BITS
 | |
| Type: | Non-Profit Corporation |
| Founded: | 1996 |
| Country: | USA |
| Website: | BITS.org |
| Key People | |
| Paul Smocer, President | |
BITS is the technology policy division of the Financial Services Roundtable. It represents 100 of the largest financial services companies that provide insurance, investment products or banking services.[1]
It was created in 1996 by the Financial Services Roundtable to better help its members understand and collaborate on new technologies.[2]
.Bank and .Insurance Financial TLD Initiative
BITS, in partnership with the American Bankers Association, confirmed their application for the .bank and .insurance top level domain namess (TLDs) via ICANN's New gTLD Program to provide a safe and secure online space for the banking and insurance industry and its millions of consumers. Craig Schwartz, former chief gTLD registry liaison of ICANN, serves as the head of operation for the BITS and ABA Financial TLD Initiative, which is known as fTLD Registry Services, LLC.[3] The partnership formed the to handle the applications for both domain name strings and to manage its operations once approved by ICANN.[4] They chose Verisign to serve as their bank-end registry solutions provider.[5]
Objection
Before the application process was event closed, the European Banking Authority sent a warning letter to ICANN arguing that financially-oriented gTLDs are "dangerous and should be banned". [6]
Competitor
The BITS and ABA's application for .bank and .insurance domain name strings are in contention with those of Radix, a subsidiary business of the Directi Group, which applied for 31 new gTLDs, including .bank and .insurance.[7]
BITS and ICANN
BITS has sent letters to ICANN following the publication of many of the organization's new gTLD programs, including the first, second, third and fourth versions.[8][9][10][11] In late 2010, BITS threatened legal action against ICANN should it not defer the delegation of any financial TLD.[12] Since that time, BITS has announced that it is working with the American Bankers Association to apply for financial TLDs. It has chosen to work with Verisign's registry services to provide technical back-end services to those extensions.[13] Its gTLD application plans include a bid for .bank, and it will likely apply for a number of other financial related TLDs.[14]
BITS has been vocal about what it deems as mandatory secuirty measure for any financially related gTLD. There are no specific measures stipulated in ICANN's Applicant Guidebook. BITS' Security Standards Working Group has made its own set of suggestions to ICANN on such requirements.[15]
External Links
References
- ↑ BITS official website
- ↑ A short history about the creation of BITS
- ↑ ABA and The Financial Services Roundtable Apply for Financial Domains to Protect Consumers
- ↑ [http://www.bits.org/initiatives/fTLD.php Financial Top Level Domain Initiative]
- ↑ VeriSign now front-runner for .bank
- ↑ Europe to warn consumers about .bank “risks”
- ↑ Directi Invest Over $30 Million & Applies For 31 New gTLD’s: Including: .Law, .Web, .Bank, .Shop
- ↑ BITS Comment, v1, BITS.org
- ↑ BITS Comment, v2, BITS.org
- ↑ BITS Comments, v3, BITS.org
- ↑ BITS Comments, v4, BITS.org
- ↑ ICANN Told To Ban Bank or Get Sued, DomainIncite.com
- ↑ Press Release, American Bankers Association BITS Choose Verisign as Registry Operator Potential New, MarketWire.com
- ↑ BITS May Apply For Six Financial gTLDs, DomainIncite.com
- ↑ High Security Bank Spec Published, DomainIncite.com