Federal Trade Commission: Difference between revisions
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In December, 2011, FTC Chairman, [[Jon Leibowitz]] said that the gTLD program could be a "disaster" for consumers and businesses. The statements were made during a testimony to the House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee on Antitrust Enforcement. He was concerned that the program would be expensive for businesses and trademark owners, and could hamper his agency's ability to fight cyber fraud. All in all, he saw it as a costly option for businesses and consumers, with little benefit. The hearing came before a scheduled December, 8th, Senate hearing on new gTLDs, and also a gTLD focused meeting by the house scheduled for a week later.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2011/12/07/ftc-chairman-comes-out-swinging-against-icanns-new-gtld-plan/ FTC Chairman Comes out Swinging Against ICANNs New gTLD Plan, TheDomains.com]</ref> | In December, 2011, FTC Chairman, [[Jon Leibowitz]] said that the gTLD program could be a "disaster" for consumers and businesses. The statements were made during a testimony to the House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee on Antitrust Enforcement. He was concerned that the program would be expensive for businesses and trademark owners, and could hamper his agency's ability to fight cyber fraud. All in all, he saw it as a costly option for businesses and consumers, with little benefit. The hearing came before a scheduled December, 8th, Senate hearing on new gTLDs, and also a gTLD focused meeting by the house scheduled for a week later.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2011/12/07/ftc-chairman-comes-out-swinging-against-icanns-new-gtld-plan/ FTC Chairman Comes out Swinging Against ICANNs New gTLD Plan, TheDomains.com]</ref> | ||
A week after Mr. Leibowitz voiced his concern at these hearings, the FTC sent a letter to ICANN to further explicate the concerns it has regarding the TLD expansion program, the letter was also sent to those members and committees of Congress involved in the aforementioned hearings. The FTC specifically concerned about the level of safety measures in place to protect both businesses and consumers | A week after Mr. Leibowitz voiced his concern at these hearings, the FTC sent a letter to ICANN to further explicate the concerns it has regarding the TLD expansion program, the letter was also sent to those members and committees of Congress involved in the aforementioned hearings. The FTC specifically concerned about the level of safety measures in place to protect both businesses and consumers. A primary concern was the effectiveness and accuracy of [[Whois]] information in combatting spam and phishing activities; they not ehtat they already deal with enough inaccurate and misleading information, and worry that the TLD expansion will only multiply the problems they encounter. The FTC also emphasized that, not only had they been making their Whois concerns known for years, similar concerns had also been raised by ICANN's [[GAC]] and other organizations involved in the [[multistakeholder]] process. They went on make the following recommendations: | ||
# "Implement the new gTLD program as a pilot program and substantially reduce the number of gTLDs that are introduced in the first application round; | # "Implement the new gTLD program as a pilot program and substantially reduce the number of gTLDs that are introduced in the first application round; |