ICANN lAUNCHES new tl domain names

87 major national and international business associations and companies oppose the rollout of ICANN's top-level domain expansion program.

ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: 310.823.9358

November 15, 2011
87 major national and international business associations and companies have joined forces with the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), forming the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO) to oppose the rollout of ICANN's top-level domain expansion program.
http://www.ana.net/content/show/id/22351

Monitoricann.org for the official launch dates. ICANN expects all new gTLDs to be operational. gTLDs are expected to be delegated within one year of signing a registry agreement with ICANN.

How much is the evaluation fee?
The evaluation fee is estimated at US $185,000.
Applicants will be required to pay a US$5,000 deposit fee per requested application slot when registering. The US$5,000 will be credited against the evaluation fee.

Are there any additional costs I should be aware of in applying for a new gTLD?
Yes. Applicants may be required to pay additional feesin certain cases where specialized process steps areapplicable, and should expect to account for their ownbusiness startup costs. See Section 1.5.2 of the ApplicantGuidebook

What will happen during the application window and how long will it last?
The application window will likely last for three months. Applicants will use a dedicated web-based application interface named “TLD Application System” (TAS) to apply, where they will answer questions and upload supporting documents. After the application window, there are several evaluation stages, each with its own estimated duration.

2012

The RIAA was complaining that any such TLD might (gasp!) be used to infringe, and arguing that ICANN shouldn't allow it unless it was completely locked down. Now The Recording Industry Association of America has picked a side. It’s supporting Far Further’s application for the .music generic top-level domain, according to the company. Now the RIAA Backs .music Proposal... If It's Only Limited To 'Accredited' Musicians

Its .music would be restricted, along the same lines as gTLDs such a .pro, to card-carrying members of what the company calls "accredited Global Music Community Members".

"It's not open to everyone," Styll said. "You'd have to join an organization."

Amateur bands would have to be members of an accredited songwriters association to get a .music address, for example.

In other words, it goes against the reality we know today, which is that new technologies are allowing anyone to become a musician. Instead, it's based on the obsolete notion that only those in a special club are "really" musicians. What you end up with is exactly what the RIAA wants: a system where it gets to "accredit" musicians.

Icann approved The porn industry .XXX DOMAIN in 2010/.

Registrations will be managed by Florida-based Stuart Lawley, head of ICM Registry, and bidding for domains with .xxx suffix begins 9/7/2011 .

Pornographers will have a 50-day “sunrise period” to bid on the first batch of .xxx URLs, and highly sought after domains like “sex.com”. The 50-day sunrise period for adult entertainment companies begins September 7th, 2011 and they will then have free rein over unsold domains for 17 days beginning November 8th. After that, .xxx registrations open up to the world.

How long will the evaluation process take?
The evaluation process is expected to last from 8 to 18 months. There are several stages that an application might be required to pass through prior to a final determination being rendered.

What can I do if someone applies for a string that represents my brand or trademark?
You can file an objection with the DRSP selected to administer “legal rights” objections. Details about these procedures, such as who has standing, where and how objections are filed, and how much objections will cost can be found in Module 3 of the Applicant Guidebook and the related New gTLD Dispute Resolution Procedure.

How can I object to an application?
After the list of all TLD applications has been published on ICANN's website, there will be a period of time for third-parties to file a formal objection using pre-established dispute resolution procedures. In all but exceptional circumstances, objections will be administered by independent Dispute Resolution Service Providers (DRSP), rather than by ICANN.

Will this have and effect Censorship and the Great China Fire Wall?

Review the current version of the Applicant Guidebook.
http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/dag-en.htm
Review the full set of FAQs.
http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/strategy-faq.htm
Visit the New gTLD site.
http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm
contact newgtld@icann.org

COMMENTS

ICANN PIRATES:

In its strategic plan ICANN claims that its mission is to “ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier system”.
Yet with the introduction of new TLDs it is doing just the opposite. Ten years ago I posted http://rmf.vc/DNSSafeHaven suggesting that we provide at least an option for stable identifiers. During that period the importance of the DNS names themselves has decreased. As I (http://rmf.vc/NNTLDs) and other (such as Esther Dyson on NPR) have noted the unified search bar in newer browsers has shifted the focus from using the DNS name to searching using human cues.
Today the idea of maintaining a table of a trillion stable identifiers seems very doable. So why don't we have an option of owning our own identifies in the DNS?
We need to examine the finances and ask whether the large sums of money made by forcing us to lease our own names has had a corrupting influence on ICANN. Charging $185K for TLDs and garnering additional sums as large corporations are forced to pay any price asked to protect their trademark in the new TLDs provides more incentive to profit from instability.
This is not entirely ICANNs fault as its policies reflect implicit assumptions. For example the phrase “Internet's unique identifier system” represents an architectural choice and not a necessary choice. We tend to confuse network routing identifiers with identifiers we use as humans. It's as if you couldn't have “John Smith” as a name because JohnSmith.name wouldn't be unique. This is part of the larger confusion I write about in http://rmf.vc/InternetLostInTranslation.
This confusion is even more reason to be concerned about ICANNs incentives. We can start by asking whether ICANN, as a non-profit, is more loyal to its income stream than to society's need for an Internet that isn't designed to unravel.

Bob Frankston
www.frankston.com

more --

There are 22 top-level domains already (plus about 200 two-letter country domains).
I don't think many people would recall more than 6 or 7 domains. How many websites in domains other than .com, .net. .org, .gov, or .edu do you know?
millionare's going to be who buy GTLDs like .cloud and .blog and .music
Unifiedroot is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this new approach by ICANN:

1) You can start using your company or brand name immediately;
2) You can register specific generic TLDs like .music or .game;
3) You pay a fraction of the cost compared to ICANN;
4) You can register names in non-Latin scripts.

see: press release on www.unifiedroot.com

A Stronger Net Security System Is Deployed

The introduction of Secure DNS by governments and other organizations.

At some point the trust gets diluted, and it's just not as good as it used to be, said Rick Lamb, the manager of Icann's Secure DNS program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/science/25trust.html?_r=1&hpw
Internet security specialists start up a global system to make e-mail and e-commerce more secure so that Internet users will be able to authenticate everyone and affect Web traffic and e-mail. Most users should be mostly protected by the end of the year, but the effectiveness for a user depends on the participation of the government, Internet providers and organizations and businesses visited online. Eventually the system is expected to have a broad effect on all kinds of communications, including voice calls that travel over the Internet, known as voice-over-Internet protocol.
One reason for these flaws is that from the 1960s through the 1980s the engineers who designed the network's underlying technology were concerned about reliable, rather than secure, communications. The first directory was created by Internet Pioneer Dave Farber's student John Postel who created the technology known as Secure DNS, or DNSSEC. DNS refers to the Domain Name System, which is a directory that connects names to numerical Internet addresses.
Numerical keys will be stored in three hardened data centers Singapore, in Zurich and in San Jose, Calif. The three centers are fortresses made up of five layers of physical, electronic and cryptographic security, making it virtually impossible to tamper with the system. Four layers are active now. The fifth, a physical barrier, is being built inside the data center.
Before the Singapore event, 70 countries had adopted the technology, and 14 more were added as part of the event. Now 300 so-called top-level domains have been digitally signed.
"In the very long term it will be voice-over-I.P. that will benefit the most," said Bill Woodcock, research director at the Packet Clearing House, a group based in Berkeley, Calif., that is assisting Icann , the Internet governance organization, in deploying Secure DNS.
Last year, the authors of the Stuxnet computer worm that was used to attack the Iranian uranium processing facility at Natanz were able to steal authentic digital certificates from Taiwanese technology companies. The certificates were used to help the worm evade digital defenses intended to block malware. It will also potentially serve as a foundation technology for an ambitious United States government effort begun this spring to create a system to ensure "trusted identities" in cyberspace.