Citing Amazon EU S.a.r.l 's application to secure the ".book" domain, the Association of American Publishers filed comments yesterday opposing closed generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) applications overall and the attempt by Amazon specifically. In a letter to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), AAP contended that granting a private company the exclusive use of a closed domain string would defeat the expressed public interest purposes for which new gTLDs are being authorized. AAP also recommended a process by which applications could be evaluated.
"From inception, the introduction of new gTLDs has been promoted as a means to increase competition, add consumer choice, support Internet freedom, expand market differentiation and diversify service providers," said Allan Adler, AAP's general counsel and v-p, government affairs. "How would handing over ownership of a domain string to any one single private company, such as a retailer, for its own business goals support that public service mission?"
Adler also noted that "the vast book community--authors, publishers, sellers, libraries, readers, educators, editors, researchers, literary agents, collectors, printers, clubs, archives and many others--shouldn't be barred from connecting around the world through the .book domain. This was the stated mission of the ICANN initiative and should be its goal."
In its comments, the AAP urged that the Amazon application for .book "and others of its ilk should not be adopted without an affirmative objective showing by the applicant--and a corresponding finding by ICANN that it would be in the public interest to permit the particular applicant to operate a 'closed registry' for the particular generic gTLD at issue."
No comments:
Post a Comment