Policy & Regulation

2016 U.S. Election: An Internet Forecast

The unexpected election of Donald Trump, along with continued Republican control of both houses of Congress will have a big impact on our US priorities. While the outlook remains unclear, we've prepared the memo below examining the initial impact the election may have on issues that matter to Internet infrastructure companies and organizations.

Neustar to Launch usTLD Stakeholder Council

In its plan to manage the usTLD, Neustar proposed to create a stakeholder council ("usTLD Stakeholder Council") to ensure that the usTLD remains a trusted space for all Americans and to facilitate stakeholder input into usTLD policies.

ARI Completes TAS Latency Report

Following the announcement of the details regarding Digital Archery, ARI Registry Services (ARI) commenced an investigation to determine whether the described method offered an equitable opportunity for all applicants.

ARI Registry Asks ICANN to Delay Digital Archery and Batching Processes

ARI Registry has submitted a letter to ICANN today requesting its Board and staff to delay the launch of the digital archery batching mechanism and review of the new gTLD program for further review. "Batching was included in ICANN’s thinking because there were an unknown number of applications for new gTLDs... We suggest that, given the data that is publically available, these two objectives can be met without batching and without a significant or unreasonable impact on timelines."

Afilias Says “No” to SOPA

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is the subject of substantial controversy in the United States, and the domain name industry is squarely in the middle of the debate. Many DNS service providers and technology developers in the industry oppose SOPA, Afilias among them. Here's why.

Digital Hollywood Taps Domain Name Expert Ben Crawford for Insight on New Internet Policy

How are .music and .xxx transforming the entertainment industry? With a new era in Internet policy looming, Digital Hollywood Spring welcomed Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic and dotBrand Solutions, as a panelist during last week's conference at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey, California.

Brussels and the Month Afterwards: Celebrations, New gTLD and Security and Stability Issues Ahead

.ORG's David Maher provides an overview of the 38th ICANN Conference, held in Brussels last month, including interesting issues and events covered during the meetings.

ICANN and Cybersecurity: Hot Topics at The First Ever .ORG Forum

As we head into 2010, it's no secret that the issues of security and the prevention of internet identity theft in all its forms are of critical importance. .ORG, the Public Interest Registry, was honored to host the First .ORG Forum in Washington, D.C.

Vertical Integration: A View from the Bottom Up

An interesting thing happened on the way to ICANN's new Affirmation of Commitments. ICANN staff has consistently recommended a reversal of its longstanding policy that prohibits a registry from acting as a registrar in its own top level domain ("TLD"). We see two good reasons why this anti-consumer proposal is unacceptable.

Registry/Registrar Vertical Integration: The Registrant Pays the Check

In a joint document, Afilias, NeuStar, and PIR discuss the salient issues facing the ICANN Board regarding a proposal for registry/registrar vertical integration in the newTLD round. The paper identifies some of the risks associated with the ICANN Staff proposal while at the same time proposing a path forward that does not jeopardize any further delay in the new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) launch process.