New top-level domains

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As a new top-level domains (gTLDs New) are generic top-level domains referred to the management internet since 2013 by ICANN have been introduced. The total of 1,930 applications submitted include .blog, .web, .shop , .adac, .bosch or .berlin , .wien , .swiss , for example . The assignment of the new domains coordinated by ICANN was discussed and prepared for over ten years.

background

The background to the introduction of new top-level domains is the fact that fewer and fewer short and thus memorable addresses are available under the existing endings. In particular, the generic domains .com , .net and .org , but also their country-specific counterparts .de and .cn have been in great demand for years, so that a large number of conceivable character strings on the second level are already occupied. For this reason, ICANN made it possible years ago to introduce certain extensions and have them managed by a so-called sponsor , as is the case with .jobs and .aero . Spread over two rounds, numerous generic top-level domains were gradually introduced in 2000 and 2004.

development

Due to the continuing interest in the industry, it was decided in June 2008 to radically relax the rules for new domains. Practically every conceivable term that does not violate the principles of ICANN or is too similar to another TLD should be able to be registered; a distinction between singular and plural was also not made. The loosening of the award criteria was received mostly positively, but also viewed critically: There were numerous objections from experts that the root zone of the Domain Name System could become unstable due to the large number of new domains.

Application phase

Insight into the development and administration of dotBERLIN

Only a few months after the decision to introduce new sponsored top-level domains, the first initiatives for specific addresses were founded - either in the form of an association, but more often in the context of a corporation . For example, dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG was set up to apply for the capital's own domain. The company's application is officially supported by the Senate Chancellery, which is absolutely necessary for approval by ICANN. A total of 140 organizations tried to get their own address even before the official start.

The program for new generic top-level domains was officially decided by ICANN on June 20, 2011, but applications were only officially accepted from January 12, 2012. Applicants had to pay a fee of 185,000 US dollars for each individual domain that was to be introduced - this was intended to discourage those interested from the process who could not manage the operation of a domain in practice. The amount is independent of whether the top-level domain is finally started or not. If the test is actually positive, applicants must pay another $ 25,000 per domain.

The application phase should actually run for exactly three months and be completed on April 12, 2012. The latter point in time could not be kept due to technical problems: At first it was speculated that the application system TAS (for TLD Application System ) could not cope with special characters . However, ICANN later announced that applicants might have been able to see the documents submitted by competitors through a gap, and passwords were also marked as already assigned. The TAS was therefore temporarily switched off and the application phase was extended until April 20, 2012.

Publications

It was actually planned to gradually publish the applications received. Due to the great interest in the new top-level domains, however, ICANN decided during the application phase to inform about all applications at the same time in order not to disadvantage anyone. On June 13, 2012, a list of all the desired addresses and their interested parties was finally put online. As expected, the top-level domain .sex , for which only the registry of .xxx applied, was not particularly popular , but rather .app with a total of 13 applicants. German organizations have applied for almost 70 addresses, including top-level domains from prominent companies such as Adidas SE , Linde AG or Deutsche Post AG . The undisputed leader among the applicants is Google Inc. , which would like to assign over 100 new top-level domains.

Submission of applications

The overwhelming demand for new top-level domains made it clear during the application phase that ICANN cannot review all applications in one step. The committees therefore agreed on a different procedure at the beginning of April 2012: All endings should be divided into several packages of 500 or 400 domains each, which are processed sequentially. Which top-level domain is placed in what package that ICANN as part of the so-called wanted digital archery (Digital Archery) determined. Applicants would have to register on a website - as precisely as possible to the second at a point in time that they determined months in advance. Depending on how big the difference was between the planned and achieved time, an ending would have been placed further up or down in a package or the entire list of applicants.

Digital archery has been heavily criticized in public because ICANN divides individual groups into regions. For example, all applicants from South America and Africa would have been automatically evaluated in the first round, since comparatively few new top-level domains were desired there. After the system started as planned on June 8, 2012 and was supposed to run until the end of the month, ICANN canceled it prematurely on June 23. The reason for this was not the persistent criticism of the applicants, but a software error in the calculation of the time stamp, which is crucial for the entire process.

Examination of applications

After the initially planned award procedure had stopped, ICANN wanted to check all applications at the same time. As a result, the introduction of the new top-level domains was delayed by six months and was expected for the second quarter of 2013. However, the company has committed itself to never introducing more than 1,000 domains per year, which is why the new endings had to be divided into groups. A lottery decided in December 2012 on the exact starting place.

The results of the Prioritization Draw procedure were published on December 18th by ICANN . The endings for internationalized domain names are given preferential treatment, a total of 107 new top-level domains with special characters in front of purely alphanumeric domains are to be introduced.

In the course of spring 2013, numerous companies withdrew their applications, mostly without giving any further reasons. The best-known examples include General Motors and the HJ Heinz Company , which were no longer interested in the introduction of .cadillac or .ketchup and other domains. In March 2013, the number of unilaterally terminated applications was 24, in July it was 89 domains.

Final introduction

In February 2013 ICANN announced that the decision to introduce the first new top-level domains would be made in April. Then the so-called Trademark Clearinghouse should also start its work, which should take care of the rights of trademark owners . Experts expected that the first newgTLDs would go into active operation by mid-2013 at the latest.

In fact, the results of the so-called initial evaluation for the first 27 new top-level domains were published at the end of March. In accordance with the order previously set for the Priorization Draw, these were internationalized domains . In July, ICANN wanted to start what is known as pre-delegation testing , in which new top-level domains are entered and tested in the root zone for two weeks at a time. If no problems had been found, new endings could have been delegated to the IANA from the end of August and, according to the planning at the time, could have been registered from September.

In July 2013 ICANN announced that it had signed the first contracts for the operation of new top-level domains. The first round of endings were all internationalized domain names. In August 2013, ICANN announced waiting periods for the commissioning of new names. According to this, 80% of the requested top-level domains can be put into operation 120 days after signing the contracts and domains below this top-level domain can be activated after a further 30 days. The commissioning of the remaining 20% ​​TLDs was initially postponed. The background to this is a study according to which some of the new names are already being used internally in local networks, which could lead to technical problems if they collide with a TLD.

On October 23, 2013, the first four new top-level domains xn--80asehdb( Russian онлайн 'online'), xn--80aswg( Russian сайт , website '), xn--ngbc5azd( Arabic شبكة 'Network') and xn--unup4y( Chinese  游戏  - "game") in the root zone .

Trademark protection

Trademark clearinghouse

During the preparations for the program for the introduction of new generic top-level domains, ICANN announced that it wanted to attach more importance to trademark law . In November 2010 it was announced that the so-called Trademark Clearinghouse would be set up for this purpose . This represents a central register in which trademarks can be noted. If a new extension or a domain is requested that is identical to the stored data record, the owner will be informed of the process and can, if necessary, assert their own rights to a (top-level) domain. IBM and Deloitte were commissioned with the technical implementation of the Trademark Clearinghouse . Representatives of the registrars strongly criticized individual processes of the Trademark Clearinghouse, in particular the organizational effort and fees associated with the audit. Ultimately, however, the representatives of the industry reached an agreement with ICANN, so that the Trademark Clearinghouse could go into operation on March 26, 2013.

Uniform Rapid Suspension

In addition to the Trademark Clearinghouse , ICANN also maintains the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) for the new top-level domains . In the case of a domain that looks verifiably similar to a registered trademark and has been registered improperly, the trademark owner can request the address to be suspended. This prevents a domain from being sold or switched to another registrar until the dispute has been settled in court. Complaints in the URS are chargeable, are recorded automatically and may be a maximum of 500 words in length, the response of the person concerned a maximum of 2,500 words.

Prohibited terms

ICANN protects terms that are not recognized as trademarks but still enjoy the protection of international agreements with a list of prohibited terms. In October 2013 it contained over 600 words that cannot be used in any domain below the new top-level domains. Examples are the International Olympic Committee , the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement or Interpol . There is no standardized public procedure for entry on the relevant list.

distribution

The distribution of the new domains is different. Reliable numbers are hard to come by; Although there are exact figures about the number of registered domains, this does not say anything about the actual use. Many domains are registered defensively and only redirect to an existing website, or they are speculatively registered for sale, or they are used for spam. This applies in particular to domains that are allocated almost free of charge through marketing campaigns.

Website analysis statistics show that the new TLD currently (2016) most used is .xyz with 0.3% of websites; so it is still behind various smaller country domains.

However, there have been larger domain sales of over $ 100,000. This shows that some investors are expecting success.

Caution is advised with opinion articles in various forums or blogs, as these are often run by owners who earn money with domains themselves and are therefore not necessarily impartial.

Others

  • Google Inc. and Amazon.com have applied for most of the new gTLDs and paid ICANN fees in the millions .
  • VeriSign has applied for a total of 14 new addresses. These are mainly variants of .com and .net that VeriSign already manages, in other languages ​​such as Arabic .
  • Regardless of the possible introduction of .sport , the International Rugby Board is the only leading association in sport that has expressed its interest in .rugby .
  • The application of the dotHIV initiative for the top-level domain .hiv has achieved national recognition. It is supposed to provide a kind of virtual AIDS ribbon that converts requests into donations . The ending is likely to be the only TLD that has a charitable background.
  • The Islamic Republic of Iran has complained to ICANN about the introduction of .gay . The ending spreads hatred and hostility in society, the official statement said. Other applications such as .casino or .poker were also objected to.
  • The airline Swiss International Air Lines has withdrawn from the application for .swiss . The reason was a message from the Swiss federal government , which saw control of the top-level domain as a possible violation of the public interests of the country.
  • In March 2013, the At-Large Advisory Committee submitted a declaration in which the only thing that was expressly rejected was the introduction of .health . The members of the committee expressed concern about consumer protection .
  • With 1 & 1 , one of the best-known e-mail providers withdrew its application .mail in April 2013. The application for the allocation of the top-level domain .gmx for GMX continued.
  • The management consultancy McKinsey & Company did not complete the initial evaluation in July 2013, so that the .mckinsey domain will probably not be able to be introduced.
  • According to the will of the German Federal Government , domains below .gmbh should only be assigned to companies that actually have the corresponding legal form. ICANN was formally asked in mid-2013 to ensure compliance with this request in order not to endanger business transactions.
  • In September 2013 the Islamic Republic of Iran wrote to ICANN and requested that the new domains .islam and .halal be placed under central administration. This should ensure that the addresses are assigned regardless of the influence of individual countries and are supported by the entire Islamic religious community. The chances of success of the request were critically assessed by experts; ICANN did not officially comment on the request.

criticism

Since June 2012, ICANN has been receiving objections against requested top-level domains as part of the so-called objection period . The procedure was criticized because the deadline for submitting complaints was initially set too short, after which the period from December 2012 to March 31, 2013 was extended. Experts also criticize the fact that appeals are only processed against payment of a fee . It ranges from $ 2,000 to $ 8,000 .

In April 2013, at the 46th ICANN meeting in Beijing , criticism was again expressed that the large number of new domains might endanger the stability of the entire Internet . Specifically, the fear related to the fact that key components of the root zone were not powerful enough to handle the additional effort required to resolve the new extensions.

In mid-2013, Verisign requested information from ICANN about the purpose for which it had built up a risk reserve . This amounted to 115.8 million US dollars and was mainly fed from the fees for the program for the introduction of new top-level domains. The amount of the reserve was criticized as being inadequate and it was asked to give some of it back to the applicants.

During the entire application and introduction phase, a warning was given that certain interested parties did not want to release their top-level domains to the public . These included, for example, L'Oréal for .beauty or Amazon with .music , which, according to experts, has little chance of success for .amazon . As a result, ICANN began examining relevant applications in mid-2013. The introduction of affected domains should be suspended until their end.

literature

  • Hans-Peter Oswald: Chances and Dangers of the New Top Level Domains . 1st edition. Books on Demand, ISBN 978-3-8482-5326-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The new domain extensions. (PDF; 124 kB) united-domains , October 17, 2012, accessed on January 27, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: .com cracks the 100 million! In: domain-right. February 3, 2012, accessed November 12, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Monika Ermert: Green light for new Internet address zones. In: Heise Online. June 26, 2008. Retrieved November 12, 2012 .
  4. ^ A b Florian Hitzelberger: ICANN freezes "closed generics". In: domain-right. July 5, 2013, accessed July 10, 2013 .
  5. ↑ Daniel Dingeldey: dotBERLIN celebrates its 5th birthday. In: domain-right. August 31, 2010, accessed November 12, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Monika Ermert: New Top Level Domains: ICANN decides to open up the Internet namespace. In: Heise Online . June 20, 2011, accessed January 24, 2013 .
  7. ↑ More space on the web - Part II. In: united-domains blog. June 20, 2011, accessed January 24, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Oliver Schwab: New top-level domains: ICANN opens the application phase. In: united-domains blog. January 11, 2012, accessed November 12, 2012 .
  9. ↑ Google, Amazon and Co. pay $ 25,000 a year for .app, .book, .music and many more. In: t3n magazine. June 15, 2012, archived from the original on June 18, 2012 ; Retrieved June 15, 2012 .
  10. ↑ Lennart Schmid: ICANN extends the application deadline for new top-level domains. In: united-domains blog. April 12, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2012 .
  11. ↑ Applied for New gTLD Strings. (PDF; 616 kB) ICANN, June 13, 2012, archived from the original on October 17, 2012 ; accessed on November 13, 2012 .
  12. ↑ Monika Ermert: New top-level domains: .sex is out, .app is popular. In: Heise Online. June 13, 2012, accessed November 13, 2012 .
  13. ↑ Jens Ihlenfeld: Google reports .google, .docs and .lol. In: Golem. May 12, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2012 .
  14. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: ICANN invites you to digital archery. In: domain-right. April 5, 2012, accessed November 13, 2012 .
  15. ↑ Lennart Schmid: Archery under fire: criticism of "batching" is getting louder. In: united-domains blog. June 20, 2012, Retrieved November 14, 2012 .
  16. ^ Lennart Schmid: Another software glitch: ICANN stops archery. In: united-domains blog. June 23, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2012 .
  17. ↑ Volker Briegleb: ICANN wants to process new top-level domains by summer 2013. In: Heise Online. July 31, 2012, accessed November 14, 2012 .
  18. ↑ Monika Ermert: ICANN assigns starting places for new TLD names by gambling. In: Heise Online. October 12, 2012, accessed November 14, 2012 .
  19. ↑ Preliminary Draw Master List. (PDF) ICANN , December 18, 2012, accessed January 24, 2013 (1.3 MB in size).
  20. ↑ ICANN Prioritization Draw: Results of the lottery to prioritize the new domain endings. In: united-domains blog. December 18, 2012, accessed January 24, 2013 .
  21. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: Number of dropouts now at 24. In: domain -recht. March 12, 2013, accessed March 12, 2013 .
  22. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: Further - tactical - retreats among the applicants. In: domain-right. July 3, 2013, accessed July 13, 2013 .
  23. ↑ Monika Ermert: The decision on the first new top level domain will be made in April. In: heise online . February 26, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2013 .
  24. ↑ Bernd Kling: ICANN will activate hundreds of new domain endings from the middle of the year. In: ZDNet . February 26, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2013 .
  25. ^ Initial Evaluation Results Released for First Set of Applications. In: ICANN. March 22, 2013, accessed April 3, 2013 .
  26. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: Green light for the first 27 applicants! In: domain-right. April 3, 2013, accessed April 3, 2013 .
  27. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: New timetable presented. In: domain-right. June 11, 2013, accessed June 22, 2013 .
  28. ↑ Monika Ermert: First operator contracts for new top level domains signed. In: heise online. July 15, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013 .
  29. ^ New gTLD Collision Risk Mitigation. (PDF; 169 kB) ICANN, August 5, 2013, accessed on November 8, 2013 .
  30. ↑ Internet Domain Name Expansion Now Underway. ICANN, October 23, 2013, accessed November 9, 2013 .
  31. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: ICANN establishes Trademark Clearinghouse. In: domain-right. November 19, 2010, accessed April 16, 2013 .
  32. ^ Daniel Dingeldey: Solution not in sight. In: domain-right. September 6, 2012, accessed April 16, 2013 .
  33. ↑ Milestone for new domain endings: The Trademark Clearinghouse starts on March 26, 2013. In: united-domains Blog. March 22, 2013, accessed April 16, 2013 .
  34. ↑ Sebastian Ritze: The Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) system for new domain endings. In: united-domains blog. April 26, 2013. Retrieved June 22, 2013 .
  35. ↑ ICANN announces the URS regulations. In: Daniel Dingeldey. March 13, 2013, accessed June 22, 2013 .
  36. ^ IOC, Red Cross, and IGO reserved names for new gTLDs. ICANN, accessed October 17, 2013 .
  37. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: ICANN and the 629 forbidden words. In: domain-right. October 4, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2013 .
  38. ↑ For example [ https://ntldstats.com/ ntldstats.com]
  39. ↑ TLD statistics from the Spamhaus project - by far the domains most used for spam are new TLDs
  40. ↑ Statistics from w3techs.com
  41. ↑ Top 20 list , or luxury.estate for US $ 50,000 ( Memento from September 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  42. ↑ Lennart Schmid: "Reveal Day": 70 New gTLD applicants from Germany - Google and Amazon top the list. In: united-domains blog. June 13, 2012, accessed January 25, 2013 .
  43. ↑ Lennart Schmid: Verisign is applying for 14 new domain extensions. In: united-domains blog. April 27, 2012, accessed January 25, 2013 .
  44. ↑ Lennart Schmid: World Rugby Federation applies for .rugby. In: united-domains blog. April 26, 2012, accessed February 22, 2013 .
  45. ↑ Maximilian Heimstaedt: dotHIV: The red ribbon of the Internet. In: Gründerszene. November 20, 2012, accessed January 25, 2013 .
  46. ↑ Lennart Schmid: New gTLD of the week: .hiv. In: united-domains blog. May 24, 2012, accessed February 22, 2013 .
  47. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: Iran raises concerns about .gay and other endings. In: domain-right. January 9, 2013, accessed January 25, 2013 .
  48. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: Airline founds .swiss withdrawal. In: domain-right. January 8, 2013, accessed January 25, 2013 .
  49. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: ALAC files a complaint against .health applications. In: domain-right. March 21, 2013, accessed March 22, 2013 .
  50. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: 1 & 1 withdraws application to .mail. In: domain-right. April 24, 2013, accessed May 5, 2013 .
  51. ^ A b Florian Hitzelberger: The examination process lasts until August. In: domain-right. June 27, 2013, accessed July 13, 2013 .
  52. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: Federal government wants limitation of .gmbh. In: domain-right. July 29, 2013, accessed August 5, 2013 .
  53. ↑ Florian Hitzelberger: Iran calls for .halal and .islam under central administration. In: domain-right. September 16, 2013, accessed September 16, 2013 .
  54. ^ Daniel Dingeldey: ICANN extends objection phase. In: domain-right. January 7, 2013, accessed January 25, 2013 .
  55. ↑ Johannes Boie: Billionaire Poker in Beijing. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. April 6, 2013, accessed on April 16, 2013 (see penultimate paragraph).
  56. ↑ Monika Ermert: ".amazon": Amazon's application for its own domain has no chance. In: heise online. July 16, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013 .