ICANN Defends Domain Expansion Plan
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names Chief Operating Officer Doug Brent defended his group's planned expansion of top-level domains -- such as .biz, .info and .us -- at a House Judiciary Courts and Competition Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, arguing that bringing potentially hundreds of new domains to market will benefit consumers and companies that do business online. He said multiple parties from around the world have already expressed interest in securing new domains (like .eco, .nyc, and .basketball) and there have been numerous venues for public comment.
But Nike, Verizon and Marriott along with trade groups like the National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce have built up opposition to the ICANN plan, claiming that it could exacerbate cyber-squatting, fraud, and consumer confusion while forcing trademark owners to spend more money to defend their brands. ICANN had targeted February to begin accepting applications for new domains but Brent said that date would likely be missed due to ongoing discussions about how to protect intellectual property rights.
IP concerns are crucial, he said, noting "we cannot and will not allow the expansion if it does not protect trademark holders." Steve DelBianco of the e-commerce group NetChoice said the domain name expansion controversy is indicative of the larger issue of ICANN not being fully accountable to the entire Internet community. He apologized to lawmakers for "dragging you into this food fight" and said it "shouldn't take a congressional hearing to get ICANN to focus on fraud and abuse."
Read a related story in CongressDaily's Wednesday AM Edition here and look for more in the PM Edition (subscription required). More on the hearing testimony can be found here.
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