Good or bad or just plain inevitable?
BizActions
Get Ready for New Domain Extensions
The Internet is about to get more crowded -- and many people are unaware that it's coming. About three-quarters of U.S. Internet users don't know that thousands of new web addresses will flood the domain namespace in late 2013 or early 2014, according to recent research.
How It Works
More News from ICANN
At a recent meeting, ICANN adopted a resolution affirming that "dotless domain names" are prohibited. Dotless domain names are those that consist of a single label (such as http://example or mail@ example).
Today, there are currently 22 generic top-level domains (TLDs). These are the short string of letters to the right of the "dot" in web addresses, such as .com, .net, .org and .gov. But the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) -- a not-for-profit organization that oversees public domain systems -- has accepted nearly 2,000 applications from prospective registries that would like to manage their own unique TLDs.
Examples of new TLDs that will soon be introduced include .sports, .music, .store, .nyc, .casino, .coffee and .tennis. Some brands -- such as Nike, Amazon, and Apple -- have also applied for their own TLDs. Many of the proposed TLDs will use foreign symbols, such as Chinese and Arabic letters.
The content of each TLD will be different. Organizations will display content using a unique combination of top-level and second-level names. For example, using the name "Target.shop," Target could post information about its sales, discounts and new products while still maintaining its .com website.
Confused yet? That's one of the criticisms of ICANN's new naming conventions -- that Internet users will default to the .com or .org suffix, rather than try out the new TLDs. But, like it or not, the new TLDs are coming soon, providing new ways for Internet-savvy consumers to interact, as well as new marketing opportunities and threats for businesses and not-for-profit organizations.
Are you ready?
Marketing Opportunities
The new TLDs allow organizations, such as companies, charitable causes or industries, to manage and name their own domain name extension -- and to be as inclusive or exclusive as they want.
For example, ".pharmacy" is a top-level domain applied for by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. It's intended to provide safe and legitimate sites to purchase medications online. Only accredited pharmacies will be allowed to buy second-level domains, so you might have "Rexall.pharmacy" or "CVS.pharmacy."
Organizations can use the new TLDs to create a sense of community, promote and control brands, demonstrate Internet-savvy, and engender buyer confidence. It's also an opportunity for small businesses that couldn't find a memorable web address using the old TLDs to manage their own TLD -- or buy an address from an industry-specific registry.
But managing your own TLD is a big responsibility. After all, you'll be "running a piece of visible Internet infrastructure," according to ICANN. The application process takes a year or longer if another organization contests your application. It also costs $185,000 per TLD. And the application guide is a whopping 352 pages long. So, it's no surprise that most applicants are large organizations with significant resources.
It's a mixed bag in terms of who is applying for new TLDs. Amazon has applied for 76 TLDs and Google has applied for over 100 names. Some companies are even "pre-reserving" addresses with the new TLDs from domain registries.
Applicants are heavily concentrated in North America (911 applications), Europe (675 applications) and the Asia-Pacific region (303 applications). There are only 17 applications from Africa, which raised questions at a recent ICANN event about whether the cost of an application was too high to be equitable.
Trademark and Brand Infringements
Once Internet users are taught about the features and benefits of the new TLDs, most will likely be willing to navigate and trust the new web addresses. It's possible that brand name extensions may carry more weight among Internet users than generic sites.
But what if someone attaches your company's name to one of the new TLDs and then steals business from you -- or publishes inaccurate information about your company? Trademark and brand infringement is one of the biggest concerns people have about the expansion of the Internet domain namespace.
The Association of National Advertisers, which represents more than 500 major companies, issued a letter in March saying, "The potential for malicious abuse is extraordinary, [and] the incidental damage will be large even in the absence of malicious intent."
ICANN's answer is the Trademark Clearinghouse. This system alerts registrants if the URL they're applying for uses another company's trademark or brand name. If the registrant continues to apply with a questionable name, the clearinghouse notifies the company that registered the trademark or brand name, providing an opportunity to contest the registrant's TLD application.
Security Risks
Critics say ICANN hasn't done enough study about the impact of the new TLDs and doesn't have a backup plan if its systems derail. Defenders of ICANN's plan have called such fears overblown, arguing that the potential problems have been long understood and will be resolved before new domains are approved.
But, to be on the safe side, security experts advise consumers not to hand over their credit card or personal information just because a website has a legitimate-looking TLD, such as .ibm or .law.
Another issue is name collusion. This occurs when names used on a company's intranet sites -- using extensions such as .mail, .home or .corp -- inadvertently crossover into the public domain space through misconfiguration or the use of outdated software systems.
How to Prepare
Now that you're aware of the planned expansion of the Internet domain namespace -- and its potential opportunities and threats -- here are three things you can do to prepare your organization:
1. Perform a cost-benefit study to determine whether you should apply for your own TLD, pre-register a desirable web address that uses a new TLD owned by another registry, or simply wait and see. If you create a new web address using one of the new TLDs, devise a plan to create public awareness about your new site.
2. Monitor other companies -- for two reasons. First, you never want to be the last to adopt technology. If all of your competitors apply for their own TLD or join an industry-sponsored TLD, you might follow their lead. Second, if you're concerned about trademark and brand infringement, consider registering with ICANN for a fee – and contest anyone who breaches your intellectual property rights.
3. Watch for security breaches. It remains uncertain whether the expanded domain namespace will be stable and secure, especially as the Internet expands globally and international laws can be untested, unclear and difficult to enforce. Also discuss the issue of name collusion with your in-house IT staff. Make sure your systems are up-to-date to prevent public users from accessing internal data.
Effectively navigating the evolving Internet domain namespace will require information technology, marketing and legal expertise. Contact your legal and management consulting advisers for more information about the latest developments about emerging TLDs.
The Internet is about to get more crowded -- and many people are unaware that it's coming. About three-quarters of U.S. Internet users don't know that thousands of new web addresses will flood the domain namespace in late 2013 or early 2014, according to recent research.
How It Works
More News from ICANN
At a recent meeting, ICANN adopted a resolution affirming that "dotless domain names" are prohibited. Dotless domain names are those that consist of a single label (such as http://example or mail@ example).
Today, there are currently 22 generic top-level domains (TLDs). These are the short string of letters to the right of the "dot" in web addresses, such as .com, .net, .org and .gov. But the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) -- a not-for-profit organization that oversees public domain systems -- has accepted nearly 2,000 applications from prospective registries that would like to manage their own unique TLDs.
Examples of new TLDs that will soon be introduced include .sports, .music, .store, .nyc, .casino, .coffee and .tennis. Some brands -- such as Nike, Amazon, and Apple -- have also applied for their own TLDs. Many of the proposed TLDs will use foreign symbols, such as Chinese and Arabic letters.
The content of each TLD will be different. Organizations will display content using a unique combination of top-level and second-level names. For example, using the name "Target.shop," Target could post information about its sales, discounts and new products while still maintaining its .com website.
Confused yet? That's one of the criticisms of ICANN's new naming conventions -- that Internet users will default to the .com or .org suffix, rather than try out the new TLDs. But, like it or not, the new TLDs are coming soon, providing new ways for Internet-savvy consumers to interact, as well as new marketing opportunities and threats for businesses and not-for-profit organizations.
Are you ready?
Marketing Opportunities
The new TLDs allow organizations, such as companies, charitable causes or industries, to manage and name their own domain name extension -- and to be as inclusive or exclusive as they want.
For example, ".pharmacy" is a top-level domain applied for by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. It's intended to provide safe and legitimate sites to purchase medications online. Only accredited pharmacies will be allowed to buy second-level domains, so you might have "Rexall.pharmacy" or "CVS.pharmacy."
Organizations can use the new TLDs to create a sense of community, promote and control brands, demonstrate Internet-savvy, and engender buyer confidence. It's also an opportunity for small businesses that couldn't find a memorable web address using the old TLDs to manage their own TLD -- or buy an address from an industry-specific registry.
But managing your own TLD is a big responsibility. After all, you'll be "running a piece of visible Internet infrastructure," according to ICANN. The application process takes a year or longer if another organization contests your application. It also costs $185,000 per TLD. And the application guide is a whopping 352 pages long. So, it's no surprise that most applicants are large organizations with significant resources.
It's a mixed bag in terms of who is applying for new TLDs. Amazon has applied for 76 TLDs and Google has applied for over 100 names. Some companies are even "pre-reserving" addresses with the new TLDs from domain registries.
Applicants are heavily concentrated in North America (911 applications), Europe (675 applications) and the Asia-Pacific region (303 applications). There are only 17 applications from Africa, which raised questions at a recent ICANN event about whether the cost of an application was too high to be equitable.
Trademark and Brand Infringements
Once Internet users are taught about the features and benefits of the new TLDs, most will likely be willing to navigate and trust the new web addresses. It's possible that brand name extensions may carry more weight among Internet users than generic sites.
But what if someone attaches your company's name to one of the new TLDs and then steals business from you -- or publishes inaccurate information about your company? Trademark and brand infringement is one of the biggest concerns people have about the expansion of the Internet domain namespace.
The Association of National Advertisers, which represents more than 500 major companies, issued a letter in March saying, "The potential for malicious abuse is extraordinary, [and] the incidental damage will be large even in the absence of malicious intent."
ICANN's answer is the Trademark Clearinghouse. This system alerts registrants if the URL they're applying for uses another company's trademark or brand name. If the registrant continues to apply with a questionable name, the clearinghouse notifies the company that registered the trademark or brand name, providing an opportunity to contest the registrant's TLD application.
Security Risks
Critics say ICANN hasn't done enough study about the impact of the new TLDs and doesn't have a backup plan if its systems derail. Defenders of ICANN's plan have called such fears overblown, arguing that the potential problems have been long understood and will be resolved before new domains are approved.
But, to be on the safe side, security experts advise consumers not to hand over their credit card or personal information just because a website has a legitimate-looking TLD, such as .ibm or .law.
Another issue is name collusion. This occurs when names used on a company's intranet sites -- using extensions such as .mail, .home or .corp -- inadvertently crossover into the public domain space through misconfiguration or the use of outdated software systems.
How to Prepare
Now that you're aware of the planned expansion of the Internet domain namespace -- and its potential opportunities and threats -- here are three things you can do to prepare your organization:
1. Perform a cost-benefit study to determine whether you should apply for your own TLD, pre-register a desirable web address that uses a new TLD owned by another registry, or simply wait and see. If you create a new web address using one of the new TLDs, devise a plan to create public awareness about your new site.
2. Monitor other companies -- for two reasons. First, you never want to be the last to adopt technology. If all of your competitors apply for their own TLD or join an industry-sponsored TLD, you might follow their lead. Second, if you're concerned about trademark and brand infringement, consider registering with ICANN for a fee – and contest anyone who breaches your intellectual property rights.
3. Watch for security breaches. It remains uncertain whether the expanded domain namespace will be stable and secure, especially as the Internet expands globally and international laws can be untested, unclear and difficult to enforce. Also discuss the issue of name collusion with your in-house IT staff. Make sure your systems are up-to-date to prevent public users from accessing internal data.
Effectively navigating the evolving Internet domain namespace will require information technology, marketing and legal expertise. Contact your legal and management consulting advisers for more information about the latest developments about emerging TLDs.
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