ICANN Set To Broaden World of Domain Names 41
hypnosec writes "ICANN, as a step towards expanding global top level domain names, has approved a new Domain Name Registrar Accreditation Agreement that is expected to bring about waves of continued improvements in the domain name ecosystem (PDF). The new agreement is a result of efforts of over a year of negotiations that took place between ICANN and Registrar Stakeholders Group. The new agreement brings quite a few improvements, including making it mandatory for registrars to appoint a point-of contact for reporting abuse, and to establish registrar responsibilities for reseller compliance, enhancement of compliance tools, audit rights, and certification requirements, among others."
Re:why? (Score:2, Interesting)
That depends on whether you consider for-profit colleges to be educational solutions or not. But in all seriousness, it bothers me that our local for-profit diploma mills get .edu address but neither all educational levels (such as school districts) nor those outside the US (such as University of Cambridge or McGill) can. If DNS was not so darn helpful and engrained, I'd say screw it and start over.
New requirements ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Pile enough crap on and small enterprises and individuals won't be able to handle a domain on their own. Enter the management companies, who will extract fees for handling all of this overhead. Worse yet, it will push owners of domains who can no longer afford to maintain them to put them back on the market, where the big corporations can get their hands on them.
I have known a number of people who registered valuable domains, not as squatters but small businesses who were smart or quick enough to get there first. Some have fallen for the trap of companies that 'manage' domains in return for signing over ownership. The result was their losing the domain when their 'manager' unilaterally determined the domain had more value on the market than the present user gave it.
Someone's asleep at the wheel (Score:5, Interesting)
Under the new agreement it would be mandatory for registrars to confirm the phone numbers or addresses of domain name buyers within 15 days of domain registration.