Sixty-one ICANN stakeholders volunteered for the Implementation Advisory Group to review ICANN's procedures for handling WHOIS conflicts with privacy law, said an ICANN news release sent Friday. ICANN’s WHOIS system stores contact information for domain name owners. Steve Metalitz, Coalition for Online Accountability counsel, is among the group’s volunteers. The group will begin its work with a conference call Jan. 7 and is expected to submit recommendations in June.
Symantec will provide verification services for fTLD Registry Services’ .bank and .insurance, said an fTLD news release Monday. “The cornerstone of consumer trust in ‘.bank’ and ‘.insurance’ is ensuring that only verified members of the banking and insurance communities are permitted to register domain names,” said Craig Schwartz, fTLD managing director.
The Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) agreed to a “draft decision” on a common technical framework for countries that implement mobile networks in the 700 MHz frequency range. The framework is aimed at giving manufacturers confidence to meet the market demand across Europe, ECC said Wednesday in a news release. It would enable countries that need to implement wireless broadband “to move ahead with the necessary frequency coordination negotiations with neighboring countries, and the reengineering of broadcast networks, with a set of generic technical conditions already in place,” it said. The framework follows the European Commission’s mandate to develop harmonized technical conditions for the 700 MHz band for wireless broadband, it said. The ECC, part of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, is accepting comment on the draft decision until Jan. 12, it said.
The Association of National Advertisers rebuked a draft proposal by ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) on geographic generic top-level domains, in comments filed Tuesday. “The Proposal, however well-meaning ... would create an unsafe new domain name environment for advertisers, consumers, and brand owners,” it said. “Perhaps the most serious issue with the Proposal is it is trying to create new international law on the subject of geo names, without proper authority,” ANA said. “ICANN is not a global, supranational legislature operated by the GAC, nor was it intended to be.” The proposal says such gTLDs should “respect national sensitivities regarding terms with national, cultural, geographic and religious significance.” The Technology Policy Institute also criticized the proposal last month (see 1411120018). The GAC extended the proposal’s comment period to Dec. 31, according to its website. "We are happy that the ANA participated in the multistakeholder process," an ICANN spokesman said.
An annual effort to stop websites from illegally selling counterfeit products continues to grow, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Dec. 2 release. Along with 24 law enforcement agencies across 18 countries, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) shut down 29,684 domain names that sold counterfeit merchandise online, the agency said. The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a U.S. interagency collaboration led by HSI, "partnered with Europol who, through its member countries, seized top-level domains" as part of the operation, called Project Transatlantic/Operation In-Our-Sites V, said ICE. "During this past year and leading up to Cyber Monday, the National IPR Center and its partners used both criminal and civil actions to successfully shutdown websites selling counterfeit goods, significantly bolstering the overall impact of this year’s efforts," ICE said. Last year, ICE and 10 other agencies seized 706 domain names as part of the same effort (see 1312030079). This was this fifth year that ICE has led the anti-counterfeiting website operation.
A draft proposal by ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) on geographic generic top-level domains (gTLDs) would “impose substantial additional administrative and logistical burdens and costs on applicants, governments and ICANN,” said Technology Policy Institute President Thomas Lenard in a paper Wednesday. The proposal says geographic gTLDs shouldn’t be registered “unless requested by the relevant communities where they belong or after a specific authorization given by the government or community to the applicant.” It also said such gTLDs should “respect national sensitivities regarding terms with national, cultural, geographic and religious significance.” “The potential domain names that might be affected, as well as the relevant communities or authorities from which applicants would have to receive approval, are ill-defined,” said Lenard. “This leaves open the possibility that ICANN or others may decide an applicant did not correctly identify a domain name as needing approval or identify the relevant authority,” he said. “The GAC proposal is inconsistent with the way new gTLDs should be allocated in order to maximize the net benefits of the new gTLD program,” said Lenard.
Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) .gifts, .restaurant and .sarl will enter early access general availability Wednesday, said a Monday news release from Donuts, a domain registry (see 1410030071). Early access is a seven-day period when prices for the names decline until the wholesale price is established. Donuts said it oversees 10 of the 25 most registered new gTLDs.
More than 45,000 New York City residents have registered to use .nyc, said a Greater New York Chamber of Commerce news release Thursday. The domain was launched last month. "We want to help ensure that every business in the City secures its name and trademarks" for the domain, said Mark Jaffe, Chamber CEO, in the release. New Yorkers don’t have to be chamber members to apply for .nyc, it said.