June 24-29, 2012, EuroDNS delegates attended the ICANN 44 conference in Prague; on their return they summarized the highlights of the event.
VeriSign secure .COM for a further six years
The ICANN board announced their approval of the renewal of VeriSign’s agreement to act as registry for the .COM domain. The agreement commences on December 1, 2012, finishing on November 30, 2018.
The ICANN board resolution contains new clauses, one introducing, “…modified provisions to bring .COM into line with other comparable agreements (.BIZ, .INFO, .NET and .ORG), including modifications to terms such as functional and performance specifications, Whois, indemnification, and broad audit provisions.”
Prior to the renewal of the agreement ICANN invited public comment, these comments were then taken into consideration when making their final decision. Several comments highlighted the concern regarding increases to the charges registrars pay for domain names registrations, the 2012 renewed agreement states, “Both the current .com registry agreement and the proposed renewal agreement permit VeriSign to increase the price it charges registrars for domain names registrations four times during the six-year term with each increase being no greater than 7 percent.”
The implications are that VeriSign can raise the registration fees by 7% in four of the next six years, as opposed to in all six years as was the original proposal; the price increases can be made without consultation.
Since 2006, the .COM registry fee has steadily increased; regrettably the new agreement allows this to continue. The most popular domain in the world, .COM continues to grow, VeriSign are surely set to increase their profit substantially. But, whilst they collect with one hand, they will have to give with the other; the quarterly fixed-fee VeriSign currently pay to ICANN has been cancelled in favor of payments of $0.25 per registered, transferred or renewed .COM domain, on top of the $0.18 per domain fee already paid.
It would be advisable if registrants considered registering ccTLDs as a more economical option; they are often cheaper and EuroDNS regularly offer country code domains with a promotion, reducing the price even further.
Reveal Day, what’s next?
…according to Kurt Pritz, Senior VP, ICANN, “the silent period”, whilst the new gTLDs are evaluated. On Reveal Day ICANN presented the results of the first round of applications, including:
• 1930 total number of applications
• 1179 unique applications
• 1000 applicants
• Luxembourg is 3rd in terms of applications per country, after America and the Cayman Islands.
Popular, ‘everyday’ words, with duplicated applications included: .APP (13), .HOME (11), .INC (11), .ART (10), .BLOG (9), .BOOK (9)
The first meeting, following Reveal Day, was attended by experts and consultants from the industry, offering their services to applicants looking to become registries and registrars. With millions of dollars on the table, these services have become indispensable.
With the possibility of 1179 new gTLDs entering the Internet, the earliest appearing in Q1, 2013, there are inevitable changes predicted. The public’s awareness of domain names will increase, along with the need for further knowledge as to how domain names and search engines work.
Registrars will have to be prepared to support these new gTLDs; at EuroDNS each division is ready to offer specialized consultancy services for the new registries. With experts in development, technical and sales, services streamlined and automated, EuroDNS and its sister companies are fully equipped to handle future implementations.
• eBrand Services is involved in 30+ applications, and has developed a ‘quick search’ tool to access all the information regarding the New gTLD Application Database.
• OpenRegistry has been selected to act as technical backend provider for 24 applications.
EuroDNS has published several articles in its news section discussing the ICANN process, the figures and comments on the new gTLDs.
Digital Archery
ICANN, anticipating more than 500 applications for new gTLDs, developed a system to implement a secondary time stamp for the process of batching the applications; the system became known as Digital Archery, because applicants would all have a sporting chance of hitting the target.
To determine which applications would be handled first, applicants were invited to click on a button, on a given day; a few days later the applicant would be required to click the same button, at the exact same time as previously.
Whilst sounding like a fun computer game, the batching process was of the utmost importance in determining which gTLDs would be available for registration first. Applicants selected for early release would have had a distinct advantage over later releases. However, on June 23, after concerns were aired regarding the fairness of Digital Archery and complaints of unexpected results and network latency, ICANN announced, “Operation of the digital archery portion of the New Generic Top-level Domain Program has been suspended.”
It is to be hoped that applicants who rose to the challenge, investing money on developing a software solution to play the Digital Archery game, are not too ‘out of pocket’. ICANN has yet to announce a new process for the batching of the new gTLDs.
Trademark Clearinghouse, a globally available database
The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) was designed as a central repository for trademark information, offering authentication of trademark data in the new gTLD domains. Providing services for the authentication and validation of brands, participating rights holders will be alerted if a domain name is put up for registration that matches TMCH records.
On June 1, 2012, ICANN announced that Deloitte and IBM had been selected to administer the TMCH services; both the aforementioned parties will subcontract IPClearingHouse (aka CHIP) to promote these services. EuroDNS and eBrand Services are already accredited agents of the IPClearingHouse.
During the session with Deloitte and IBM it was announced that rights holders would be charged $150 per trademark registration, with an annual renewal fee representing a percentage of this amount.
New gTLD registries will be charged a $10,000 fee per TLD, to connect to the TMCH database.
With this system in place, the Sunrise Periods for the new gTLDs, where trademark owners are given the opportunity to apply for their trademarks in the new gTLDs, should proceed more easily than in the past; it will also be less expensive for registrants.
Uniform Rapid Suspension system update
The URS system is similar to the UDRP, designed to address obvious cases of cybersquatting in domain names; but, URS results in suspension of the domain name for the length of its registration period, rather than transfer or cancellation. Intended as a complement to the UDRP, the URS filing fee, targeted to be $300-$500 per case, will be set by the URS provider. Trademark owners may file a complaint leading to the registrar involved immediately suspending the domain; the offending company has 14 days to dispute the complaint. An unsatisfactory answer or no response will mean the domain name is taken down.
During the session on the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), current UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) providers expressed concern regarding successful implementation of the URS system, and doubts that the cost target could be met. With URS promoted as ‘low cost’, this situation will have to be addressed and work continued towards achieving this goal.
ICANN introduces new CEO
Fadi Chehade was announced as the new CEO of ICANN, he is a successful business man of Egyptian descent; born in Lebanon, at the age of 18 he arrived in America unable to speak a word of English. Fadi brings strong international experience and is fluent in four languages, Arabic, English, French and Italian. In his opening speech he said, “ICANN cannot become a fortress. ICANN must become an oasis, a place that people see and come to because it works, because it makes sense, because it's efficient.”
Fadi replaces outgoing president and CEO, Rod Beckstrom; he is scheduled to start officially on October 1, 2012 and his tenure will end July 1, 2015.
RAA Negotiation
EuroDNS, as a member of the Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG), participated in a number of sessions during the week relating to the current status of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) negotiations with ICANN. The RrSG serves as the voice of domain name registrars within the ICANN process.
The RAA is the agreement between ICANN and its accredited Registrars setting forth the terms under which Registrars operate and offer gTLD registrations to the public; the RAA is the Registrars’ “license to register”.
Discussions regarding the agreement began in November 2011; although significant progress has been made the negotiations are still not complete. Prior to the Prague meeting, ICANN posted a draft RAA, the RrSG responded with feedback and commentary. ICANN’s highest priorities are the areas of Whois verification and data retention requirements; ICANN and the RrSG have not yet reached agreement on particulars of the law enforcement recommendations.
There were 12 recommendations, relating to the RAA, presented during a meeting between the RrSG and the Law Enforcement community. The RrSG accepted 10 of the 12 recommendations with little change; but, they have requested further discussion and feedback with regard Whois verification and data retention.
Luxembourg based registrar, EuroDNS, will face little or no disruption from the 10 requests already accepted, as the company is already bound by the country’s law on e-commerce.
The two recommendations still under discussion and being contended by the RrSG are;
• the performance of registrant’s data verification for all gTLDs (existing and future); and
• lengthy and invasive (illicit under European Law) retention and divulgation of EuroDNS’ customers details to ICANN.
Invasion of registrants’ privacy and the numerous uncertainties regarding the methods of implementation means the two remaining recommendations may be subject to a ‘Policy Development Process’, via which the public and all concerned parties will be able to provide their input.
VeriSign secure .COM for a further six years
The ICANN board announced their approval of the renewal of VeriSign’s agreement to act as registry for the .COM domain. The agreement commences on December 1, 2012, finishing on November 30, 2018.
The ICANN board resolution contains new clauses, one introducing, “…modified provisions to bring .COM into line with other comparable agreements (.BIZ, .INFO, .NET and .ORG), including modifications to terms such as functional and performance specifications, Whois, indemnification, and broad audit provisions.”
Prior to the renewal of the agreement ICANN invited public comment, these comments were then taken into consideration when making their final decision. Several comments highlighted the concern regarding increases to the charges registrars pay for domain names registrations, the 2012 renewed agreement states, “Both the current .com registry agreement and the proposed renewal agreement permit VeriSign to increase the price it charges registrars for domain names registrations four times during the six-year term with each increase being no greater than 7 percent.”
The implications are that VeriSign can raise the registration fees by 7% in four of the next six years, as opposed to in all six years as was the original proposal; the price increases can be made without consultation.
Since 2006, the .COM registry fee has steadily increased; regrettably the new agreement allows this to continue. The most popular domain in the world, .COM continues to grow, VeriSign are surely set to increase their profit substantially. But, whilst they collect with one hand, they will have to give with the other; the quarterly fixed-fee VeriSign currently pay to ICANN has been cancelled in favor of payments of $0.25 per registered, transferred or renewed .COM domain, on top of the $0.18 per domain fee already paid.
It would be advisable if registrants considered registering ccTLDs as a more economical option; they are often cheaper and EuroDNS regularly offer country code domains with a promotion, reducing the price even further.
Reveal Day, what’s next?
…according to Kurt Pritz, Senior VP, ICANN, “the silent period”, whilst the new gTLDs are evaluated. On Reveal Day ICANN presented the results of the first round of applications, including:
• 1930 total number of applications
• 1179 unique applications
• 1000 applicants
• Luxembourg is 3rd in terms of applications per country, after America and the Cayman Islands.
Popular, ‘everyday’ words, with duplicated applications included: .APP (13), .HOME (11), .INC (11), .ART (10), .BLOG (9), .BOOK (9)
The first meeting, following Reveal Day, was attended by experts and consultants from the industry, offering their services to applicants looking to become registries and registrars. With millions of dollars on the table, these services have become indispensable.
With the possibility of 1179 new gTLDs entering the Internet, the earliest appearing in Q1, 2013, there are inevitable changes predicted. The public’s awareness of domain names will increase, along with the need for further knowledge as to how domain names and search engines work.
Registrars will have to be prepared to support these new gTLDs; at EuroDNS each division is ready to offer specialized consultancy services for the new registries. With experts in development, technical and sales, services streamlined and automated, EuroDNS and its sister companies are fully equipped to handle future implementations.
• eBrand Services is involved in 30+ applications, and has developed a ‘quick search’ tool to access all the information regarding the New gTLD Application Database.
• OpenRegistry has been selected to act as technical backend provider for 24 applications.
EuroDNS has published several articles in its news section discussing the ICANN process, the figures and comments on the new gTLDs.
Digital Archery
ICANN, anticipating more than 500 applications for new gTLDs, developed a system to implement a secondary time stamp for the process of batching the applications; the system became known as Digital Archery, because applicants would all have a sporting chance of hitting the target.
To determine which applications would be handled first, applicants were invited to click on a button, on a given day; a few days later the applicant would be required to click the same button, at the exact same time as previously.
Whilst sounding like a fun computer game, the batching process was of the utmost importance in determining which gTLDs would be available for registration first. Applicants selected for early release would have had a distinct advantage over later releases. However, on June 23, after concerns were aired regarding the fairness of Digital Archery and complaints of unexpected results and network latency, ICANN announced, “Operation of the digital archery portion of the New Generic Top-level Domain Program has been suspended.”
It is to be hoped that applicants who rose to the challenge, investing money on developing a software solution to play the Digital Archery game, are not too ‘out of pocket’. ICANN has yet to announce a new process for the batching of the new gTLDs.
Trademark Clearinghouse, a globally available database
The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) was designed as a central repository for trademark information, offering authentication of trademark data in the new gTLD domains. Providing services for the authentication and validation of brands, participating rights holders will be alerted if a domain name is put up for registration that matches TMCH records.
On June 1, 2012, ICANN announced that Deloitte and IBM had been selected to administer the TMCH services; both the aforementioned parties will subcontract IPClearingHouse (aka CHIP) to promote these services. EuroDNS and eBrand Services are already accredited agents of the IPClearingHouse.
During the session with Deloitte and IBM it was announced that rights holders would be charged $150 per trademark registration, with an annual renewal fee representing a percentage of this amount.
New gTLD registries will be charged a $10,000 fee per TLD, to connect to the TMCH database.
With this system in place, the Sunrise Periods for the new gTLDs, where trademark owners are given the opportunity to apply for their trademarks in the new gTLDs, should proceed more easily than in the past; it will also be less expensive for registrants.
Uniform Rapid Suspension system update
The URS system is similar to the UDRP, designed to address obvious cases of cybersquatting in domain names; but, URS results in suspension of the domain name for the length of its registration period, rather than transfer or cancellation. Intended as a complement to the UDRP, the URS filing fee, targeted to be $300-$500 per case, will be set by the URS provider. Trademark owners may file a complaint leading to the registrar involved immediately suspending the domain; the offending company has 14 days to dispute the complaint. An unsatisfactory answer or no response will mean the domain name is taken down.
During the session on the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS), current UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) providers expressed concern regarding successful implementation of the URS system, and doubts that the cost target could be met. With URS promoted as ‘low cost’, this situation will have to be addressed and work continued towards achieving this goal.
ICANN introduces new CEO
Fadi Chehade was announced as the new CEO of ICANN, he is a successful business man of Egyptian descent; born in Lebanon, at the age of 18 he arrived in America unable to speak a word of English. Fadi brings strong international experience and is fluent in four languages, Arabic, English, French and Italian. In his opening speech he said, “ICANN cannot become a fortress. ICANN must become an oasis, a place that people see and come to because it works, because it makes sense, because it's efficient.”
Fadi replaces outgoing president and CEO, Rod Beckstrom; he is scheduled to start officially on October 1, 2012 and his tenure will end July 1, 2015.
RAA Negotiation
EuroDNS, as a member of the Registrar Stakeholder Group (RrSG), participated in a number of sessions during the week relating to the current status of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) negotiations with ICANN. The RrSG serves as the voice of domain name registrars within the ICANN process.
The RAA is the agreement between ICANN and its accredited Registrars setting forth the terms under which Registrars operate and offer gTLD registrations to the public; the RAA is the Registrars’ “license to register”.
Discussions regarding the agreement began in November 2011; although significant progress has been made the negotiations are still not complete. Prior to the Prague meeting, ICANN posted a draft RAA, the RrSG responded with feedback and commentary. ICANN’s highest priorities are the areas of Whois verification and data retention requirements; ICANN and the RrSG have not yet reached agreement on particulars of the law enforcement recommendations.
There were 12 recommendations, relating to the RAA, presented during a meeting between the RrSG and the Law Enforcement community. The RrSG accepted 10 of the 12 recommendations with little change; but, they have requested further discussion and feedback with regard Whois verification and data retention.
Luxembourg based registrar, EuroDNS, will face little or no disruption from the 10 requests already accepted, as the company is already bound by the country’s law on e-commerce.
The two recommendations still under discussion and being contended by the RrSG are;
• the performance of registrant’s data verification for all gTLDs (existing and future); and
• lengthy and invasive (illicit under European Law) retention and divulgation of EuroDNS’ customers details to ICANN.
Invasion of registrants’ privacy and the numerous uncertainties regarding the methods of implementation means the two remaining recommendations may be subject to a ‘Policy Development Process’, via which the public and all concerned parties will be able to provide their input.