March7,2013 ViaElectronicMail commentsclosedgeneric05feb13@icann.org Re:PublicCommentonClosedGenericTopLevelDomainsbyGoogleInc. Wearegratefulfortheopportunitytocommentonthetopicofclosedgenericsit'samatterthat isimportantnotjusttoGooglebuttoapplicants,and,especially,endusers. Google'sgoalforthegTLDprogramhasalwaysbeentoincreaseinnovationandcompetitionin theareaofTLDsthroughnewwaysofexpandingtheutilityoftheDomainNameSystem.Those newformsofinnovationandcompetitionrequirethatregistryoperatorsbeallowedtoexperiment withavarietyofbusinessmodels,fromthecurrentpureopenmodeltothesingleregistrant "brandTLD",andeverythingbetweenthem. CurrentMarketandtheNeedforInnovationinTLDSpace BycreatingnewopportunitiesforInternetdomainnames,webelievepeoplewillinventmore diversesignpostsincyberspace,includingopportunitiestoregisternewnamesinnew languagesandcharacters.

WeareconfidentthattheintroductionofnewgTLDswillimprovethe usabilityoftheInternetfortheinternationalcommunityandcreateopportunitiesforgreater innovationinaspacethathashardlychangedsinceitsinception.1 OneofthemostimportantmandatesofthenewgTLDprogramistoincreasecompetitionatthe TLDlevel.TheApplicantGuidebookstatestheoverarchingmissionoftheprogramisto promotecompetitioninthedomainnamemarket.2 Today,mostInternetusershaveonlyone practicalchoicewhenitcomestohowtheirTLDsaremanaged:acompletelyunrestricted modelenvironmentinwhichanyregistrantcanregisteranynameforanypurposeanduseitas theyseefit.TheregistryservesonlyasadelegationpointintheDNShierarchyanddoesnot provideanycontenthostingorotheradditionalservices.Registrantsinahandfulofcommunities havehadtheopportunitytoregisterdomainnamesinaTLDrestrictedtotheircommunity,but withtheexceptionofahandfulofUScentricTLDs(.edu,.govand.mil)noneofthesehasgained
1

Thatbeingsaid,Googlehasalotofexperienceinreturningrelevantwebpages,regardlessoftheTLD. WewillranknewTLDsappropriately,butwedonotexpectanewTLDtogetanykindofpreferenceover .com.See:https://plus.sandbox.google.com/+MattCutts/posts/4VaWg4TMM5F?e=PlusPageAnalytics 2 See:http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/about/program

widespreaduseorawareness. ApartfromthequestionofwhoisallowedtoregisterinaTLD,almostalltodaysgTLDs(withthe limitedexceptionsof.mobiand.tel)offeridenticaltechnicalandfunctionalmodels,whichhave notchangeddramaticallyinalmost30years:theregistrydelegatesDNSrequeststoname serversdesignatedbytheregistrant,andtheregistrantisresponsibleforobtainingbothDNS hostingaswellaslinkingthedomaintotheInternetservicestheywishtoprovide.Thismodel providesmaximumflexibilitytoregistrantsbutitrequiressignificanttechnicalsophisticationfor theaverageuser. Butitshardlyasurprisethatnewtechnicalmodelshavenotemerged.Inaneconomicanalysis commissionedbyICANN,DennisCarltonwrote:Intheabsenceofcompetitionfromnew gTLDs,registriesandregistrarsthatserve.comandothermajorTLDsfacelimitedincentivesto developnewtechnologiesand/orimprovedservicesthatmayhelpattractnewcustomers.3 RestrictionsAlreadyExistwithinTLDSpaceandResultinWellUnderstoodCommunities TheInternethashadrestricteddomainsforaverylongtime.Theconceptofasingleregistrant modelwheretheregistry,registrar,andregistrantareallunifieddatesbacktotheinitial introductionofthe.milTLDin1984.4 Today,therearemanyTLDswithregistryrestrictionsof somesortinplace.Theserestrictionsfoster(ratherthanrestrict)innovationbecausethethe restrictionsarelargelyintendedtocreateasenseofidentityandcommunity.Fourexamples include: .CAT,whichisahighlyrestrictivesponsoredTLDlimitedonlytotheCatalanlinguistic andculturalcommunityintheInternet.5 ThisTLDcannotbeusedforanyotherpurpose eventhoughthetermhasmultiplemeaningsintheEnglishlanguage.Thisrestriction allowsfortheTLDitselftobemoremeaningfulandcreatesauniqueplaceforthe Catalancommunityandallowsforinnovationwithinthatspace.6 .MIL,aclosedgenericTLDthatprovidessecondlevelregistrationsforthesoleuseby theUSmilitary.Theuseofasingleregistrantnamespaceallowsthemilitaryacustomfit TLDhighlytailoredtomeetitsspecificneeds(forexample,thereisnoWHOISservice providedfor.mildomainnames). .GOVand.EDU,whicharetwoTLDsthatofferahighlyrestrictednamespaceforthe usebyfederal,state,andlocalgovernmentswithintheUnitedStates(.gov)andfor accredited,postsecondaryinstitutionswithintheUnitedStates(.edu).Asarecentpaper

3 4

http://archive.icann.org/en/topics/newgtlds/prelimreportconsumerwelfare04mar09en.pdf(pg11) SeeRFC920,http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc920 5 Seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.cat 6 See:http://www.circleid.com/posts/who_cares_about_50000_cat_domains/

byFairwindsnotes,theserestrictionshavehelpedtobuildtrustwiththeInternetuser community: Both gTLDs have a clearly defined purpose from which their operators have not deviated registrations in these gTLDs are restricted to specific entities. These purposes have remained clear and consistent, and as a result, Internet users know exactly what to expect when they navigate to websites whose addresses end in .GOV or .EDU. As such, they trust these namespaces. This trust hasgonealongwayinleadingInternetuserstoadoptthesegTLDs.7 DifferentBusinessModelsLeadtoDiversifiedUserChoice Itsimpossibletomeaningfullygeneralizeaboutclosedgenericstherearetoomanybusiness models,industries,andapplicantsinvolved,andfurthermore,thephraseitselfissubjecttomany validinterpretations.ManyoftheinnovationsthatweexpecttoarisefromthenewgTLDprogram willemergefromsingleregistrantmodels.Thisismainlybecausepurelyopenregistrieshave onefunction:sellingdomains.Thereisnothingwrongwiththat,butitisneithernewnorunique, andtherewillbehundredsofnewTLDswiththissamemodelthatwillcreateahugevarietyof newtermsinthisroundofgTLDexpansion.Incontrast,therearemanycreativemodelsfor TLDsthatserveamorecuratorialpurpose,andwebelieveitisthesemodelsthatwillmakethe Internetbetterforbothusersandbrandowners. Userchoiceisnotsimplyamatterofcreatingmorenamespace.Inaneconomicstudy commissionedbyICANN,MichaelKatz,GregoryRosston,andTheresaSullivannote:...past gTLDintroductionshavenotseriouslyimpacted.comsdominance.Forcommercial applications,.comhasremaineddominantevenasnewgTLDssuchas.bizand.infohavebeen added.Asacommunity,weneedtothinkmorebroadly,beyondtheideaofcompetitionasbeing merelybetweenmultipleTLDswiththesamebusinessmodeltoincludenewbusinessmodels notyettestedbythemarket.Inordertoencouragecompetitionweneedtoincludetheentire spectrumofoptionsfrompureopenmodels,restrictedmodels,andclosedmodels. AsKatzetal.write,thesituation,however,mightbeverydifferentifanewgTLDregistryoffered aninnovativeservicethatsignificantlydifferentiatedthatgTLDintermsoftheuserbenefits offered.Suchanentrantmightprovidestrongcompetitionto.com,atleastfromtheperspective ofsomegroupsofusers.8 Byallowingregistryoperatorsflexibilityintheirbusinessmodels, ICANNwillmaximizetheopportunityforinnovationtodeveloprealcompetitionandchoicefor users.AsCarltonnotes:...absentrestrictiononnewgTLDs,potentialnewentrantswillbe motivatedtodevelopnewtechnologiesandmethodsasawaytoovercome.comsfirstmover
7

FairwindsPartners,2013:TheYearofTheAddressBar(pg8),see http://www.fairwindspartners.com/OurResources/Perspectives/2013TheYearoftheAddressBar/ 8 See:http://archive.icann.org/en/topics/newgtlds/economicanalysisofnewgtlds16jun10en.pdf(pg19)

advantage.This,inturn,increasestheincentivestoinnovatefacedbyregistrarsof.comand otherincumbentregistries. SingleRegistrantModelAllowsforInnovationandUserFriendlySolutions Sinceitsinception,Googlehasstrivedtodeveloptechnologythatimprovesuponexistingways ofexploringtheInternetanddoingbusinessonline.Formanyusers,domainnamesremain decidedlydifficulttouseandmanage.Inordertolinkadomainwithaplatformorservicenot offeredbyaRegistrar,anenduserneedstobeabletomanuallychangetheDNSsettingsand makeotherprovisioningchangesthatarebeyondtheexpertiseofatypicalInternetuser.Take theexampleoflinkingacustomdomainnametoablog.Usingatraditionaldomainname,auser needstocompletetheregistrationprocessthroughtheregistrar,obtaintheproperAorCNAME recordsfortheserver(s)thathosttheblog,configurenameserverswiththerelevantzone information,providetheIPaddressesofthenameserverstotheregistrar,and,finally,update theconfigurationofthebloggingplatformtobeawareofthenewdomainname.Thisprocess canserveasabarriertoentryforuserstoregistertheirowndomainnamesandgetonline. Duetotheopportunitiesforcompetitionandinnovationonthepartofregistrars,someofthese stepsmaybesimplifiedoreliminated,butaregistrantwillgenerallystillneedmorethancasual technicalknowledgeinordertocompletetheprocess.Bycontrast,ourapplicationforthe.blog TLDdescribesanewwayofautomaticallylinkingnewsecondleveldomainstoblogsonour Bloggerplatformthisapproacheliminatestheneedforanytechnicalconfigurationonthepartof theuserandthusmakesthedomainnamemoreuserfriendlyitmatchestheuseofthirdlevel domainswithintheblogspot.comsecondleveldomaintoday,andisintendedtocreatea seamlessuserexperiencewithinarichnewnamespace. TheabilitytoassociateaTLDtoaspecificservicecreatesopportunitiesfortechnicalinnovation andsimplification.ThatopportunitywillbeallbutlostiftheruleschangetomakethenewTLD programmorerestrictive.Althoughsucharesultmightbenefitthebusinessinterestsoftodays incumbents,andcompetitorsuninterestedinacompellinguserexperience,itdoessoatthe expenseoftheInternetsusers,especiallythosewhoarelesstechnicallysavvyandmaybe interestedinregisteringadomainnameforthefirsttime. NewTopLevelDomainsDoNotConveyACompetitiveAdvantagetoApplicants MuchofthediscussionsurroundingcompetitionhastodowithwhethernewgTLDsorrather specificstringshaveaninherentvaluefromwhichapplicantscansomehowcreatecompetitive advantage.Weknowfrompreviousexpansionroundsthatthisisnotso.Inreality,Internetusers tendtousethetopleveldomainnamesthattheyarealreadycomfortablewith,particularly.com. ICANNseconomicstudyofferssomeevidenceonthisissue: ...past gTLD introductions have not seriously impacted .coms dominance. For commercial applications,.comhasremaineddominanteven asnewgTLDssuchas 4

.biz and .info have beenadded. A broad look at the evidence to date suggests that other gTLDs provide little competition for .com as those gTLDs have neither attractedalargenumberofdomainsnorshownanysignsofcatchingupwith.com.9 Infact,arecentexperiencewithamarketingcampaignoperatedbyICMregistryforthe.xxxTLD demonstratesthedifficultythatnewregistryoperatorshaveinmovingtrafficawayfrom.comto theirownTLD.BeginninginNovember2011,ICMranatelevisionadvertisingcampaigntoraise awarenessoftheir.xxxTLDandtodirectpotentialregistrationstowww.buy.xxxinorderto registerdomainnames.However,manyusersdidnotrealizethat.xxxwasavalidTLDand instinctivelyappended.comtothedomain,resultinginsignificantamountsoftraffictoother domainssuchasbuyxxx.com.DomainNameWiresearchdataatthetimeindicatedthatover 25%ofuserssearchingforthedomainnamesearchedforvarioustermsendingwithxxx.com ratherthan.xxx. 10 Becauseofthestronguserbiastowarddomainswithin.com,todayageneric.comdomain name(e.g.,jewelry.comorbook.com)islikelytoproducemoretrafficandtobemorevaluable forabusinessthanagenericTLD.Despitethis,itisquitecommonanduncontroversialforlarge brandstousethesegenericsecondleveldomainsaspartoftheironlinepresence. Inordertoovercomeuserspropensitytouse.comdomains,anewgTLDoperatorwillneedto makesignificantinvestmentstoraiseawarenessoftheTLDandmakethecasetousersto changetheirbehavior.IftheseTLDsaresuccessful,itwillnotbeduetotheinherentvalueofa genericterm,butratherbecauseusersarepersuadedtomakeuseofthesedomains. Finally,itisimpossibletoconsiderwhethernewTLDswillprovideapplicationswithunfair advantagewithoutalsostudyingtheconceptofsubstitutes.Webelievethistopichasnotbeen adequatelydiscussedinthedebateongenericsingleregistrantbusinessmodels.Whileterms maybeunique(.movie),conceptsaroundthosetermsarenot(e.g..film,.cinema,.flick,.media, andmovie.com).Whilesomeareconcernedbyallowingoneentitytomanageagenerictermfor thatcompanyssoleuse,evenwithinthecurrentpoolofapplicationsmanyoftheconcepts containedwithinthestringsoverlap,allowingforuserchoiceandbusinesscasediversityinthe marketplace. ICANNMustMaintaintheIntegrityoftheNewgTLDProgram Applicantshavereadtheguidebookandreliedonthepoliciescontainedwithintoguidetheir applications.Theyspentconsiderabletimeandmoneyontheirapplicationsinthehopesthey wouldbegrantedtheappliedforstring.Atbest,retroactivelydecidingtoallowamorerestrictive interpretationoftheguidebookandatworstgoingbackandaddinginpolicyrunstheriskof
9

See:http://archive.icann.org/en/topics/newgtlds/economicanalysisofnewgtlds16jun10en.pdf(pg18). Forfurtherinformation,seehttp://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~klevchen/hsmfkwlppam12.pdf,whichisspecifictothe rolloutof.biz. 10 http://domainnamewire.com/2012/01/23/buyxxxacasestudyofconsumerawarenessoftlds/

appearingcapriciousanderodingtrustintheprocess.Thatperceptionwouldbedetrimentalto thesuccessoftheentireprogramandanyactioninthisspaceshouldbecarefullyweighed. Insituationswherecompetitionandmarketforcesareatstake,itisparamountthattheprinciples andpoliciesaroundsuchaprocessremainconsistent.Evensmallchangesintheprocess createwinnersandlosersandallowthoseparticipating(eitherdirectlyasapplicantsorindirectly asmembersofthecommunity)togamethesystemand/orchangeoutcomes.ICANNsroleis nottopickwinnersandlosers,buttoestablishprocessesthatmitigateconcernsastheyarise throughtheimplementationoftheprogram.Inthecaseofclosedgenericstherearemultiple checksbuiltintothesystemthatprovidethecorrectbalancebetweenanunfetteredapplication processandtheprotectionofendusers.ThefourobjectionoptionsdetailedintheApplicant Guidebook,coupledwiththeGACadviceprocessandthenationalcompetitionauthorities, whosemissionistochampiontherightsofconsumers,serveasafinalcheckontheprocess. Whendecidinghowtoaddresstheclosedgenericconcerns,wemustrememberthatchanging theprocessmidstreamwillhaverealandpracticalconsequencesforbusinessesandend usersalike.ICANNsrolehereistoremainneutralandtoprovideaconsistent,transparent process. TermsinQuestionareDifficulttoDefine Intherequestforpubliccomments,ICANNasksforperspectivesonthedefinitionsoftheterm closedgeneric.Inreality,neitherofthetwowordshaveacontextuallyappropriateobjective definition,andthecombinedtermhasnomeaningotherthanwhathasbeeninventedinrecent discussionsaboutthegTLDprogram. Abriefdiscussiononhowtodefinethetermclosedgenericquicklydemonstrateshowdifficult itis.Theterm,generic,isparticularlydifficulttodemarcatereasonablyfortwoprimaryreasons. First,wordsaregenerallyonlymeaningfulorgenericinaspecificlanguage.Forexample,the wordcliniqueisawellknowncosmeticsandskincarebrand(andapplicantfortheTLD .clinique)basedintheUnitedStates.InEnglish,thewordcliniquehasnogenericmeaning however,inFrenchthestringisacommondictionarywordmeaningclinic.Thus,French speakersmayconsiderthistermgenericwhileEnglishspeakersmaysimplythinkofitasa brand. Second,thereisconsiderableoverlapbetweenwhatmanypeoplethinkofasbrandsand socalledgenericterms.Manyfamousbrandsaregenerictermsinotherindustriesamongst thecurrentcropofbrandTLDapplicationsconsidertermssuchasboots,brother,and live,allofwhichrepresentfamousbrandsthatalsocontainsignificantandunrelatedmeanings intheEnglishlanguage.Somewithinthecommunityhaveattemptedtodistinguishbetween brandsandgenericsstrictlybasedonwhetherornotthebrandedtermisbackedbya trademark.Notonlydoesthisanalysisfailtoexplainwhy,forexample,globalbootmanufacturers shouldbesatisfiedthattheycannotusetheirTLDofchoicebecauseaUKbasedpharmacy 6

chainregisteredarelatedtrademark,butmanyofthetrademarksinquestiondonotprotectthe specificTLDstringsforwhichapplicantshaveapplied.Forexample,iSelecthasappliedforthe .selectTLDinconjunctionwithanumberofrelated,butnotidenticalmarkssuchas HealthSelectandInsuranceSelect. Inadditiontothedifficultyinarrivingatareasonabledefinitionofthetermgeneric,thereisa broadspectrumofpossiblepoliciesaroundtheconceptofrestrictedorclosedTLDsaswell.It iseasytoonlyfocusonthetwoextremeseitherTLDsthatallowanyregistranttoregisterany domainforanypurposeorsingleregistrantTLDswheretheonlypurposeistohostcontent providedbyasingleorganizationandconsidertheseasopenorclosed.However,inreality thereareavarietyofregistrationpoliciesbetweenthesetwoextremes.JustwithinGoogles applications,weproposepoliciesthatlimitregistrationstoregistrantswithcertaincredentials (e.g.,.esqor.phd),tousewithspecifictypesofservices(e.g.,.docsor.map),toregistrantswith rightstorelevantcontent(e.g.,.movieor.music),tothoseinaspecifictradeassociation (.android)andtouseinconjunctionwithspecificGoogleproducts(e.g.,.driveor.plus).We believethattheserestrictionsallowforthecreationofstrongersemanticmeaninginconjunction withTLDs.Forexample,whenyougotoa.mapdomainnameyouwillbeconfidentthatyouwill seesomesortofmap.Thiswillallowforthecreationofmorevibrantcommunities,allowforthe constructionofstrongeronlineidentity,andinallcasesallowforinvolvementbyabroadrangeof Internetusers. AddressingConcernsRaisedaboutSpecificApplications Allofthisbeingsaid,GoogleremainsverycommittedtothesuccessofthenewgTLDprogram. Whilewebelievethatrestrictedandsingleregistrantmodelsallowsignificantopportunitiesfor innovationthatarenotpossiblewithatraditionalopenregistrybusinessmodel,weunderstand thatthereisparticularsensitivitywithintheInternetcommunityaboutcertainbroadtermsthat serveasindustrydescriptors.Neithertheguidebooknorthelawrequirespecialtreatmentof theseterms,butthesuccessofthegTLDprogramalsoreliesonuserandcommunitysupport fornewgTLDs,andthebestuserexperienceforthesebroadindustrytermslikelyincludethe opportunityforuserstoaccessavarietyofserviceproviders. Aftercarefulanalysis,Googlehasidentifiedfourofourcurrentsingleregistrantapplicationsthat wewillrevise:.app,.blog,.cloudand.search.Thesetermshavebeenidentifiedby governments(viaEarlyWarning)andotherswithinthecommunityasbeingpotentiallyvaluable andusefultoindustryasawhole.Wealsobelievethatforeachofthesetermswecancreatea strongsetofuserexperiencesandexpectationswithoutrestrictingthestringtousewithGoogle products. Withthisinmind,weintendtoworkwithICANN,theGovernmentAdvisoryCommittee(GAC), andothermembersoftherelevantcommunitiestoamendourapplicationswithnewregistration policies(and,insomecases,newregistryservices)toachievetheseaims.Detailsofthese planswillbeforthcominginthenearfuture. 7

Conclusion ICANNshouldallowclosedgenericstringapplicationstomoveproceed.Webelievean unfetteredprocessisparamountinopeningupthedomainnamespaceandincreasing innovationinamarketthathasalwaysbeen,effectively,stagnant.Wearejustbeginningto explorethissourceofinnovationontheweb,andweareexcitedtoseehowthesenewTLDs mayfare.WehopethatofferingnewanddifferentTLDchoiceswillbeinterestingandmeaningful tothepublicandgenerateexcitementaboutthenewTLDprogram. Sincerely,

BenFried VicePresidentandChiefInformationOfficer GoogleInc.