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Internet registries raise gTLD stakes with open teleconference

by .Nxt | 27 Feb 2013 |

Webinar turns tables on ICANN

The companies that run much of the domain name system are pushing a contractual dispute with overseeing organization ICANN public.

In an unusual move, the Registry Stakeholder Group of ICANN (RySG), which represents all the registries currently under contract with ICANN, and the New gTLD Applicant Group (NTAG), which represents more than half of the 1,930 applications for new Internet registries, have published an invitation for a public teleconference to discuss the proposed contract changes.

Anyone interested is invited to attend the online meeting on Monday, March 4, 2013 at 1500 UTC through the address http://icann.adobeconnect.com/rysg/. Those who wish to speak will have to call in and use the password "RY"; call-in numbers are provided on the invitation.

A Very American Revolution

by .Nxt | 20 Jun 2012 |

Applications for new Internet extensions make it clear that change is coming, albeit wrapped in the Stars & Stripes


The Internet of tomorrow is here, US-style

At the launch of hundreds of new extensions to the Internet last week, the head of the organization overseeing the process was embarrassed when an audience member pointed out that all the Arabic names appearing on a screen behind him were written backwards.

The CEO, an American, immediately apologized. As did his head of communications, also American. She further pointed out that the incorrect names had been noticed before the event but there hadn't been time to change them, so they went ahead with the wrong versions.

As analogies go, this exchange describes perfectly the seven-year process to create new generic top-level domains, and its end results. With the information finally published, it seems that this is to be a very American revolution.

ICANN creates two-tier Internet with dot-com contract

by Kieren McCarthy | 29 Mar 2012 |

Domain name system overseer ICANN will create a two-tier Internet later this year with thousands of new Internet extensions required to follow different contractual obligations than the existing 21 "generic top-level domains" or gTLDs.

Under the terms of a new contract for the Internet's largest registry - dot-com - published this week for public comment, current owner Verisign will not be obliged to follow many of the new provisions created for new gTLDs.

As operator of the dot-com registry, for example, it will not have to abide by the new trademark protections included in the new gTLD process: the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), Post-Delegation Dispute Resolution Process (PDDRP), and Trademark Clearinghouse (TC).

It will also not be contractually affected by the radical market shift that ICANN has decided upon where suppliers of domain names (registrars) and operators of Internet extensions (registries) will no longer have to be entire separate entities.

Since the dot-com contract acts as the forerunner of any changes to the other existing registry contracts, it is extremely unlikely that the contractual changes developed over six years for new gTLDs will be applied to any existing extensions.

Vertical integration blows up again: EC and registries lay into ICANN

by Kieren McCarthy | 28 Jan 2012 |

The crucial issue of market separation between those that run an Internet registry and those that sell domains underneath it has risen its ugly head again, with both the European Commission and existing Internet registries sending critical letters to ICANN asking for resolution on the issue.

The EC letter responds to a letter sent from ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom back in October that purported to outline the full reasons why the ICANN Board unexpectedly decided to lift all "vertical integration" restrictions late in 2010.

The EC was not impressed by Beckstrom's letter, noting that it "does not contain any information going beyond the already publicly available information" and so it remains of the view that it is still unable "to properly assess the competitive impact of a full removal of vertical separation".

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