website is already up, although Schubert describes it as still a "mock-up". The website indicates that the company behind .FLORIDA is currently being created. It will be called dotFlorida LLC.

It's obviously early days for the project, as the following caveat on the website confirms: "It should be noted that discussions with the state of Florida are pending. .FLORIDA will not be created without the permission of the Florida State government."

Wise words of caution, as under ICANN's new gTLD rules, no geographic TLD can be created without the all clear from the corresponding local government.

ICANN and governments to meet in Geneva in February

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:23:42 +0100

The ICANN Board and the GAC have apparently set a date for their joint meeting early next year. GAC representatives have been told to plan for a 2-day meeting to be held in Geneva on February 28 and March 1.

The meeting is an attempt to resolve the final issues standing in the way of ICANN's approval of the new gTLD program. It is not yet known whether this will be a closed meeting. ICANN's thrice yearly international meetings are open to anyone and attendance is free, but this specific get-together between GAC and Board members may be seen as requiring a little more intimacy.

New gTLDs: is today the end of the beginning?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 10:19:25 +0100

The launch timeline for new gTLDs that was approved by the ICANN Board at its last meeting (October 28) shows November 9 as the publication date for the latest version of the DAG.

That timeline itself is a significant document, as it provides for clear dates all the way up to the actual launch of the first round of new gTLD applications.

Key dates would be:

December 10, 2010, when the Board would approve this latest version of the DAG as final,

January 11, 2011, when ICANN would start its global communications campaign, and,

May 30, 2011, when the first round would be launched.

So today we get to see if this timeline is to be believed. At the time of writing, still morning in Europe so middle of the night in the US, it's a little early for anything to have been released. But if the DAGv5 does indeed appear today, the Board would then be in a position to approve the AG at its Cartagena meeting, following the mandatory minimum one-month comment period.

If DAGv5 is even a single day late, that could delay the process.

I guess we'll know in a few hours' time...

So to coin a famous English TV catch phrase: "until then, keep 'em peeled!"

DAG out today?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:23:51 +0100

So in all the excitement about the Board decision on vertical Integration of registries and registrars, it seems the next version of the new gTLD Draft Applicant Guidebook has been forgotten.

According to a timeline put together by ICANN and agreed to by the Board, it was supposed to be published yesterday (Nov 9).

Well it hasn't, but the latest is it should be out by the end of the week, maybe even late today...

The next DAG, final or not?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:17:23 +0200

When will the next version of ICANN's new gTLD Draft Applicant Guidebook come out, and will it be the last? Whether you are pro, or against, new gTLDs, those two questions have to be foremost in your mind as we move ever closer to the last ICANN meeting of the year, in Cartagena this December.

This is when the final AG is supposed to be released. But will it happen like that?

On the one hand, ICANN Staff clearly think the DAG is almost done. Briefings given to the GNSO Council by ICANN's new gTLD boss Kurt Pritz point to limited changes between the current DAG (version 4) and the next one. Expect parts of the guidebook to be changed, à la DAGv2 to DAGv3, but not a fully revised version.

The new material will be published in November. A comment period will then be initiated leading up to the Cartagena meeting. But Staff will shy away from calling this the final guidebook because only the ICANN Board can do that.

Will they? From private conversations I've had, it's pretty clear that some Board members feel there is no more to say and the guidebook should now be finalised. I'm also hearing that ICANN Staff is gearing up for an official launch to the new gTLD program sooner rather than later. So if the Board does say "yes" in Cartagena, they will be ready.

To be clear, many are still opposed to new gTLDs. Good intentions often stand in the way of good ideas. "Why now?", "It's too soon!", "Work on it some more!" or "You haven't thought this out properly…" are phrases that have often been thrown ICANN's way by the perpetual naysayers who would rather things never changed and this program be shelved.

But their arguments may at last be loosing traction. Even though the next guidebook will not be called final when it is published by ICANN in the next few weeks, there is a good chance that it will become so soon after. It's about time! Time to stop being afraid of the future and instead, to make sure the Internet remains the most innovate, fast-moving medium in human history.

New ICANN Board resolutions on gTLDs

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:34:51 +0200

A special Board retreat held in Trondheim, Norway, over the weekend led to a set of resolutions on the new gTLD program.

The resolutions mean to give ICANN Staff directions on how to edit the next version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook. Those looking for concrete answers to such outstanding issues as Vertical Integration (VI) of registrars and registries will have to wait a little longer. On this issue for example, the Board will request that the GNSO provide it with a clear statement on the current state of the work being done by the community and whether consensus has been reached. This statement should be sent to the Board by October 8th.

Other resolutions cover Morality and Public Order objections, Geographic Names or Trademark Protection.

There are also a couple of resolutions that aren't linked to the new gTLD program, including one naming San Francisco as the venue for the first ICANN meeting of 2011, from March 13 to 18 2011.

Enough is enough!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:07:08 +0200

It should hardly come as a surprise. As the planned date for the release of the final version of ICANN's new gTLD Applicant Guidebook draws near (it is expected in advance of ICANN's Cartagena meeting in December), the calls for yet more delays can once again be heard.

The International Trademark Association (INTA) sent ICANN Chairman of the Board Peter Dengate Thrush and ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom a letter a few days ago requesting that yet another study be done before new gTLDs are rolled out!

The study should, they say, "assess the harms associated with intellectual property abuse and related forms of consumer fraud in the domain name system".

Thankfully, both Dengate Thrush and Beckstrom have lately made it quite clear that after several years of consultation and development of the new gTLD program, they feel that there has been ample opportunity for people such as INTA to get involved and have their say.

The Board has actually planned to concentrate solely on getting through as many of the remaining new gTLD issues as it can during its upcoming Retreat, on September 24 and 25.

Personally, I wonder whom INTA is really speaking for here. I know of several major corporations that are keen to get their hands on their own TLD and are growing very tired of the program's endless delays. And then obviously there are all the other entrepreneurs who have started on a TLD project and are loosing more and more money as delays stretch…

DAGv4 separation rules lack support

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:37:32 +0200

The comment period for the 4th version of ICANN's Draft Applicant Guidebook for the new gTLD program closed yesterday (July 21).

Although as it stands, the DAG is nearly finished, a couple of grey areas remain. One is the issue of morality and public order (MAPO), and who should judge, according to what criteria. The other is about separation between registrars and registries.

It is INDOM's view that the strict separation requirements introduced in the DAGv4 are both unfair and anti-competitive. We said as much in the comment we sent to ICANN a few days ago. We are encouraged to see others (here and here for example) picking up on our comments and agreeing with them.

The final version of the guidebook is scheduled to be released before the next ICANN meeting (Cartagena in December). It is our hope that it will not contain rules that prohibit ICANN-accredited registrars from being involved, in any way whatsoever, in a TLD.

As we wrote in our comment to ICANN: "With the Guidebook as it is currently written, those with in-depth domain name expertise are excluded, except existing registries. Entities without this expertise would be accepted. This is akin to giving a license to provide medical services to anyone except doctors."

INDOM's comment on DAGv4

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:12:13 +0200

We posted our comments on the latest draft of the Applicant Guidebook for new gTLDs yesterday.

They can be read here. For those who don't have time to go to the ICANN website to read them, here's an excerpt giving the general gist of what we said:

"We feel the forced exclusion of ICANN-accredited registrars from the new gTLD program is unfounded, detrimental to consumer and applicant choice and would lead incumbents in the registry market to enjoy unfair protectionism. It must not be implemented in the Final Guidebook."

ICANN Board could vote on final AG by December

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:29:56 +0200

In his presentation to ICANN's GAC (Government Advisory Committee), ICANN Senior Vice President Kurt Pritz indicated that root scaling and economic study issues were the main ones remaining to be solved before a final Applicant Guidebook could be published.

His presentation was made today in Brussels, in the run-up to ICANN's 38th international meeting which starts on Monday June 21. The GAC and the GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organisation – the policy-making body for gTLDs) traditionally hold working sessions during the weekend before an ICANN meeting.

Pritz went on to say that if the aforementioned issues can be resolved in the coming months, the Board could be in a position to approve the final guidebook in December. Presumably, that would require the final guidebook to be published several weeks before the December ICANN meeting in Cartagena so that there would be time for public comment before the Board came to vote on it.

DAGv4 out today?

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:08:02 +0200

The Icann rumour mill is on overdrive today as the fourth version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook for the new gTLD program is expected to be published at some point during the day.

This latest instalment of the rules a prospective new gTLD applicant would have to follow is greatly anticipated. Icann staff have claimed that this version should be considered as almost final, with only minor tweaks needed to transition to the definitive Applicant Guidebook due to be published in December 2010.

Proponents and opponents of new gTLDs therefore wait with baited breath for the DAGv4 to come out. The former to check that the program is indeed nearing conclusion while the latter are no doubt already looking opportunities to generate further delays.

If the rumours are right, we should know more in a few hours…

DAGv4 is out!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:13:02 +0200

As anticipated, the latest draft of the ICANN new gTLD Applicant Guidebook was published a few hours ago.

The new DAG includes models for trademark protection such as the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) and the Trademark Clearinghouse (TM Clearinghouse). Other changes include a new proposal on registry-registrar separation for the registry agreement (the contract future registries will sign with ICANN), which is also the subject of ongoing work in the GNSO, ICANN's policy development body for generic TLDs (Top Level Domains).

DAGv4 will be at the centre of discussions in Brussels, from June 20 to 25, during ICANN's second international meeting of 2010.

Innovation is coming, get over it CADNA!

stephane.vangelder@indom.com (Stephane Van Gelder) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:30:03 +0200

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse has puzzled me for a long time. They claim to be "dedicated to ending the systemic domain name abuses that plague the Internet today". A very worthy cause on paper, except the CADNA people seem to be confusing constructive criticism with constant ranting.

Their latest is entitled "ICANN's gTLD launch costs businesses $746 million, increases cyber crime". What are these people on? And how do they get major brands to back their coalition's press releases?

Their pitch: new gTLDs will force businesses to defensively register, and therefore cost them. Never mind the fact that the ICANN community has been working for years now on refining a new gTLD program that incorporates powerful new brand protection measures. And so what if said program has been delayed time and time again precisely because the ICANN community, in a responsible and cautious approach, is making sure that it gets as many aspects of the new gTLD launch right as it can.

Innovation always means pushing the boundaries and leaping into the unknown. But the new gTLD program has been in preparation for years and it is being carefully thought out by many talented people. ICANN community volunteers within the GNSO (generic Names Supporting Organization) first drew out a set of recommendations. The ICANN Board (also volunteers) then approved them and asked ICANN Staff (also talented) to draft a model from them. The first iteration of that model came out in October 2008. The 4th is scheduled to be released this June. In between, there has been constant consultation, analysis and drafting. That is not haphazard experimentation. That is careful planning.

Continue reading "Innovation is coming, get over it CADNA!"