It seems very twisted that, on the one hand, we have UDRP ― which is not so popular among civil society advocates and academics for it being very much pro-TM ― while on the other we have registrars and service providers still beating the drums of "hurry up before macdonalds.com gets grabbed by a cybersquatter". The many benefits of UDRP, from the perspective of TM owners, are precisely to have lowered dramatically the cost (including time) of obtaining an ill-used name. In this context, it almost seems misleading to suggest that one should buy out everything closely resembling a branded alphanumeric string before someone goes ahead and misuse it.

I realize that there are hurdles in crafting good law/regulations, and many unforeseen consequences can arise. But limiting advertising freedom, I would think, is hardly the type of regulation that naturally prompts some of those unforeseen consequences. In Canada, for example, certain classes of goods cannot do "lifestyle" advertising, while others cannot advertise directly to minors. Food advertising is thoroughly regulated. Very little unforeseen consequences as arisen out of those "laundry list" types of don't.

In the case of SLD, it might also have the added benefit of forcing Supply to actually think about what it is that the naming system could in principle become, and what kind of naming innovation they are actually selling. Advertizing is always innovative, and it could very much drive service innovations in it's wake.

Again, just thinking out loud.

Nicolas

On 8/30/2011 2:47 PM, Milton L Mueller wrote:
[log in to unmask]" type="cite">

Actually this kind of marketing has been going on for years with or without new TLDs.

I have gotten emails regularly over the years advising me to register <whatevernameI have> in every TLD, including .cn, and to register every alphabetic variation of it.

Lauren is an old school internet type who has never quite gotten adjusted to the fact that the DNS has been commercialized.

To answer your question directly, no, I don’t think there is any way that we want ICANN to try to exert control over how people market things, unless fraud is involved.

 

 

From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nicolas Adam
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 5:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [NCSG-Discuss] Fwd: "Domain Protection Racket" Promotion on Network Solutions Home Page

 


You'll notice the "Protect Your Brand", in the center. It's not as big as the criticism below make it to be but it's there.

Would it be relevant and/or feasible to 'regulate' (read encourage/constrain ==> through types of means that i will leave open to discussion) the way registrar can market those new TLD?

First, it doesn't look good.

Second, while i don't think anybody (except perhaps established registrars) who are in favor of gTLD expansion have a clear view of what the emergent system of naming and names will or should be, i am pretty sure no-one so disposed would care to advocate that this system should establish itself mainly as a protection scheme.

Is forcing advertising to depart with the protection rhetoric a step forward? Is it feasible?

Just some thoughts.

Nicolas

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:

[ NNSquad ] "Domain Protection Racket" Promotion on Network Solutions Home Page

Date:

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:42:23 -0700

From:

Lauren Weinstein <[log in to unmask]>

To:

[log in to unmask]

 

"Domain Protection Racket" Promotion on Network Solutions Home Page
 
This "in your face" promotion currently running on the Network
Solutions home page clearly illustrates how the current top-level
domains (gTLD) expansion plan is akin to a traditional "Sign up now or
something bad might, uh, happen to you, buddy!" protection racket.
 
http://j.mp/ofrzyv  (Lauren's Blog - Screen capture from networksolutions.com)
 
As you can see, there is no concept of community service, social
responsibility, or even real "value-added" benefits.  The promotion
for two TLDs is explicitly about *protection* -- as in protecting
yourself from someone else grabbing those domains and making you look
bad, confusing your customers, and worse -- whether you have any real
interest in those TLDs or not.  
 
And this is *only the beginning*, my friends.
 
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([log in to unmask]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com