Post Tagged with: "gtlds"

Competition Bureau of Canada Investigating ICANN and New gTLDs

John Pecman, the Commissioner of Competition, yesterday advised that the Competition Bureau of Canada is reviewing the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and its administration of the domain name system. In a follow-up email, I was told that the Bureau is investigating ICANN “since they are poised to […]

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December 6, 2013 1 comment News

Internet Governance World Meets in Toronto Amid New Domains Controversy

The Internet governance world gathers in Toronto this week as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the California-based non-profit corporation charged with the principal responsibility for maintaining the Internet’s domain name system, holds one of its meetings in Canada for only the third time. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the Toronto ICANN meeting comes at a particularly tumultuous time for the organization with mounting criticism over its process for creating new domain name extensions that could reshape the Internet.

After years of debate and discussion, ICANN last year unveiled a policy that opened the door to hundreds of new domain name extensions. While most Internet users are accustomed to the current generic (dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org) and country-code (dot-ca in Canada) extensions, ICANN’s plans will radically change the domain name landscape by creating hundreds of new extensions linked to brand names, geographic regions, and even generic words.

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October 16, 2012 6 comments Columns

Internet Governance World Meets in Toronto Amid New Domains Controversy

Appeared in the Toronto Star on October 14, 2012 as Internet Governance World Meets in Toronto Amid New Domains Controversy The Internet governance world gathers in Toronto this week as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the California-based non-profit corporation charged with the principal responsibility for maintaining […]

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October 16, 2012 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

Internet Governance Battle Heats Up as Governments Demand Greater Powers

A simmering battle over governance of the Internet is set to take centre stage in California this week as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a California-based non-profit corporation charged with the principal responsibility for maintaining the Internet’s domain name system, holds one of its regular meetings in Silicon Valley.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that since its creation in 1998, ICANN has faced a wide range of critics – Internet users frustrated at the lack of accountability, business groups concerned that the policy making process is too slow and uncertain, and governments wondering why matters related to the Internet are vested in a private organization and not an entity such as the United Nations.

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March 14, 2011 7 comments Columns