Sep. 24, 2009
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ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) CEO Rod Beckstrom responded to numerous concerns
raised by members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee about the controversial new gTLDs (generic Top Level Domains)
via a detailed letter sent Tuesday.
On Sep. 10, Republicans Lamar Smith and Howard Coble wrote a letter to Beckstrom asking him to clarify the plans
for the new TLDs and the expiration of ICANN's Joint Project Agreement.
In the letter, the Congressmen wrote they were concerned that the expansion of the new TLDs could lead to
"serious negative consequences" for U.S. businesses and consumers utilizing the Internet.
Beckstrom, who was appointed three months ago, addressed these points in his letter, defending the plan for
new TLDs by arguing that "competition" in the domain market would be negatively affected if the rollout of the
new domains is delayed somewhat.
The Congressmen also raised the point that the absence of price caps for the new TLDs could potentially result
in businesses having to pay premium prices for domain registrations and their renewals.
Beckstrom added "in the end, calling for a delay in the entry of new gTLDs only serves to perpetuate existing
market conditions. Concentration within some existing registries, with most short generic strings unavailable, and
those that trade on the value of the current marketplace, holding portfolios based upon the value of current .com
names are just a few of the numerous issues that have been voiced so far."
The letter also addresses the Joint Project Agreement, which comes to an end on September 30th. Many have
speculated that ICANN and the U.S. government will extend the agreement without setting a definite expiration date.
One group, the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, wrote a letter calling for a complete government audit
of ICANN.
CADNA, which represents business that own trademarks, argued that ICANN lacks transparency and is more interested
in turning a profit than cooperating with the Internet community for the overall benefit of all.
With the planned gTLDs, ICANN stands to make a signficant amount of money from charging operators of the new
gTLD registries fees upwards of six-figures, prompting a huge backlash from certain groups and individuals.
The group also said the plan for the new gTLD rollout was "poorly conceived" and that it expands the size of the
Internet exponentially without first performing a sound cost/benefit and security and risk analysis to determine
both desirability among and risk to Internet users."
For the past six months now, ICANN has been embattled in a sea of controversy, in part with this news story
and of other similar developments.
One of the groups that have made their concerns really public is the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse. They've
also added that they will pursue their cause with vigor until critical structural changes are made at the heart
of ICANN.
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