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

Input from Business

ICM has solicited input from the business constituencies, and made presentations at constituency meetingsICM will provide additional opportunities for input from all stakeholders during pre-launch phase