June 2009 | FairWinds

ICANN’s Meeting Down Under

Posted on June 25, 2009 by jbourne

A quick report of some of the most important developments coming out of ICANN’s meeting Sydney:

Despite concerns over the way in which ICANN is moving forward with the new TLD launch, it appears that ICANN is poised to start accepting applications for new TLDs in February 2010. If an application is accepted, it is predicted that it will take about 7.5 months before the TLD can be used.

At the meeting, there has been talk of applications for new TLDs such as .MUSIC, .BERLIN, .WEB, .LOVE, .RADIO, .NYC, .BASKETBALL, .ECO, and .FOOD. Wolfgang Puck was even flown out here to promote .FOOD, which was covered by National Journal: Celebs Endorse ICANN Domain Plan. Even Sydney’s mayor announced that he is looking to get .SYDNEY. Seeing that there is some interest in new TLDs, it is discouraging that ICANN is not slowing down to make sure that if TLDs are introduced, they are done so in a way that does not jeopardize the safety and stability of the Internet. The TLDs should also add value to the space.

There are still questions hanging over the TLD launch process that should be addressed before any applications are accepted. For example ICANN’s new TLD policy stated that a TLD must be a least three characters. How will they implement this guideline with IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names)? “Characters” function differently when using non-ASCII characters. Does the guideline need adaptation? Furthermore, while IRT discussions are very active here in Sydney, the board canceled their IRT briefing meeting. Since the IRT report concerned itself with protection mechanisms, questions remain as to how they will adapt the report to recommendations offered by the Internet community.

While new TLDs remain the hot topic at the ICANN meeting, other serious policies are also being discussed. ICANN has publicly shown that it is committed to ending the Joint Project Agreement (JPA) that exists between it and the US Government, which is set to expire September 30, 2009.

The meeting has also touched upon the idea of vertical integration, which would allow registrars to become registries and could have major consequences on Internet users and on market performance as competing registrars may resist offering TLDs sponsored by their competitors.

Overall, the policies being discussed at ICANN all address complex issues that require thoughtful and thorough consideration. However, as Steve DeBianco wrote in his own blog entry, “ICANN often deems that meeting its own deadlines is more important than achieving real consensus on serious issues.”

Mistaken Identity

Posted on June 21, 2009 by jbourne

Anybody who has had a friend sneak onto his or her Facebook profile and change the information knows the heavy reputational damage that can come from being misrepresented on a social media site.

But this harmless prank has a much nastier relative: Userquatting. Similar to cybersquatting, usersquatting is when Internet users register usernames on popular websites to mislead others as to the true identity behind the username. With the openness and ease of use of most social media sites, usersquatters can impersonate anyone from your next-door neighbor to the CEO of a major company to the President of the United States. In fact, during the 2008 campaign, a member of the RNC reportedly set up a fake Facebook page in Barack Obama’s name.

Now that many companies have realized the utility of establishing a presence on social media sites, consumers have become accustomed to seeing different brands sending out tweets on Twitter or setting up Facebook and MySpace pages. And unless the usersquatter is engaging in blatantly outlandish behavior, there is little to tip off other users that these accounts are being operated by anyone other than a brand representative. The National Arbitration Forum did an analysis of the top 100 global brands on and concluded that out of those that did have a presence on Twitter, only nine are controlled by the actual company, while 27 are controlled by individuals that likely have no affiliation with the company.

As of this weekend, Facebook began offering vanity URLs to its users, much in the same way MySpace did a while back. A New York Times article reported that since the release late last Friday night, close to 6 million users have registered vanity URLs. But not all of them chose to register their own names. Some chose names of celebrities, like “facebook.com/snoopdog” and “facebook.com/georgebush,” while others opted for a more tongue-in-cheek approach: one user scooped up “facebook.com/twitterisbetter.” The article also mentioned that Assetize, a marketplace where members can sell their online accounts, is auctioning such URLs as “facebook.com/iphones” and “facebook.com/hpcomputers.”

One of the biggest problems behind this issue, in addition to the damage that it can inflict on brand equity, is the fact that enforcement for usersquatting is generally ambiguous and not uniform across different sites. In another New York Times article, Howard H. Weller, trademark lawyer at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp in New York, commented that “these are all new avenues for abuse, and it’s more resources trademark owners need to devote to policing and enforcement.” And since much of the value of the vanity URL is speculative, only time will tell if the scramble is worth it.

Off to a Good Start …

Posted on June 13, 2009 by jbourne

ICANN announced on Friday that it has teamed up with the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (NORC) to undertake a study on the accuracy of WHOIS contact data for domain names. The study will test the WHOIS data from a sample of domains from across different TLDs and different countries, and rank the accuracy of the name and contact information of each WHOIS registrant.

There is an overall lack of accountability in the domain name space and false WHOIS data is a part of the problem. When registrants use fake names or addresses, it becomes extremely difficult to track them down in pursuit of transferring the domains to those who have legitimate rights to them. This not only costs brand owners time and money, but also decreases the level of fair and open competition in the entire domain name system, which is one of the central principles that ICANN seeks to uphold.

This study is a great start to addressing the issue of false WHOIS data—unfortunately, given the current scope of the problem, this step has come much too late in the game. As I’ve said in previous posts, while it is always encouraging to see progress towards better policy, the pace at which steps are taken at ICANN is disheartening. Studying a problem is not the same as fixing it, and ICANN needs to find a solution to this problem sooner rather than later. I’m eager to see how ICANN plans to utilize the findings of this study and what actions it will take in the future to address the issue of false WHOIS.