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New gTLDs - Safeguards
Issue
ICANN’s New gTLD Program (2008 to today) has led to the introductions of over 1,000 new gTLDs in the root of the DNS. In the course of policy development, policy implementation, and operation of the program, members of the ICANN Community, including the GAC and GAC Members, have raised a range of concerns regarding possible negative impacts.
Public Policy Interests at Stake
Two foundational documents have delineated the public policy interests at stake under the notion of Safeguards as it relates to New gTLDs:
- the Affirmation of Commitments between ICANN and the US Department of Commerce (signed on 30 September 2009 and retired on 3 January 2017 after incorporation of its key parts into the ICANN Bylaws in October 2016, as part of the transition of the Stewardship of the IANA Functions)
- The GAC Safeguards on New gTLDs incorporated as Advice to the ICANN Board in the ICANN46 Beijing Communiqué (11 April 2013)
Public policy interests identified by the GAC and US governments in these documents pertain to 4 main board categories:
- The preservation of the stability, security and resiliency of the DNS
- The mitigation of abuse of the DNS system to perpetrate security threats
- The promotion of competition, consumer trust and consumer choice
- The maintenance of timely, unrestricted and public access to accurate and complete WHOIS information (or Domain Registration Data)
Expected Outcomes of this Activity for the GAC
The GAC is seeking to continuously ensure that relevant and effective contractual, organizational and accountability mechanisms are in place and working effectively to ensure that public policy objectives, as outline above, are met.
Overview
The discussion, implementation and review of New gTLD Safeguards has led to number of diverse developments, activities and initiatives over the years, some of which address one or several of the public policy at stake, while sometime overlapping each other.
Listed below are the most current developments, some of which have their own “Activity” resource page on the GAC website to reflect the amount of resources available, processed or produced by the GAC.
DNS Abuse Mitigation
DNS Abuse generally understood to refer to threats to the security, stability and resiliency of the DNS, as well as threats to users of domain names (registrants and end users in particular). These threats include in particular: Phishing, Malware and Botnets.
Mostly through work of its Public Safety Working Group (PSWG), the GAC is currently and continuously engaged in initiatives, studies and developments seeking to assess the threat landscape and to implement effective mechanisms to prevent the occurrence, and mitigate the consequences, of such abuse.
All developments related to DNS Abuse Mitigation and relevant to the GAC’s work in this area are available on the following dedicated Activity page: https://gac.icann.org/activity/dns-abuse-mitigation.
Competition, Consumer Choice and Consumer Trust Review (CCT)
ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments (30 September 2009) called for a regular review of the degree to which the New Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Program promoted consumer trust, choice and increased competition in the Domain Name System market. The ICANN Bylaws (Section 4.6(d)) since then have incorporated a commitment to adequately address issues of competition, consumer protection, security, stability and resiliency, malicious abuse issues, sovereignty concerns, and rights protection prior to increasing in the number of new generic top-level domains under an application process initiated after 1 October 2016.
A Review called the Competition, Consumer Trust, and Consumer Choice Review (CCT) was initiated in 2016 and completed its work in 2018 with the release of its Final Report (8 September 2018). Recommendations cover a range of topics, including:
- Data collection to enable improved analysis in future reviews
- Collection of specific data in relation to market competition
- Measures to support consumer protection (periodic registrants surveys, defensive registrations, privacy infringements)
- Measures to support consumer trust in new gTLDs (periodic end-user surveys, incentives for gTLD registry operators, and specific data collection)
- Measures to support existing Safeguards and add additional ones (registry agreements amendments, review of various existing safeguards mechanisms, improvements in ICANN Contractual Compliance enforcement, further study the impact on trademark holders)
- Improvements to the Application and Evaluation Processes of the New gTLD Program
The GAC was represented in this review process by two participants: Laureen Kapin (US FTC) and Megan Richards (European Commission). The GAC regularly followed the work of the review team in during the course of its face to face meetings and formally contributed Public Comments at key junctures of the reviews deliberations, and in particular:
- GAC Comment (19 May 2017) on Draft Report of Recommendations (7 March 2017)
- GAC Comment (16 January 2018) on New Sections of the Draft Report (17 November 2017)
- GAC Comment (11 December 2018) on the Final Report and Recommendations (8 October 2018)
The GAC is currently expecting the outcome of the ICANN Board’s consideration and approval of the CCT Review’s Final Recommendation, which is expected at the latest by 5 March 2019 (within 6 months of receipt of the Final Report, per ICANN Bylaws). The GAC will then consider and follow-up on approval (or non approval) and implementation of the recommendations.
Engagement with ICANN’s Contractual Compliance and Consumer Safeguards Functions
The GAC has continuously shown interest in the effectiveness of ICANN’s Contractual Compliance function considering its role in the implementation of a variety of safeguards, in particular those included in Registry Agreements and the Registrar Accreditation Agreements which are to be enforced by the ICANN organization.
Engagement of the GAC and the Contractual Compliance function of the ICANN organization generally include updates and discussions during ICANN meetings and could possibly be the subject of GAC Advice..
A significant and substantive engagement spanning a number of public policy interests (including DNS Abuse Mitigation, WHOIS Accuracy and Consumer Protection) occured as part of the dialogue that unfolded on the basis of the ICANN57 Hyderabad Communiqué (8 November 2016) regarding the implementation of Registrar Accreditation and Registry Agreement provisions as well as DNS Abuse mitigations. The last developments on these matters are the sharing of a set of draft responses (30 May 2017) by the ICANN organization which were discussed in a conference call with the ICANN CEO on 15 June 2017, prior to the ICANN59 meeting in Johannesburg.
In parallel, since the ICANN organization announced its hiring of a Consumer Safeguards Director (23 May 2017) whose mission was due to include “raising awareness of ICANN's current safeguards, facilitate discussion across stakeholders concerning additional ways ICANN could potentially improve its safeguard mechanisms”, several interactions between the ICANN Consumer Safeguards Director and the ICANN Community, including the GAC, have occurred.
All developments related to these engagements between the GAC and ICANN’s Contractual Compliance and Consumer Safeguards functions are referenced in the following dedicated Activity page: https://gac.icann.org/activity/icann-contractual-compliance-and-consumer-safeguards.