The Internet Advertising Bureau on Monday came out against a proposed plan for so-called “.Whatever” domains, charging that it would cause “incalculable financial damage” to brand owners.
The plan, unveiled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers [ICANN] in June, would allow for the expansion of generic top-level domains beyond the current two dozen or so current TLDs, including .com, .net and .tv. Such a plan would go into effect within a few months.
The IAB, however, believes that such a scheme “which could include domain endings that focus on specific trademarked brand names such as .coke, .jetblue, .cnn, .facebook or .verizon, would come at an extremely high cost to publishers and advertisers, and would also offer “cyber squatters” an opportunity to harm a brand’s integrity and/or profit greatly from their bad-faith domain registrations.” Reps from ICANN could not be reached for comment.
In a press release, Randall Rothenberg, the IAB’s CEO and president, laid into ICANN for not researching the economic impact of the plan. “This could be disastrous for the media brand owners we represent and the brand owners with which they work,” said Rothenberg. “We hope that ICANN will reconsider both this ill-considered decision and the process by which it was reached.”
The IAB’s opposition comes a week after the Association of National Advertisers also came out publicly against the plan.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ahlobystov
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Posted on Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:24:06 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/cIU3pVUPTag/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/15/iab-opposes-icann-plan/#comments
The plan, unveiled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers [ICANN] in June, would allow for the expansion of generic top-level domains beyond the current two dozen or so current TLDs, including .com, .net and .tv. Such a plan would go into effect within a few months.
The IAB, however, believes that such a scheme “which could include domain endings that focus on specific trademarked brand names such as .coke, .jetblue, .cnn, .facebook or .verizon, would come at an extremely high cost to publishers and advertisers, and would also offer “cyber squatters” an opportunity to harm a brand’s integrity and/or profit greatly from their bad-faith domain registrations.” Reps from ICANN could not be reached for comment.
In a press release, Randall Rothenberg, the IAB’s CEO and president, laid into ICANN for not researching the economic impact of the plan. “This could be disastrous for the media brand owners we represent and the brand owners with which they work,” said Rothenberg. “We hope that ICANN will reconsider both this ill-considered decision and the process by which it was reached.”
The IAB’s opposition comes a week after the Association of National Advertisers also came out publicly against the plan.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ahlobystov
More About: domains, IAB, ICANN, MARKETING, top level domainsFor more Business & Marketing coverage:Follow Mashable Business & Marketing on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Business & Marketing channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:24:06 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/cIU3pVUPTag/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/15/iab-opposes-icann-plan/#comments
