Communications of the ACM
FTC Tells Global Internet Body to Cut Back Domain Name Plan
Credit: ICANN
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) not modify its plan to begin accepting applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) in Jan. 2012.
The FTC says ICANN needs to put in place new safeguards designed to prevent the malicious use of new domains. ICANN maintains that it already has protections in place for new gTLDs, but the FTC says that it has yet to prove they work, because the organization does not yet sufficiently prevent malicious use in the current system.
"The proliferation of existing scams, such as phishing, is likely to become a serious challenge given the infinite opportunities that scam artists will now have at their fingertips," says FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz and the agency's three other commissioners.
If ICANN acquiesces to the FTC's request, the January launch will move forward as a pilot program with fewer applicants.
ICANN president Rod Beckstrom says his organization is committed to working with the FTC on consumer protection issues. "The new program offers significant protections beyond those that exist in current TLDs, including new mandatory intellectual property rights protection mechanisms and heightened measures to mitigate against malicious conduct," Beckstrom notes.
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