John Berard

Expert view: John Berard

by .Nxt | 21 Jun 2012 |

With the release of applications for the new gTLD process, we asked a number of industry experts for their views of what the information shows.

John Berard

CEO, Voxpopuliregistry.com

What is your overall feeling about the applications?
I was impressed with the mix of applicants. Some came from branded companies, some from long-time domain industry players and still others from entrepreneurs who see the possibilities inherent in the expansion of the Internet landscape. I feel very good that each one projects a credible business proposition.

What are you most surprised by?
How tightly the opportunity clearly was embraced by marketing executives. The applications show that Fiat wants to create a global fleet of dot-abarth, Chanel hopes to make the Internet more alluring with dot-chanel, Bridgestone wants to improve its mileage by installing dot-firestone and Dot Vegas wants everything to stay in dot-vegas.

What are you most excited about?

sucks

Generic

Initial Evaluation

Priority number:

1449

Government objection(s):

Australia

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Applicant

Vox Populi Registry Inc.

26 Auriga Drive

Ottawa

Ontario

K2E 8B7

Canada

Phone:

+16132252000

Fax:

+16138200777

Government objection(s)

Explanation:

Defensive registrations: The string (.sucks) has an overtly negative or critical connotation, and Vox Populi Registry Inc does not appear to have proposed sufficient mechanisms to address the potential for a high level of defensive registrations.

Reason/Rationale:

The proposed string has an overtly negative or critical connotation. As a result, many individuals, businesses and organisations may seek to protect their brands or reputations in this TLD. In this context, Vox Populi Registry Inc does not appear to propose sufficient mechanisms to limit the need for defensive registrations. The issue of defensive registrations has been the subject of previous GAC advice (for example, Principle 2.9 of the GAC Principles regarding new gTLDs).

Early warnings provide a mechanism to initiate a discussion between a government and an applicant on particular issues or questions. It is intended that a constructive dialogue through this process will assist applicants to better understand the concerns of governments, and help governments to better understand the planned operation of proposed gTLDs.

Possible Remediation:

Vox Populi Registry Inc should detail appropriate mechanisms to limit the need for defensive registrations.

These mechanisms should form part of any binding contract with ICANN, and be subject to clear compliance oversight by ICANN.

Further Notes:

This Early Warning is from the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), on behalf of the Australian Government. In the first instance, communications and responses to this early warning should be emailed to gacearlywarning@gac.icann.org, with the text “Australian EW” and the application ID in the subject field.

Registry services

ARI Registry Services

Legal establishment

Corporation

Benefit

Mission/purpose:

Customer relationship management is currently either narrowly defined by a toll-free telephone number and an “info@” email address or widely viewed through the lens of diverse social media and a thicket of hard-to-find, hit-or-miss, unfocused websites that cater to consumer complaints.
Ultimately, the dialog has satisfied neither the consumer who wants to be heard nor the companies anxious to respond.
Our mission is to create a new address on the web that will give voice to the consumer and create the opportunity for closer contact between companies and their customers.
This is no small goal.
One large, branded Internet retailer put it this way. “We have 200,000 fans on Facebook, but many of them are there to offer criticism of our service. This is good. We can learn more about our products and services from those complaints than we can from the 60 million unique visitors to our company website each month.”
By building an easy-to-locate, “central town square” available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, the .SUCKS registry will become a recognized destination not just for that one company, but for all. It will give assurances to customers that their voice can be heard. And it can become an essential part of every company’s customer relationship management program.
In this way, we intend for the .SUCKS top level domain to become a focal point for customer service

Geographic

Protections:

We have engaged ARI Registry Services (ARI) to deliver services for .SUCKS. This response describes protection of geographic names as implemented by ARI.

1 PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

In accordance with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, the registry operator must initially reserve all geographic names at the second level, and at all other levels within the TLD at which the registry operator provides for registrations.
ARI supports this requirement by using the following internationally recognised lists to develop a comprehensive master list of all geographic names that are initially reserved:
– The 2-letter alpha-2 code of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including all reserved and unassigned codes [http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm].
– The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 List, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union [http:⁄⁄www.iso.org⁄iso⁄support⁄country_codes⁄iso_3166_code_lists⁄iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU].
– The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardisation of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World. This lists the names of 193 independent States generally recognised by the international community in the language or languages used in an official capacity within each country and is current as of August 2006 [http:⁄⁄unstats.un.org⁄unsd⁄geoinfo⁄ungegn%20tech%20ref%20manual_M87_combined.pdf].
– The list of UN member states in six official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardisation of Geographical Names [http:⁄⁄unstats.un.org⁄unsd⁄geoinfo⁄UNGEGN⁄docs⁄9th-uncsgn-docs⁄econf⁄9th_UNCSGN_e-conf-98-89-add1.pdf].
Names on this reserved list in ARI’s registry system are prevented from registration.
A corresponding list of geographic names will also be available to the public via the registry operators website, to inform Registrars and potential registrants of reserved names. The lists noted above, are regularly monitored for revisions, therefore the reserved list (both within the registry and publicly facing) will be continually updated to reflect any changes.
In addition to these requirements, ARI are able to support the wishes of the Governmental Advisory Council (GAC) or any individual Government in regard to the blocking of individual terms on a case by case basis. ARI’s registry system allows such additions to be made by appropriately authorised staff, with no further system development changes required.
The following applies to all Domain Names contained within the registry’s reserved list:
– Attempts to register listed Domain Names will be rejected.
– WhoIs queries for listed Domain Names will receive responses indicating their reserved status.
– Reserved geographic names will not appear in the TLD zone file.
– DNS queries for reserved domain names will result in an NXDOMAIN response.

2 PROCEDURES FOR RELEASE

We understand that if we wish to release the reserved names at a later date, this will require agreement from the relevant government(s) or review by the GAC, and subsequent approval from ICANN.

PIC spec

Elements covered:

Protection of Geographic Names
Operating Rules

Details:

Reference: Response to Question 18 b iv

As our mission is to enhance the conversation between companies and their
customers, certain policies will be implemented to guard against registrants that
diffuse this mission. Vox Populi will implement a rapid takedown procedure to deal
with domain name abuses including the following 3 potential scenarios:

Cyberbullying
If a complaint is made that any DotSUCKS site engages in cyberbullying (as
defined by http:⁄⁄www.stopcyberbullying.org), and that complaint is proved, the
site will be the subject of rapid takedown policies. The registry will retain an
objective third-party with subject matter expertise to review all such matters
and on whose recommendations the registry can confidently act.

Pornography
Registrants who host pornographic content will similarly be subject to rapid
takedown should a complaint be filed and upheld. The registry will retain an
objective third-party with subject matter expertise to review all such matters
and on whose recommendations the registry can confidently act.

Parked pages
It will be the policy of the registry to limit parked pages. If such a complaint is
filed about a DotSUCKS page and proved, the site will be the subject of the
registry’s rapid takedown policies. The registry will retain an objective thirdparty
with subject matter expertise to review all such matters and on whose
recommendations the registry can confidently act.

Applicant agrees to follow the PIC resolution process (PICDRP).

Application file

Dot-sucks application

User login

John Berard

Expert view: John Berard

John Berard

CEO, Voxpopuliregistry.com

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