ICANN To Unveil Plan For Domain Name Expansion
The Internet's key administrative agency on Friday will unveil a blueprint for making sweeping changes to the way top-level domains, such as .biz, .info, and .us, are assigned. Under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' draft proposal, any entity could apply for any domain as long as they could pay a registration fee of about $190,000. The application process is expected to start in 2009, with the first sites potentially coming online in the last quarter of the year. The scheme, which ICANN says embodies its longtime goal of introducing competition into the domain name space, could spur fierce a lobbying battle. Intellectual property owners are already on the defensive because they fear potential trademark infringement and brand dilution.
The anticipated flare-up over the domain expansion could be bigger than a multi-year campaign by some Internet stakeholders and members of Congress who wanted ICANN to establish a .xxx ending for domain names that publish pornography. ICANN's board voted against the creation of a virtual red-light district last year but Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas co-sponsored a bill in the 109th Congress backing .xxx. Pryor's staff is keeping tabs on ICANN's latest proposal and aides for Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, are doing the same. Other House and Senate members who serve on key committees are also expected to track the issue. "This is going to make .xxx look like a warm up act," one international government official told CongressDaily.
ICANN, which will offer a 45-day public comment period on the draft plan, is already bracing for bickering over .xxx and any number of applications for domains that contain expletives and other potentially offensive content, ICANN Vice President Paul Levins said. Anyone can challenge proposed domains, which will be published on ICANN's site, and an independent arbitration panel will hear complaints and decide their fate. ICANN hopes to receive as many as 500 applications in its first round. If all are successful, that would bring in more than $90 million. Annual renewals would cost $75,000, which is on par with the .com domain, Levins said. He also downplayed rumors that the projected financial gain is the chief reason for the expansion. ICANN views the fee as a cost-recovery vehicle since about $13 million has been spent readying the system for the change, he said.
Meanwhile, some industry voices like the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse's Josh Bourne believe market demand for new domain names has not been proven and in uncertain economic times, "the last thing brand owners need is the additional cost of policing their brands." His group is backed by Dell Computer, Eli Lilly, Marriott, Nike, Verizon and others. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is tied to ICANN through a memorandum of understanding that expired in 2006 but was extended for three years, has not taken a position on the proposal but a spokesman said "any implementation plan should not compromise the stability and security of the Internet domain name and addressing system." Levins met with NTIA officials and congressional staffers earlier this week to pitch the proposal.
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