Back

18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.ticketsAccent Media Limitedcloudnames.comView
i. The .TICKETS domain will be a safe, secure and trusted global domain space for ticket sales and ticket marketing and promotions.

The benefit for Internet users is clear: a .TICKETS domain will take them to trusted ticket vendors and associated service providers. Over time, consumer trust in the online ticket sectors will be improved, fraud and deception will be reduced and consumer protection will be increased.

We have support for our mission from a range of stakeholders that are connected to the ticket sector and ticket services. For example we have support from the Music Managers Forum - the UK trade organisation of over four hundred music managers representing more than one thousand music artists - who are keen to see our application succeed and for our gTLD to protect music fans from fraudulent and deceptive activity. See formal statement of support at http:⁄⁄www.stormcrowd.com⁄ACCENT_MEDIA⁄FAC_MMF_Accent_Media.pdf.

Registrants, being part of the global ticketing industry which is, for most industry sectors, unregulated will benefit from having available to them a “kite mark” of authenticity and legitimacy which will build consumer trust and confidence in online ticketing within the current global environment of increasingly sophisticated and widespread ticketing fraud and deception.

The legitimacy of registrants operating a .TICKETS domain will be secured through carefully developed industry specific eligibility criteria, containing quality standards and specifying service levels and best practices, compliance with which shall be monitored on an ongoing basis, and when appropriate amended in order to deal dynamically with new challenges that arise.

The reputation of the .TICKETS domain shall be paramount; the public’s trust in the safety and security of the .TICKETS domain must be sought through effective education and marketing, and maintained through diligent gatekeeping of the .TICKETS domain space.

ii. What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

In terms of the current space, online ticket selling and online ticket service provision, the .TICKETS domain will provide simple, immediate and effective differentiation and innovation by introducing a safe, secure and trusted global domain space.

It will assist in promoting fair competition by minimising fraud and deception. Fraud and deception costs consumers, ticket sellers, credit card companies and others in terms of brand equity losses, money, resource and time. The .TICKETS space with its industry sub-sector specific eligibility criteria will benefit all of these stakeholders. In so doing, it will assist operators in the .TICKETS domain space in building their businesses and brands, and will encourage new innovative players to enter the market and compete.

Furthermore, the .TICKETS domain space will enhance competition within the ticketing industry by allowing ticketing businesses who don’t have a traditional gTLD (such as .COM),(because their business or brand name has already been reserved in that gTLD domain space), to nonetheless obtain a second level domain name. This may make it easier for the public to find them and thus increase competition in the ticketing marketplace.

The .TICKETS namespace will facilitate a much greater level of innovation within the ticketing industry by giving those operating within this space the opportunity to develop specialist services such as trusted aggregators for, for example, festivals, concerts or sporting events.

The .TICKETS domain space will also enhance diversity; principally diversity regarding eligibility mechanisms for gTLDs. We envisage that the majority of new gTLD registrations will be plain Internet identifiers, not protected gateways like .TICKETS.

iii. What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

As has already been stated, a .TICKETS domain will take users to trusted ticket vendors and service providers.

A .TICKETS domain will remove uncertainty for consumers and save them time, removing the need for consumers to carry out their own due diligence on the website from which they intend to procure ticketing goods or services, which they are often advised to do (see for example the advice from the UK Government joint initiative website, Get Safe Online at www. http:⁄⁄www.getsafeonline.org⁄nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1800)

In short, a .TICKETS second level domain will operate as a badge of authenticity and legitimacy within the ticketing sector in a similar way to that provided to Internet users who seek out .EDU for registered educational establishments or .GOV for official government websites.

iv. Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

The Registry policies surrounding the .TICKETS namespace will support and enable our mission to create a safe, secure and trusted global domain environment for online ticket sales, marketing and promotions free from fraudulent activity. It will ensure that only non-fraudulent operators can acquire second level domains and will also protect intellectual property rights owners.

The .TICKETS domain is intended to serve the global ticketing industry. Registrants will be those participating in the ticketing and ticket-related industries, and will be limited to a predetermined list of industry-types (which may be extended) to be developed by extended coalitions of cross-sector advisors.

Accent Media will involve the ticketing industry in developing the policies it will apply to the .TICKETS domain. Therefore, it will create a policy-making procedure that balances the participation of members of the ticketing industry with consultation and advice from consumer groups and others, including national and international law enforcement agencies. An advisory board will be convened for each industry sub-sector. The Registry shall appoint a policy officer who shall be responsible for assisting, drafting and revising all policies in liaison with the advisory boards. The advisory boards’ recommendations shall be delivered to the Registry’s executive committee for approval.

Please see our answers to Q#29 Rights Protection Mechanisms.

In addition, policies will be created to address the following:

1. The eligibility of registrants

Maintaining the credibility of the .TICKETS domain as a safe, secure and trusted global domain environment for online ticket sales, marketing, and promotions is crucial and Accent Media’s principle objective.

Therefore strict eligibility criteria shall be adopted in order to ensure that all registrants of .TICKETS domain names meet the above objective.

Fair, practicable, relevant and robust eligibility criteria, which will be sub-sector specific, must and will be developed by the advisory boards.

Consideration will be given to the necessity of adopting or revising certain eligibility criteria for different jurisdictions, although this will be the exception.

A potential registrant will be required to complete and submit an application, attesting to their eligibility and declaring the accuracy of the information they have provided. An authentication process, for example similar to that used for acquiring secure certification, will also need to be completed and may vary depending on the specific use cases as defined from time to time by the policy advisory boards.

Registrants shall be required to agree to a privacy policy which shall detail how information provided by them shall be used, including which information shall be made available to the public and under what circumstances.

In accordance with the eligibility criteria policy, the Registry will verify whether the declaration made by the applicant contains inaccurate or false information about the applicant’s identity and credentials and whether it has met the eligibility criteria. In order to verify the information provided by the applicant, the Registry shall be entitled to request supplementary information from the applicant, including but not limited to references.

In the event that an applicant’s application is denied, the applicant shall have a specified period of time within which to request a denial review. Should denial be confirmed following denial review, the applicant may appeal by initiating an appeals process (see below). Names that are subject to the denial review or appeal will not be available to any other applicant.

Eligible registrants may be limited to the number of second level domain names they may register.

Applicants will be required to demonstrate a knowledge of and support for the aims and objectives of the .TICKETS domain space (see below).

The eligibility criteria and authentication process will be reviewed and, if appropriate, updated from time to time.

To ensure fair access to the .TICKETS domain space, any name that is not registered by reason of the ineligibility of any applicant will become available for registration by any eligible party.

No applicant will be deemed eligible without accepting the terms of a registration agreement (see below). The agreement will be submitted to Accent Media either directly or via an authorised channel.

All registrants will be subject to audit and periodic review to ensure that they continue to meet the eligibility requirements. In addition to fixed period audits, the Registry may be entitled to initiate an audit at any time at its discretion, for example, upon receipt of user complaints. Failure to meet the audit and review requirements will be notified to the registrant and a period for compliance shall be given. Failure to demonstrate compliance within such time period may result in revocation of the registration agreement and forfeiture of the registrant’s right to use the .TICKETS domain space, as further defined in the registration agreement.

An appeals process will be available to any applicant whose application is unsuccessful and for any registrant whose registration agreement is revoked. An ombudsman will be appointed for each industry sub-sector to hear appeals. The ombudsman shall be independent from the Registry and the appellant. The ombudsman may be an individual or an entity.

2. Registration agreements

A registration agreement will be entered into by every registrant.

The registration agreement will contain operating rules. These operating rules will govern compliance with Registry policies, and will include, for example how and to whom the applicant may delegate third level domain names within their sub-domain.

The registrant agreement will require the registrant to make a declaration that it is legally entitled to use the name(s) it is proposing to register under the .TICKETS domain. The registrant will also be required to be bound by various dispute resolution policies (see below), including an eligibility dispute resolution policy (to be followed where a registrant’s eligibility is challenged by a third party).

All registrants will be required declare their support for the aims and objectives of the .TICKETS domain space by endorsing the Registry’s charter and code of conduct, which will set out the Registry’s fundamental guiding principles.

The registration agreement will permit the Registry to revoke the registrant’s right to use the .TICKETS domain in certain circumstances.


3. Registry policies

The Registry will develop, again in conjunction with the advisory boards referred to above, Registry policies that will support the Registry in its mission and which will sit alongside existing norms and conventions.

In terms of name selection, the principle that the Registry shall adopt is that the first eligible applicant for registration of a domain name will be entitled to register that name. The date and time of completion of all registration requirements, including eligibility and the authentication process, will determine the applicant’s order of priority.

The Registry shall adopt policies focused on the resolution of any dispute that may arise from the registration and ownership of a .TICKETS domain name. These policies shall include:

- An eligibility dispute resolution policy - to be followed where a registrant’s eligibility is challenged by the third party (NB we wish to make it clear that the Registry itself shall have primary responsibility for ensuring that eligibility criteria have been met by any applicant)
- A compliance consideration policy – to be followed where the Registry’s audit and periodic review of registrants’ on-going compliance with eligibility requirements has not been met by the registrant.
- Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – all registrants will abide by the UDRP as approved by ICANN.

4. Appointment of registrars – selection and oversight

Policies surrounding the appointment of registrars will be developed and will operate in conjunction with standard operational policies of ICANN and other relevant authorities.

To ensure our aims and objectives are clearly communicated to potential registrants, it is crucial that registrar selection rests with the Registry. The Registry will accept all registrars meeting the Registry’s registrar eligibility criteria.

The Registry will oversee all registrars that it authorises. Such oversight shall include registrars’ adherence to Registry policies, their delivery of registration agreements, their handling and processing of applications according to the eligibility criteria and authentication processes, their delivery and updating of WHOIS data, and their management of cancellations, transfers and renewals.


5. Reserved names policy

Upon launch of the .TICKETS namespace, the Registry will inform the market in an appropriate manner of a list of reserved names and those available as premium domains at a fixed cost and those available as part of the opening premium domain name auction as is customary upon the launch of a new TLD Registry.

Additionally the Registry will comply fully with ICANN policy regarding reservation of geographical names and will ensure that any registrants of geographical names have the appropriate authorisation to use such a name in accordance with ICANN policy. See Q22 for additional specification of this policy.

v. Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.

Information given for the eligibility evaluation:

Registrants shall be required to agree to a privacy policy which shall detail how information provided by them to the Registry will be used, including explaining which information shall be made available to the public and⁄or regulatory bodies and under what circumstances.

For example, the Registry will compile and maintain a publicly accessible registration database that includes basic information about each domain name registered to it, including the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of individuals designated as points of contact for a given domain name.

Information published in the WHOIS service:

Information will be made available for the WHOIS service in accordance with ICANN policy.

General comments:

Registrants shall be required to endorse the Registry’s charter and code of practice which, amongst other matters, will confirm their adherence to privacy and data protection laws and regulations in the territories in which they operate, to ensure the protection of users.

The Registry itself shall operate to the highest standards of privacy and data protection, ensuring comprehensive understanding of its obligations by its senior officers, employees, agents and any third parties with which it works.

Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

Significant marketing and efforts are essential to educating consumers and raising their awareness of the .TICKETS namespace.

Accent Media will develop meaningful strategies and partnerships (with industry bodies, commercial partners (including, for example, credit card companies and banks), consumer protection organisations and law enforcement agencies) to provide the consumer education and awareness programme which will ensure that over time, Internet users requiring tickets or ticketing services will seek out only websites that use the .TICKETS domain. Consumers will trust that the .TICKETS domain will take them to authentic ticket vendors and service providers.

Accent Media will identify and engage with marketing partners to fund consumer education and awareness campaigns. These campaigns will be delivered on a sector by sector, territory by territory basis using locally relevant media campaigns to deliver the greatest impact towards achieving our goals and objectives. The primary goal of these campaigns will be to reach consumers most susceptible to online ticket fraud and deception.

Many industry sectors, such as the entertainment industry, have already engaged in initiatives to promote consumer awareness of fraud in online ticket sales. We will partner with these and new sectors and co-develop innovative ways of promoting our collective objectives that support our mission.

As an analogy, we will explore initiatives similar to that employed, for example, by the alcohol industry in the UK, Drinkaware (see www.drinkaware.co.uk), which aims to promote responsible drinking by equipping people with knowledge so as to enable them to make decisions about how they drink, and which is supported by voluntary donations from across the drinks industry.

Ultimately, through engagement with our key stakeholders, we envisage a future when a .TICKETS message is included prominently on all advertising and marketing for concerts, theatre productions, movies, sporting events and travel promotions as well as included on every ticket that is sold worldwide.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.menExclusive Registry Limitedfamousfourmedia.comView
Q18b
How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit Registrants, Internet users, and others?

The Applicantʹs primary intention is to provide a favorable ecosystem for the growth and evolution of the sector. The key to achieving this aim are significant provisions for brand integrity and protection of intellectual property. The Applicant intends to push the boundaries of what can be done through innovative design of the new top level domain, including technologies that capitalize on the sectorʹs needs. A close relationship with the sectorʹs stakeholders is essential to this purpose, and will enable .men to grow in response to both Registrant and user needs. The gTLD also contains significant opportunities as a next generation organizational scheme for online content, including provisions for abuse prevention to defend users against malicious registrations. The gTLD has been meticulously designed by a team of industry leaders from an array of different fields. This has enabled the creation of an airtight financial strategy, an inspired technological development plan as well as a close and dynamic relationship with the sector community - all critical needs on the path to the enduring success of the gTLD.

18(b)(i) What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

Specialty

The Applicant’s key specialty goal is to enable a secure and stable gTLD dedicated to providing global Internet users with a targeted space for subject matter of interest. This gTLD will serve as a home for both Registrants and end-users who feel an affinity with this sector and its associated content. Consequently they will prefer to register domain names, create and post content and seek information in a highly targeted manner.

Allowing users the ability to create a targeted, unique space within the new gTLD will enable them to customize their online offering and presence. The .men gTLD will by itself clearly signal the nature and purpose of such websites to Internet users.

The applicant intends to actively promote gTLD specific vertical searching in the gTLD for the benefit of Registrants, end-users and other stakeholders. This specialization through Vertical Search will also benefit Internet users seeking authentic online information and products or services as they will no longer have to wade through content completely unrelated to their desired results.

As the gTLD is sector specific it will provide a better context for second level strings allowing for a much higher number of relevant and more conscise domains. This more targeted environment will simplify the user experience across multiple platforms specifically with smartphones and tablets where minimal input is favoured.


Service Levels

The goal of the gTLD Registry is to offer domain name registration services of the highest level, exceeding both ICANN requirements and current sector norms. To achieve these goals, the Applicant has contracted with well established, proven service providers offering the highest possible level of quality in Registry and Registrar services. The expertise of the service providers will ensure that the security and quality of the gTLD will be uncompromised.

The Applicant will further provide the highest level of service to trademark, legal rights owners and second-level domain owners. To achieve this goal the Applicant will be implementing a range of Abuse Prevention and Mitigation policies and procedures. The Applicant is also firmly committed to the protection of Intellectual Property rights and will implement all the mandatory Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) contained in the Applicant Guidebook. Aswell as these The Applicant will further protect the rights of others through the implementation of additional RPMs. The RSPʹs experience will ensure that the gTLD provides this high level of service to trademark and other legal rights owners to combat abusive and malicious activity within the gTLD.

The Registry will respond to abuse or malicious conduct complaints on a 24⁄7⁄365 basis, respond to requests from governmental and quasi-governmental agencies and law enforcement in a timely manner, and promptly abide by decisions and judgments of UDRP and URS panels, in accordance with ICANN consensus policies.

The Applicant will also provide fast and responsive (24⁄7⁄365) customer support to both Registrars and end-users in a number of languages to assist with general enquiries as well as complaints of abusive or malicious conduct.


Service Levels related to Registry Backend Services

The Applicant will work with ARI Registry Services Inc. (hereinafter “RSP”) whose extensive experience spans more than a decade. This will ensure delivery of the protected, trusted, and permanently-running Registry infrastructure necessary to reliably host and operate a gTLD. The Applicant will also work with its Registrars to ensure that consumers receive secure, fast, and reliable domain name registration services with a high-level of customer service.

The global DNS network that will be utilised for the resolution of domains in this gTLD has already been operating for over 10 years. It currently delivers DNS resolution for several TLD customers and provides low latency query responses with a 100% DNS uptime service level agreement.

The Applicant will further leverage the RSP’s existing DNSSEC infrastructure, capabilities, and experience to provide a robust and standards compliant implementation that ensures DNSSEC services are always available as part of the DNS.

The Shared Registry System (“SRS”) to be used for the Applicantʹs gTLD is a production-proven, standards-based, highly reliable and high-performance domain name registration and management system that has been designed to operate at the highest performance levels. The Applicantʹs RSP has been able to meet or exceed their SLA requirements nearly every month since itʹs inception. Their Registry has achieved a 99.997% success rate in meeting SLAs since 2004.

The Applicantʹs RSP has extensive experience providing ICANN and RFC-compliant WHOIS services for each of the gTLDs that it operates as a Registry Operator for both gTLDs and ccTLDs. The RSPʹs thick WHOIS solution is production proven, highly flexible, and scalable with a track record of 100% availability over the past 10 years.

The Applicant will comply with all the data escrow requirements documented in the Registry Data Escrow (“RyDE”) Specification of the Registry Agreement and has a contract in place with Iron Mountain Intellectual Property Management, Inc. (“IM”) for RyDE Services. The Applicant and its RSP will in conjunction with Iron Mountain work to ensure that the escrow deposit process is compliant 100% of the time.


Reputation

The Applicant will ensure that the Registry enjoys an excellent reputation through its core focus on creating a secure, sustainable, and specialized gTLD, thus supporting ICANN’s primary goals for the new gTLD program in promoting consumer trust, consumer choice, competition and innovation.

The Applicant will strive to become a reputable and successful new gTLD by providing secure, fast and reliable customer service throughout the registration life cycle of all domains in the gTLD.

The Applicant will endeavour to ensure that only non-fraudulent Registrants have domain names in the gTLD via a WHOIS that is searchable, thick and reliable and by being highly responsive to complaints from legal rights owners. The Applicant will further implement an industry leading range of Abuse Prevention and Mitigation policies and procedures as well as RPMs.

The Applicant will provide the financial and operational stability to protect Registrants and ensure the reputation of the Registry. The Applicant has estimated the maximum costs of the critical functions for a three year period by taking the largest single year cost estimate (year 5) and multiplying this by 3. If the calculation used a lower figure the costs estimate would not be at the potential highest amount during the 5 years and the COI instrument would be too small in order to fund the costs of the 5 critical functions for at least 3 years.

The Applicant has decided to commit to providing the highest level of protection to Registrants and Stakeholders by providing ICANN with a COI for the maximum amount as recommended by ICANN in its COI Guidance. This ensures the Registry is reputable, remains conservative and mirrors ICANN’s core objectives. In a worst case scenario where the Applicant will not receive any revenue Registrants will be protected not only by the COI, but also by the fact that the Applicant has enough capital to operate for over 3 years.

Question 18(b)(ii) What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

It is expected that .men will provide significant competition for existing and forthcoming gTLDs. The .men gTLD will provide a blank canvas of second level domains that will inevitably lead to increased consumer choice and significant innovation from the sector. It will allow Registrants to seek new and varied ways to separate themselves from the competition.

Competition

The Applicant will enhance competition by allowing new Registrants to create new online products and services serving the global marketplace and connecting geographically diverse Registrants and users with a common affinity for the specialized subject matter exemplified by the new gTLD. The new gTLD process and its resulting gTLDs are likely to incentivize top-level domains to improve the security and quality of their online products and services as well as introducing new ones. Thus, this gTLD will benefit consumers by increasing the likelihood of new innovative online products and services.The addition of a new gTLD such as .men will also increase competition between existing registries.

The Applicant will promote competition to the benefit of the Registrants by amongst other things:

- Building a healthy growth trend of domain registrations to validate the specialty space
- Promote the migration of sector relevant content from other TLDs
- Maintaining competitive pricing of domains

Differentiation

Currently, there is no gTLD available on the Internet that signifies the specialized products, services, and subject matter encompassed by this gTLD. The gTLD string itself will give a clear indication to website visitors that the site has content relevant to the sector. This will result in the gTLD becoming globally recognizable and viewed as a trusted source of goods, services and information.

Innovation

The gTLD will demonstrate innovation through cutting edge RPMs.

Firstly the Applicant considers the Protection of Intergovernmental Organization (ʺIGOʺ) names to be very important. The Applicant will use strings registered as second level domains in the .int gTLD as the basis for this protection. To register in the .int domain, the Registrants must be an IGO that meets the requirements found in RFC 1591. The Applicant will reserve these strings and only allow for their future release if an IGO on the “reserve list” wishes to make use of the protected string in the gTLD and provides the Applicant with sufficient documentation.


Finally if a Registrant during sunrise and landrush applies to register a domain name identical to a capital city name of a country or territory listed in the ISO 3166-1 standard it will receive a Capital City Claims (“CCC”) notification stating this. Subsequently they will have to reply unconditionally agreeing to comply with requirements to protect the reputation of the capital city and any further terms.

These functions will enhance Internet stability, security and will demonstrate to Registrars, Registrants, and end-users of the Registry that abusive or malicious conduct will not be tolerated. They will further contribute significantly to the integrity of the gTLD enabling an environment where stakeholders can innovate with confidence.

Question 18(b)(iii) What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

The Applicant’s goals for the new gTLD are to provide a trusted, secure, and user friendly environment whereby domain names and content relating to its specific affinity group can flourish.

The Applicant believes that the success of the gTLD will be determined by the sector’s key stakeholders globally. The Applicant believes that stakeholders should have the opportunity to influence the gTLD and the way it is governed. Accordingly, the Applicant is establishing a Governance Council (“GC”), to serve as an advisory body.

.men will be developed with consumer trust, choice and satisfaction in mind and after the initial 2 years, the Applicant will conduct a survey to analyse the gTLDʹs success in these areas to help further improve the user experience.

To ensure a high level of service the Applicant will further measure:

- Service Availability Targets for the Critical Registry Functions
- The number of abuse incidents and takedowns
- ICANN Compliance
- Rights protection incidents (i.e. UDRP and URS)
- WHOIS data accuracy

The Applicant intends to promote consumer choice by providing the following:

- Highly available and geographically diverse Registrar distribution channel;
- Effective sunrise and trademark services.

Question 18(b)(iv) Provide a complete description of the applicantʹs intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

Registration Policies

The purpose and goal of the Applicant’s policies are to ensure competition, fairness, trust and reliability for Registrars, Registrants, the user community, and other stake holders, while maintaining security and stability for the gTLD.

General Policy

Aside from certain start-up mechanisms, all domain names will generally be registered on a first-come, first-served basis. A Trademark Claims service will be offered for the first 90 days of general registration, with the intent of providing clear notice to potential Registrants of the existing rights of trademark owners with registered trademarks in the Trademark Clearinghouse.

Registration Policies

As per ICANN’s requirements, the Applicant will be operating both a Sunrise and Landrush period ahead of general availability for the gTLD.

Governance Council

The Applicant is establishing a the GC, to be comprised of key sector stakeholders that will serve as an advisory body. Each GC will elect its own Board of Directors, which will be responsible for self-governance, the recommendation of sector-specific registration policies,the formulation of guidance on intellectual property and other best practices related to the gTLD.


The Applicant aims to develop an Abuse Prevention and Mitigation Working Group in conjunction with the GC. It will give the Applicant’s team advice on abuse preventions and mitigation and how this may effect registration policies. The group will meet to regularly discuss the latest trends in domain name abuse and the most effective way to prevent and remedy them.

Question 18(b)(v) Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of Registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.

Data and Privacy Policies

The Applicant shall comply with all the Data, WHOIS, and Privacy requirements in the Applicant Guidebook required by ICANN. The Applicant will take all possible steps to maintain the security and privacy of information or data that it may collect in connection with the planned function and usage of names domains, and will remain in compliance with all confidentiality and security regulations in relevant jurisdictions. This data will be held by the Applicant in accordance with the Registry Agreement that the Applicant will execute with ICANN.

The Applicant has further ensured that its suppliers also understand that keeping information secure and private is of crucial importance and will take all available steps to maintain the security and privacy of information collected from the Applicants in the Sunrise, Landrush and General Availability Phases.

Question 18(b) Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

The Applicant plans on making the gTLD the premier gTLD where individuals and organizations can register, build and maintain websites relating to their specific interest area. Thus, communication with the public and development of an outreach campaign are important goals in connection with the gTLD.

During the gTLD evaluation process, the Applicant plans to conduct a two-to-three month communications campaign aimed at reaching sector stakeholders and informing them of the gTLD’s mission and the opportunity to participate in the GC. The communication outreach will include email communications to hundreds of leading sector organizations. It will also be accompanied by the launch of a website for communicating information about the gTLD and allowing interested members of the related sector to express interest in serving on the GC. Other communications efforts, including but not limited to, press releases and social media campaigns may all be initiated to raise further awareness regarding the gTLD.

Shortly after completing the evaluation process and being awarded the gTLD, the Applicant will institute marketing and outreach efforts to inform the public about the new gTLD, its launch schedule, and its intended affinity group. The Applicant will use different outreach and communications methods and venues to get the new gTLD mission and message out to the public, including but not limited to the following: online and print press releases, communications with various media outlets, domain name sector groups, mobile apps and various social media platforms. The GC will be used as a further means of outreach and communication to the Internet community.
-end-