Friday, February 10, 2012

Brand Owners Urged To 'Say ICANN'

May 1, 2008

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse planned to send an e-mail to thousands of brand owners on Thursday urging them to get involved in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the global body that administers the World Wide Web.

The group's cleverly phrased May Day message, "Say ICANN," is aimed at curbing abusive practices of certain Internet registrars and registrants, Tech Daily Dose has learned. "Suspicious new registrar activities such as domain front running and the proposal of a new voting structure that will strengthen the strangle hold that registrars and registries have on the ICANN process necessitate immediate action on the part of brand owners," the e-mail said.

Recently, concerns have been raised about domain name "tasting" and "kiting." Tasting is when an entity registers several Web addresses and exploits a five-day grace period, during which names can be returned for refunds. Kiting is repeatedly adding and dropping domains to avoid registration costs while making money off pay-per-click links.

Four CADNA members -- AIG, Dell, Eli Lilly, and DirecTV -- have already answered the call by pledging to join ICANN’s business constituency, officials said. "Currently, domain industry insiders dominate ICANN’s membership and often sway decisions in their favor," the e-mail argues. ICANN's next meeting will take place in Paris, France in June.

According to ICANN's business constituency site, its membership outreach already extends directly to over 50,000 companies and indirectly to over 1.5 million companies worldwide. Some big-name members include eBay, Microsoft, News Corp., Nokia, Walt Disney Co., Time Warner, and Verizon.

View CADNA's "Say ICANN" page here.

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Juliana Gruenwald

Tech Writer

E-Mail: jgruenwald@nationaljournal.com.


Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.


Josh Smith

Tech Reporter

E-Mail: joshsmith@nationaljournal.com.


Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.