.discover

Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Neustar
Type:	Brand TLD
More information:

.discover is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is Discover Financial Services.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"Since 1985, Discover, by itself or through affiliated entities, has served as a leading financial services company in the United States and abroad. For nearly 30 years, Discover has helped consumers spend smarter, manage debt better, and save more money in order to achieve a brighter financial future. To this end, Discover has enjoyed significant popularity resulting from its position as a trusted financial services entity, including its significant recognition in the credit card and debit card industry. Indeed, Discover and its core brands, such as “DISCOVER,” “CASHBACK BONUS,” and others have achieved worldwide fame for the quality of products and services offered through Discover’s online network, organizations, and global affiliates. As a direct reflection of its worldwide popularity and quality of incredibly diversified product offerings, Discover saw net income totaling $2.2 billion in 2011.

Recognizing the potential of the .discover gTLD as a trusted namespace and its ability to enhance Discover’s brand and already robust e-business platform, Discover has decided to file this application and bring the .discover gTLD to market. More importantly, as the financial services community (and specifically the e-business segment thereof) is a high-frequency target to recurring fraud and related security threats, Discover views the .discover gTLD as a significant tool in increasing consumer confidence and safety in the online marketplace. To this end, the intended mission and purpose of the . discover gTLD is to serve as a trusted, secure, and intuitive namespace for consumers to actively view Discover products, services, and information, interact with peers regarding Discover offerings, and purchase authentic Discover products and services at trusted and secured sites. In addition, the .discover gTLD will provide a secure platform for Discover itself to directly communicate with consumers and potential consumers through a recognizably secure top level domain.

Discover is still analyzing potential options for the type of second-level domain names that it will use within the .discover gTLD in order to best develop a namespace that will foster an intuitive, trusted, and marketable environment for Internet users and consumers while having access to authoritative content and up-to-date brand information. In an effort to achieve this goal of a secure and trusted environment, Discover will operate the .discover gTLD as a closed single-registrant registry to ensure that all second-level domain names operating within the gTLD will be controlled by Discover and its affiliates."