ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: 310.823.9358

Mar 26, 2013 ICANN Trademark "Protection Service" Clearinghouse
Icann Launched a centralized fee-based global trademark repository that is part of ICANN's generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) program.
The clearinghouse has been developed to address the lack of a global database for global trademarks. ICANN is contracting with IBM and Deloitte to implement the global clearinghouse. IBM is providing the backend database for the clearinghouse. Deloitte Enterprise Risk Services is providing the UI and authentication and validation services. An API for bulk uploads by trademark agents is forthcoming. Trademark holders should participate if they want their "brands to be protected," Kupferschmid said. The SIIA has published an alert for its members on the new clearinghouse. The clearinghouse "doesn't necessarily prevent trademark infringement or cybersquatting, but it
does help trademark owners and brand owners somewhat in mitigating the damage that might occur," he added. "We've been telling brand owners it's not that expensive to protect themselves and they ought to do it."
Pay an annual fee to "protect" each trademark from domain infringement from new gTLDs for which there was no public need ordemand except to enrich the domain-industrial complex and to confuse consumers, with the extra bonus that these fees don't even promise any actual protection. If you need any more proof that this has all become a giant protection racket.

agent: "you know, another TLD could just appear out there, and in that new TLD maybe you can't, you know, guarantee that nothing bad happens to your brand, right?"

Merchant: " but who is it who can just make TLDs just show up, where I have no brand protection? who IS the threat to my BRAND anyway? I thought I was safe?"

agent: "you know, it's a dangerous namespace out there kid, and you need to have some powerful friends to make SURE that nothing happens to your BRAND, you know..."

You can't take ICANN's trademark play seriously
becuase if they respected trademark and didn't make it so easy for a single typo to misdirect a query and deal with other perceptual issues and dealt with context such as a name that is meaningful in a location or a line of business. But unlike real trademark law they are allowing one company or agency to own a generic word like "book"! They might distinguish gTLDs from trademarks but how much distinction can they make if they are using the trademark registration to manage the DNS namespace.
Think of ICANN like one of the services that allows you to temporarily register your friends name for a star for a fee. It's a great novelty but you certainly wouldn't want to make such a scheme the basis for tying together the world's information.

2013 Security disasters loom with rollout of new top-level domains By Dan Goodin Ars Technica Apr 4 2013
The introduction of Internet addresses with suffixes such as ".corp", ".bank", and ".ads" are particularly alarming to these officials because many large and medium-sized businesses use those strings to name machines inside their networks. A secure sockets layer certificate used by employees to access a company intranet designated as ".corp", for instance, might be able to spoof a public credential for the website McDonands.corp or Ford.corp.

Plans to populate the Internet with dozens of new top-level domains in the next year could give criminals an easy way to bypass encryption protections safeguarding corporate e-mail servers and company intranets, officials from PayPal and a group of certificate authorities are warning.
If the names become available as top-level domains to route traffic over the Internet, private digital certificates that previously worked only over internal networks could potentially be used as a sort of skeleton key that would unlock communications for huge numbers of public addresses.
Employee laptops that are used at an Internet cafe or other location outside of a corporate network might also be tricked into divulging private information. "If the appropriate service endpoints are available, these clients will next begin to dump confidential data and potentially pull incorrect information and apply damaging state changes," PayPal Information Risk Management officials Brad Hill and Bill Smith wrote in recently published letter to Fadi Chehade and Stephen D. Crocker, the chief executive and chairman respectively of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). "The potential for malicious abuse is extraordinary, the incidental damage will be large even in the absence of malicious intent, and such services will become immediate targets of attack as they inadvertently collect high-value credentials and private data from potentially millions of systems." [...]

DONUTS Inc.
Demand Media
eNom

Donuts Inc.'s major play for new Web domain names raises fears of fraud. But the single most aggressive bidder for lucrative new Web domains is a little-known investment group with an intriguing name: Donuts Inc. Its $57 million play for 307 new domains — more than Google, Amazon and Allstate combined — has prompted alarm among industry groups and Internet watchdogs.
They warn that Donuts has close ties to a company with a well-documented history of providing services to spammers and other perpetrators of Internet abuses. Should Donuts come to control hundreds of new domains, including “.doctor,” “.financial” and “.school,” consumers could see a spike in online misbehavior, these critics warn.
Overseeing the issuing of Web addresses is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit group — the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN — whose sharply growing revenue is tied to the continued expansion of domains. Its revenue grew from $5.7 million in 2002 to $68 million last year, according to federal tax documents.
The complaints about Donuts stem from its relationship with Demand Media , a major player in Internet services that pioneered the creation of content linked to popular search terms, leading to a proliferation of Web pages on almost any imaginable subject (sometimes disparaged as “ content farms ”). Demand Media also owns eNom , the second-largest Internet registrar , selling more Web addresses than any company other than Go Daddy.
http://ow.ly/dYIv6

OUTRAGOUS! CFO for company that applied for the most gTLDs from ICANN, used to be CFO of ICANN
This group of four industry experts quietly incorporated in the early part of last year with the sole intention of becoming a domain name registry, according to Schindler. "We've been in stealth mode for quite a while because, obviously, this is a very competitive landscape," he said. ...
And, frankly, they are banking on all of them being successful. Donuts , whose Los Angeles office is just a few miles from the nonprofit agency deciding the fate of its applications, has deep roots in the industry. In fact, the company's CFO chief financial officer used to be CFO for ICANN. - - -

Donuts
- co-founder Dan Schindler
- chief executive Paul Stahura, who founded domain-name registrar eNom in 1997;
- chief operating officer Richard Tindal, who had formerly managed the registry of .biz and .us domains for NeuStar;
- vice president of corporate affairs Jon Nevett, who earlier led policy for Network Solutions. http://ow.ly/juRYr
- Kevin Wilson is the CFO of Donuts. He joined Donuts on May 1, 2012. Wilson has previously been the CFO at ICANN and new gTLD consultancy company Sedari. http://ow.ly/juSGQ

What is a gTLD?

4/2013 EBEROs Back End Registry Operators Selected
The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), U.S. based Neustar and the U.K. based Nominet were selected, as the emergency back-end registry operators to guarantee domain names within a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) will resolve in the event of a failure at a new TLD operator. If a registry operator fails to provide or is unable to sustain five critical registry functions temporarily, or in the case of transition from one registry operator to another the EBERO will step in.

Reveal Day 13 June 2012 - New gTLD Applied-For Strings
ICANN developed the New generic Top-Level Domain Program to increase competition and choice by introducing new gTLDs into the Internet's addressing system. What is a gTLD? It is an Internet domain name extension such as the familiar .com, .net, or .org. There are 280 ccTLDs but only 22 “generics” in the domain name system right now, but that is all about to change. The new gTLD application window opened on 12 January 2012 and closed on 30 May 2012. The following list displays all of the gTLD strings that were applied for during this round.

2012 As predicted -- .xxx TLD is all about money , not "helping the Net" http://j.mp/TZWBfx (Guardian)
"Instead, according to a new analysis by MetaCert, a web-blocking firm, the .xxx domains contain just 0.56% of the sites that it has to block to create a "clean" web - while the original .com, .net, and .org domains contain 83.32%, 8.13% and 0.9% of the relevant domains respectively, adding up to 92.35% of the total that it blocks. Meanwhile a surprisingly high number of pornography sites - around 26% - are located in the Netherlands, and the countrywide .nl suffix hosts 2.41% of the pornography found by the company ...
Major companies have questioned the benefits of .xxx, feeling it was necessary to preserve their brand by defensively buying .xxx domains and not using them. Meanwhile pornography businesses have been less quick to buy them because they would be too easy to filter out. Many search engines automatically filter out searches\ containing ".xxx" on their default "safe" settings."

ICANN: '.Apple,' '.Sex' Among Suffixes Proposed In Massive Internet 'Upgrade' Amazon.com wants .joy, Google wants .love and L'Oreal wants .beauty. Big brands are behind hundreds of proposals for new Internet addresses, including scores for generic terms such as cruise,.kids and .tires. If approved, Amazon could use .author in an attempt to dominate online bookselling, while Google could use .love to collect registration fees from its rivals.Amazon and Google also are vying for .app and .music,"while the wine company Gallo Vineyards Inc. wants .barefoot.

Monitoricann.org for the official launch dates. ICANN expects all new gTLDs to be operational. gTLDs are expected to be delegated within one year of signing a registry agreement with ICANN.

How much is the evaluation fee?
The evaluation fee is estimated at US $185,000.
Applicants will be required to pay a US$5,000 deposit fee per requested application slot when registering. The US$5,000 will be credited against the evaluation fee.

Are there any additional costs I should be aware of in applying for a new gTLD?
Yes. Applicants may be required to pay additional feesin certain cases where specialized process steps areapplicable, and should expect to account for their ownbusiness startup costs. See Section 1.5.2 of the ApplicantGuidebook

What will happen during the application window and how long will it last?
The application window will likely last for three months. Applicants will use a dedicated web-based application interface named “TLD Application System” (TAS) to apply, where they will answer questions and upload supporting documents. After the application window, there are several evaluation stages, each with its own estimated duration.

2012

The RIAA was complaining that any such TLD might (gasp!) be used to infringe , and arguing that ICANN shouldn't allow it unless it was completely locked down. Now The Recording Industry Association of America has picked a side. It's supporting Far Further 's application for the .music generic top-level domain, according to the company. Now the RIAA Backs .music Proposal... If It's Only Limited To 'Accredited' Musicians

Its .music would be restricted, along the same lines as gTLDs such a .pro, to card-carrying members of what the company calls "accredited Global Music Community Members".

"It's not open to everyone," Styll said. "You'd have to join an organization."

Amateur bands would have to be members of an accredited songwriters association to get a .music address, for example.

November 15, 2011
87 major national and international business associations and companies have joined forces with the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), forming the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO) to oppose the rollout of ICANN's top-level domain expansion program.
http://www.ana.net/

Icann approved The porn industry .XXX DOMAIN in 2010/.

Registrations will be managed by Florida-based Stuart Lawley, head of ICM Registry, and bidding for domains with .xxx suffix begins 9/7/2011 .

Pornographers will have a 50-day “sunrise period” to bid on the first batch of .xxx URLs, and highly sought after domains like “sex.com”. The 50-day sunrise period for adult entertainment companies begins September 7th, 2011 and they will then have free rein over unsold domains for 17 days beginning November 8th. After that, .xxx registrations open up to the world.

How long will the evaluation process take?
The evaluation process is expected to last from 8 to 18 months. There are several stages that an application might be required to pass through prior to a final determination being rendered.

What can I do if someone applies for a string that represents my brand or trademark?
You can file an objection with the DRSP selected to administer “legal rights” objections. Details about these procedures, such as who has standing, where and how objections are filed, and how much objections will cost can be found in Module 3 of the Applicant Guidebook and the related New gTLD Dispute Resolution Procedure.

How can I object to an application?
After the list of all TLD applications has been published on ICANN's website, there will be a period of time for third-parties to file a formal objection using pre-established dispute resolution procedures. In all but exceptional circumstances, objections will be administered by independent Dispute Resolution Service Providers (DRSP), rather than by ICANN.

Will this have and effect Censorship and the Great China Fire Wall?

• Review the current version of the Applicant Guidebook.
  http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/dag-en.htm
• Review the full set of FAQs.
  http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/strategy-faq.htm
• Visit the New gTLD site.
  http://icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-program.htm
• contact newgtld@icann.org

COMMENTS

ICANN PIRATES:

In its strategic plan ICANN claims that its mission is to “ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier system”.
Yet with the introduction of new TLDs it is doing just the opposite. In 2000 http://rmf.vc/DNSSafeHaven suggested that we provide at least an option for stable identifiers. During that period the importance of the DNS names themselves has decreased. As I ( http://rmf.vc/NNTLDs ) and other (such as Esther Dyson on NPR) have noted the unified search bar in newer browsers has shifted the focus from using the DNS name to searching using human cues.
Today the idea of maintaining a table of a trillion stable identifiers seems very doable. So why don't we have an option of owning our own identifies in the DNS?
We need to examine the finances and ask whether the large sums of money made by forcing us to lease our own names has had a corrupting influence on ICANN. Charging $185K for TLDs and garnering additional sums as large corporations are forced to pay any price asked to protect their trademark in the new TLDs provides more incentive to profit from instability.
This is not entirely ICANNs fault as its policies reflect implicit assumptions. For example the phrase “Internet's unique identifier system” represents an architectural choice and not a necessary choice. We tend to confuse network routing identifiers with identifiers we use as humans. It's as if you couldn't have “John Smith” as a name because JohnSmith.name wouldn't be unique. This is part of the larger confusion I write about in http://rmf.vc/InternetLostInTranslation .
This confusion is even more reason to be concerned about ICANNs incentives. We can start by asking whether ICANN, as a non-profit, is more loyal to its income stream than to society's need for an Internet that isn't designed to unravel.

Bob Frankston
www.frankston.com Bob19-0501 [ at ]bobf.frankston.com

more --

• There are 22 top-level domains already (plus about 200 two-letter country domains).
  I don't think many people would recall more than 6 or 7 domains. How many websites in domains other than .com, .net. .org, .gov, or .edu do you know?
• millionare's going to be who buy GTLDs like .cloud and .blog and .music
• Unifiedroot is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this new approach by ICANN:
  
  1) You can start using your company or brand name immediately;
  2) You can register specific generic TLDs like .music or .game;
  3) You pay a fraction of the cost compared to ICANN;
  4) You can register names in non-Latin scripts.
  
  see: press release on www.unifiedroot.com

A Stronger Net Security System Is Deployed

2013

2011 The introduction of Secure DNS by governments and other organizations .

At some point the trust gets diluted, and it's just not as good as it used to be, said Rick Lamb, the manager of Icann's Secure DNS program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/science/25trust.html
Internet security specialists start up a global system to make e-mail and e-commerce more secure so that Internet users will be able to authenticate everyone and affect Web traffic and e-mail. Most users should be mostly protected by the end of the year, but the effectiveness for a user depends on the participation of the government, Internet providers and organizations and businesses visited online. Eventually the system is expected to have a broad effect on all kinds of communications, including voice calls that travel over the Internet, known as voice-over-Internet protocol.
One reason for these flaws is that from the 1960s through the 1980s the engineers who designed the network's underlying technology were concerned about reliable, rather than secure, communications. The first directory was created by Internet Pioneer Dave Farber 's student John Postel who created the technology known as Secure DNS, or DNSSEC. DNS refers to the Domain Name System , which is a directory that connects names to numerical Internet addresses.
Numerical keys will be stored in three hardened data centers Singapore, in Zurich and in San Jose, Calif. The three centers are fortresses made up of five layers of physical, electronic and cryptographic security, making it virtually impossible to tamper with the system. Four layers are active now. The fifth, a physical barrier, is being built inside the data center.
Before the Singapore event, 70 countries had adopted the technology, and 14 more were added as part of the event. Now 300 so-called top-level domains have been digitally signed.
"In the very long term it will be voice-over-I.P. that will benefit the most," said Bill Woodcock, research director at the Packet Clearing House, a group based in Berkeley, Calif., that is assisting Icann , the Internet governance organization, in deploying Secure DNS.
Last year, the authors of the Stuxnet computer worm that was used to attack the Iranian uranium processing facility at Natanz were able to steal authentic digital certificates from Taiwanese technology companies. The certificates were used to help the worm evade digital defenses intended to block malware. It will also potentially serve as a foundation technology for an ambitious United States government effort begun this spring to create a system to ensure "trusted identities" in cyberspace .

On June 23, 2009 the company Foolad Technic was the first victim. This version of Stuxnet contained 2 0days that caused it to spread globally, leading to its discovery. Stuxnet is the first ever known Cyber Weapon. It changed the world.