the sponsored.xxx tld promoting online responsibility: policy development process
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The Sponsored .xxx TLD
Promoting Online Responsibility:Promoting Online Responsibility:
Policy Development ProcessPolicy Development Process
IFFOR Charterpromote the development of responsible business practices and conduct
promote free expression globally
promote the development of business practices to empower users and parents online
protect the privacy and security of consenting adult consumers
endeavor to foster communication between the responsible online adult entertainment community and the broader Internet community
seek and support informed participation reflecting the diversity of the responsible online adult entertainment community and the broader Internet stakeholders
employ an open and transparent policy development process.
Step 1:Global Stakeholder Outreach
Online adult-entertainment industry leadersFree speech, privacy and security advocates Child & family safety groupsInformation technology (IT) experts Public policy leaders
Status
March 2004 - sTLD application submitted
June 2005 - ICANN Board determination that ICM Proposal met the published sTLD criteria
May 2006 - ICANN Board rejected proposed registry agreement
January 2007 - ICANN posted revised, negotiated registry agreement
Definition of Sponsored Community
Precisely defined as providers of online adult entertainment who desire to work collectively to develop industry guidelines and best practices and who desire to establish a space on the Internet where those guidelines and best practices can be implemented.
ICM documented, and sponsorship evaluation team acknowledged, broad-based support of the Sponsored Community, including adult webmasters based in more than 70 countries around the world.
ICM’s Industry Pre-Reservation Service confirms industry support.
Initial Policies Have Been Identified
Registrants must agree to adhere to best practices and policies including:
Automated processes to help identify child pornographyClear labeling and ICRA tagging of sites registered in .xxx and sites in other TLDs to which xxx pages automatically redirect Compliance with IFFOR developed best practices, including those related to consumer protection, credit card authentication, spam and privacy
ICM will acquire/license expanded geographic identifier list and reserve place names on that list.ICM will provide mechanism for governments to identify culturally significant names to be reserved.
Policy Development PartnerThe Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) has formally endorsed .xxxICRA will be relaunched on 13 February as the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI)
FOSI’s mission is to be a body “where technology and policy stakeholders meet in the field of family online
safety.” Founding members include AOL, AT&T, British Telecom, Cisco, CompTIA, the GSM Association, Microsoft, RuleSpace, Solarsoft, Telmex, and Verizon
ICM is in negotiations with ICRA/FOSI regarding its provision of labeling and monitoring services, as well as management of the IFFOR policy development process.
Intellectual Property Protections.xxx is a sponsored TLD, with strict eligibility requirements:
Registrants (for resolving names) must be members of the online adult community, their representatives (e.g., trade associations, lawyers, etc.)Prior to resolution of site:
• Registrant eligibility must be verified• Accuracy of Registrant contact information must be
verified
Repeated failure to comply with registry operator policies places all reservations at risk
To discourage speculation and incentivize participation, Registration priority for operators of corresponding sites in other TLDs
Free Pre-Reservation Service
ICM has also been offering (since May 2006) a free “Pre-Reservation” service to IP holders https://domains.icmregistry.com/
This enables trademark holders to reserve non-resolving strings in advance of the Start-Up Trademark Opposition Program
Start-Up Trademark OppositionPre-launch assertion of trademark rights and procedures to remove incentives to squat/speculateTrademark holder(s) place “stop” on a string Anyone wishing to register that string must:
Be a verified member of the communityPay a non-refundable registration fee
ICM will notify the trademark holder(s) of the pending registrationDomain will not resolve during the pendency of a UDRP proceeding
ICM will discuss simplified UDRP with WIPO for this process
Registering Non-Resolving Strings
Long term, deeply discounted options for trademark holders wishing to register non-resolving names secured through pre-reservation, STOP, or ordinary registration activitiesCost recovery model, with volume discountsICM will require registrars to participate in this service