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<p jQuery1324951791891="21"><font size="3"><em>Following a barrage of criticism and a number of formal requests that the organization hold off on its 12 January launch date, we understand that ICANN's Board has started asking serious questions of its CEO and
staff and <strong>has asked them to justify the decision to move ahead</strong> regardless of the increasing number of warnings.
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<p jQuery1324951791891="21"><em><font size="3"></font></em> </p>
<p jQuery1324951791891="21"><font size="3">Perhaps the Board should make inquiry of itself -- as it was the Board, by near-unanimous vote, that made the decision to move ahead in the face of arguments that were strikingly similar to those that were heard at
the Congressional hearings.</font></p>
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<p><strong><font color="#000080">Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal</font></strong></p>
<p><strong><font color="#000080">Virtualaw LLC</font></strong></p>
<p><strong><font color="#000080">1155 F Street, NW</font></strong></p>
<p><strong><font color="#000080">Suite 1050</font></strong></p>
<p><strong><font color="#000080">Washington, DC 20004</font></strong></p>
<p><strong><font color="#000080">202-559-8597/Direct</font></strong></p>
<p><strong><font color="#000080">202-559-8750/Fax</font></strong></p>
<p><strong><font color="#000080">202-255-6172/cell</font></strong></p>
<p><strong><font color="#000080"></font></strong> </p>
<p><em><strong><font color="#000080">"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey</font></strong></em></p>
<p><font color="#000080"></font> </p>
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<div style="DIRECTION: ltr" id="divRpF663807"><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b> Michael D. Palage [michael@palage.com]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, December 26, 2011 3:07 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Phil Corwin; bc-gnso@icann.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [bc-gnso] FW: NYTimes Calls for Slowdown of New gTLD Program<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Phil,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I actually found Kieran’s blog piece the more news worth development, see
</span><a href="http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/12/24/icann-crisis-talks-gtlds" target="_blank">http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/12/24/icann-crisis-talks-gtlds</a></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Best regards,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Michael</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">From:</span></b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Phil Corwin<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, December 26, 2011 2:16 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> bc-gnso@icann.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [bc-gnso] FW: NYTimes Calls for Slowdown of New gTLD Program</span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">FYI---</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/opinion/expanding-internet-domains.html?adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1324876267-RrLuv13+KPv4Owy/HvA0Mg" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/opinion/expanding-internet-domains.html?adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1324876267-RrLuv13+KPv4Owy/HvA0Mg</a></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">December 25, 2011</span></p>
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<h1><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Expanding Internet Domains</span></h1>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Come January, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers plans to allow businesses, nonprofits and others to apply for their own “top-level domain” with their own
online suffix, like the familiar .com and .org suffixes that now rule the Internet.
</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Icann, the nonprofit that manages the Internet’s address system, says increasing the number of top-level domains will ease crowding and create opportunities for businesses to
connect with consumers. For instance, Canon plans to buy .canon to put its Web sites in one spot and the American Bankers Association is reportedly considering .bank, where banks could offer secure online banking.
</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">But a plethora of new suffixes is just as likely to cause confusion for consumers and enable malefactors to use the new arenas for deception. Icann expects 500 to 1,000 applications
in next year’s 90-day application window. Before it approves any of them, it needs to slow down and put in place better safeguards against consumer fraud.
</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The expansion of top domains could be costly for businesses, which might have to buy new domains (Icann is charging $185,000 per application) to protect their brands from fraudsters
making money by squatting on brands. The Web is full of sites that masquerade as legitimate companies to sell pirated goods or steal consumers’ financial information. Fraudsters avoid detection by registering their sites using proxy services and false identities.
The administrators of the online address system — Icann, the registries that operate suffixes like VeriSign, and agents like GoDaddy that sell Internet addresses to the public — are doing a terrible job curbing fraud. A recent Icann report acknowledged that
the system to identify Web site owners “is broken and needs to be repaired.” </span>
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<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Icann says it will increase security in the new domains, including thorough background checks of all applicants. There will be a clearinghouse for owners of trademarks, who would
get first dibs on domains connected to their brand. If anybody but the Coca-Cola Company applied for .coke, he or she would have to prove a legitimate, non-infringing reason to run it. And there would be a “rapid takedown” procedure to close infringing domains.
</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">But companies will still have to spend a lot on defense, registering domains to avoid squatting on their brands and keeping an eye out for potentially infringing Web sites across
hundreds of new suffixes. And Icann’s current inability to deal with abusive domain name registrations undermines confidence in its ability to address the risks of this vast expansion.
</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The Federal Trade Commission
<a href="http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/12/icann.shtm" target="_blank">is rightly urging</a> Icann to require that registries and registrars be able to verify the identity of owners of all domains that have a commercial purpose, and to impose meaningful penalties
for those who break the rules. There is no pressing need to create hundreds of new suffixes next year. It would be far better for Icann to start with a pilot program to work out problems before expanding the system.
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<p><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Philip S. Corwin, Founding Principal</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Virtualaw LLC</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">1155 F Street, NW</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Suite 1050</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Washington, DC 20004</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">202-559-8597/Direct</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">202-559-8750/Fax</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">202-255-6172/cell</span></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span> </p>
<p><strong><i><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">"Luck is the residue of design" -- Branch Rickey</span></i></strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></span> </p>
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