FTC Chairman Criticizes ICANN’s Planned Domain Name Expansion

The opposition to ICANN's planned January 2012 major expansion of Top Level Domains seems to quickly be gaining momentum in Washington.

According to a news report, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission said today that ICANN’s plan to allow an unlimited number of new Internet addresses could be a “disaster” for consumers. Also, two House subcommittees have scheduled hearings on the ICANN plan for next week.

FTC Chairman’s Opposition

Specifically, at this morning’s hearing on antitrust issues before the House Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet subcommittee, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said: “We are very, very concerned that the rollout of new [domain names] has the potential to be a disaster for consumers and for businesses.”  He continued:  “We see enormous costs here to consumers and businesses and not a lot of benefit. So we are working with consumer protection agencies around the world who also have concerns” with the plan.

Leibowitz noted that FTC Internet fraud investigations frequently reveal that scammers use fraudulent information to register domain names, making them harder to track. The availability of far more domain names will make stopping them even harder.

Both Chairman Leibowitz and Subcommittee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., have communicated their concerns to the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.  The NTIA has oversight over ICANN and is currently weighing whether to extend a technical contract it has with ICANN that is up for renewal in March.  Leibowitz said he plans to contact ICANN directly soon about his concerns with the new proposal, as well.

Other Committee Hearings on ICANN Plan

As reported in our earlier blog post, the full Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday  on ICANN’s new domain name plan.  Also, the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Wednesday that its Communications and Technology subcommittee also will hold a hearing next week on ICANN’s new domain name plan.

Authors:  Paul C. Van Slyke       Tom Casagrande

Witnesses for Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on ICANN Top Level Domain Expansion

Hearing:  Dec. 8, 2011 10:00 AM,  Russell Senate Office Building – 253. The hearing will be webcast live via the Senate Commerce Committee website. 

See our complete article on this blog “Senate to Consider Delaying ICANN From Global Expansion of Internet Addresses”

The names and titles of the witnesses scheduled to testify at the committee hearing are listed below from the committee website.  The bullet points beneath certain names are added.

·         Mr. Kurt Pritz
Senior Vice President
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

·         Ms. Fiona Alexander
Associate Administrator, Office of International Affairs, National Telecommunications and Information Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce

·         Mr. Dan Jaffe
Executive Vice President, Government Relations, Association of National Advertisers
Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight

·         Ms. Esther Dyson
New York, NY

·         Esther Dyson is an active angel investor in a variety of start-ups, for-profit and otherwise, around the world. She also operates as the Internet’s court jester, a person of no institutional importance who somehow manages to speak the truth and to be heard when and where it matters. She does business as EDventure, the reclaimed name of the company she owned for 20-odd years before selling it to CNET Networks in 2004.

·         Ms. Angela F. Williams
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Young Men’s Christian Association of the United States of America

• Angela F. Williams is bi-vocational -- she is both an ordained minister and a lawyer. The New York Times and L Magazine featured her in articles about people who pursue two full-time professions. In 2007, Warner Books published a book inspired by Mrs. Williams’ life entitled One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success. In 2009, The National Law Journal named Mrs. Williams as one of the 20 most influential general counsel in America.  (See http://www.lacaymca.org/documentos/AngelaWilliamsbioeng.pdf)

Williams:  Protecting the YMCA's marks and brands is critical, Williams said, noting that a nonprofit's     biggest assets are its brand name and reputation. Damage to either affects donations and the ability to            serve the community. She sends out cease-and-desist letters when warranted, monitors the brand position and keeps track of registrations with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. "No other organization owns a letter of the alphabet," Williams said.  (See  http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202426305141)

Author:  Paul Van Slyke

 



Senate to Consider Delaying ICANN From Global Expansion of Internet Addresses

At 10:00 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011, the Senate Commerce Committee will conduct a hearing investigating whether to delay implementation of ICANN’s major expansion of global Internet Addresses (Top Level Domains), which is scheduled for January 2012..  Brand owners in the insurance and energy industries and in most other industry sectors have long feared that the planned expansion may confuse consumers, increase the already unacceptable level of fraud and identity theft on the Internet, create new opportunities for Internet crime, and jeopardize cybersecurity.  Consumer groups, government cybersecurity agencies, and law enforcement share these concerns.  Entities who wish to make their views known to the Senate Committee can file written comments with the committee by December 6 to be considered by its policy staff. If delivered to a Senator is a member of the Committee before the hearing, written comments can be entered into the record by the Senator to be considered after the hearing.  Private interviews with committee policy staff members are also available.

The Committee Hearing

The Committee notice indicates that the hearing will examine the merits and implications of this new program and assess ICANN’s efforts to address concerns raised by the Internet community. The hearing will be webcast live via the Senate Commerce Committee website.  

Many were surprised that the Committee set this hearing on the eve of ICANN’s implementation of the expansion of Top Level Domains since there had already been a lengthy period for submission of comments on the plan. Until now, Congress and other federal government entities have shown little interest in examining the implications of ICANN’s planned expansion.

CRIDO’s Letter to Commerce Department Sparks Hearing

The hearing was sparked by the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO)— consortium of a bevy of big-name companies, trade associations and organizations—which wrote requesting postponement of the expansion.  .

CRIDO’s letter complained that ICANN pushed the planned expansion forward despite widespread and significant objections raised by many in the global community of Internet users. CRIDO has stated that ICANN’s decision is not in the public interest, does not promote consumer trust, and does not benefit the public, as required in a September 30, 2009 Agreement between the U.S. Government (though the National Telecommunications and Information Administration) and ICANN. 

Specifically, the Coalition claims that ICANN plan would unduly burden public and private brand holders, who would be forced to spend ever-greater amounts of time and resources for brand protection.  In addition, the Coalition warns of an unacceptably high risk that the ICANN plan would confuse consumers, increase the already unacceptable level of fraud and identity theft on the Internet, create new opportunities for Internet crime, and jeopardize cyber security.  The Coalition also posits that the current state of the global economy raises substantial issues regarding the wisdom of moving forward with ICANN’s plan, given its undisputed costs and its merely claimed benefits. 

The Coalition urged postponement of the opening of the top-level domain application window until ICANN adequately addressed these concerns.

Implications

The scheduled hearing gives brand owners who act promptly another opportunity  to persuade ICANN to delay the planned expansion until it adequately addresses all these shared concerns.  Congress unquestionably can assert practical, leverage over ICANN to more adequately address these issues prior to expansion.  What is unclear at this time is whether Congress and other government agencies will use this leverage.

Author:  Paul Van Slyke