A great interview with David Morse, Senior Manager, Domain Product Team is available here at the Network Solutions Blog.
David talks about the Central Registry Solutions joint venture and the potential of new Top Level Domains (TLDs). He also discusses the new TLD services Network Solutions is planning to offer. The video is also included here:
In a recent article in CircleID, Chuck Gomes, VP of Policy and Compliance, Naming and Directory Services at VeriSign, outlines VeriSign’s support for new gTLDs. The article can be found here. In the article, Chuck discusses the benefits of new gTLDs, including increased competition, new opportunities and further innovation. Chuck mentions that new TLDs would increase market demand for their backend third-party registry services. Additionally, he outlines the need for registries to maintain financial stability and support registrants during unexpected events. Due to these concerns, VeriSign is supporting the fine tuning of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG) by ICANN. This is welcomed news from VeriSign. We look forward to working with them on developing the final protections and moving forward with New TLDs.
ICANN has released the Draft Application Guidebook, version 3. The document can be found here. Redline versions are also available, showing changes since version 2 of the document. The public comment period for this version will last at least 50 days. We’ll also continue to include information on the New gTLD process on this blog.
In a recent article titled “Registry-Registrar Cross Ownership: Framing the Issues” Jon Nevett, Chairman of the CRS Board, discusses the current issues surrounding registry-registrar cross ownership. The article includes an overview of the issues in agreement and those in dispute, including whether ICANN should restrict registrars from selling domain names of affiliated registries and an attempt to restrict back-end registry service providers. The article is available here.
On September 21st, 2009 members of the Internet community sent a letter to ICANN’s executive staff and board seeking the implementation ICANN’s plan for new TLDs. The letter can be found here. In the letter the case for new TLDs is again outlined. Among the supporting arguments the most compelling include:
Consumer Demand
Consumer demand is not currently met by available domain names. Most consumers can not register their first domain of choice 70 % of the time. Additionally, the secondary market for domain names has significantly increased the price for attractive domain names, effectively limiting access to consumer with larger budgets. Finally, category based TLDs will reduce trademark confusion.
Safety Considerations
New policies governing the registry process and the registry/registrar contract will limit current abusive practices. These include new registry obligations to support takedown procedures, reducing phishing and related attacks. Additionally, trademark protection recommendations from the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) will likely be adopted.
Internet Stability
Without other options, the demand for memorable domains may cause fragmentation of the root. The increased usage of alternative address spaces may significantly increase the difficulty of trademark protection on the Internet.
Innovation
The creation of new TLDs will also result in new business creation. Some of these businesses will play direct roles in the registration and operation of these new TLDs, while others will see increased revenue from new growth in related projects.
ICANN’s own credibility
The creation of new TLDs is supported by the community and backed by transparent policy development processes. ICANN has committed in the past to support these transparent processes.
Many in the Internet community will be interested in ICANN’s response.
As expected the ICANN response to the GAC August 18th letter has been published. The response by Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of the Board, can be found here. The issues discussed include the impact of new gTLDs on stability and scalability, economic studies on new TLD demand, competition, diverse business models, end user confusion and ICANN administrative resources. Additionally, implementation issues discussed including stakeholder awareness, gTLD categories, geographic TLDs, dispute resolution procedures and the application process including fee structure. To let us know your thoughts on this, leave a comment below.
On September 22nd, Rod Beckstrom, President and CEO or ICANN, responded to the September 15th letter from Ranking Members of the House Committee on the Judiciary. In the letter, Rod Beckstrom answers the questions raised regarding trademark protection, economic studies, generic TLD competition and ICANN’s future relationship with the US Government. The letter can be found here: letter-from-rod-beckstrom
On October 15th at 12:00-1:30 PM, Jonathon Nevett, Chairman of the Board here at Central Registry Solutions and Network Solutions Senior Vice President will be participating in a complimentary webinar. This webinar will cover the current proposal for new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) and the affect on brands by gTLDs. This coverage will include a panel discussion on registration and brand protection strategy and a review of the status of the current ICANN Application Guidebook. In addition, they will review the Final Report on Trademark Protection in new gTLDs.
Other webinar participants will include J. Scott Evans of Yahoo! Inc, Fabricio Vayra of Time Warner Inc. and Brian Winterfeldt of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.
This event will be sponsored by Steptoe & Johnson LLP, click here to register for the event.
Professionals today seeking employment are armed with the ancient compulsory tool, the resume. Yet for all the advances in technology, job seekers are still limited to printing a resume out, emailing a PDF or Word Doc or forced to re-enter their employment history in each and every employment portal, corporate HR systems or online jobsite. The situation screams out for standardization, combine online resume building with built in hosting package and launch of a Dot Resume might be very enticing.
Registration for the .RESUME TLD could be open, with identity verification measures to limit fraud or spam submissions. A professional could register a domain using .RESUME and begin creating a hosted resume page immediately. Page content would be organized using a standard and well planned layout. Each page could offer the owner the ability to submit their resume to popular job search websites, such as monster.com. To ensure further data interoperability, each page could offer an “.XML export” option, allowing job search sites and employer human resource systems to quickly gather appropriate and well formatted resume information. Professionals could also avoid lengthy manual form entry processes by simply pointing human resource systems to their .RESUME page. For privacy protection, simple email based authorization, granted by sending someone a specific email with a custom link could allow more restrictive sharing of resumes.
We would like to hear your thoughts on this TLD, let us know in the comments below:
The web is a great tool for distributing information, but sometimes entertainment information is scattered and difficult to find. An entertainment oriented TLD, .SHOW, might allow consumers to more easily find film, musical and theater showings.
One way to operate this TLD could be with a closed registration process, with the TLD operator creating domain destinations for new film, musical and theatrical shows. These domains could resolve to dynamic content pages, containing descriptions, show times, ticketing information and reviews aggregated from other web sources. Each domain could offer a consistent, simple and informative webpage on a film, musical or theatrical show. Additionally, region/location specific domains, such as chicago.show or 22033.show, could offer a central list of events for a designated area. An integrated ticket sales processing system could allow simple ticketing for events, with a portion of revenues paying for the service. This may also allow smaller groups, including schools, to offer tickets and easily promote their events. Monetization may occur though a combination of advertising and ticket sales commissions.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below:
