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

Prototypical answer:

(b) (i)

The .PARIS TLD is planned as the national and international digital territory for the City of Paris. The goal of .PARIS in terms of specialty is to focus on the needs of the Paris community. Service levels will match or exceed the high end of currently existing TLDs. The .PARIS registry will vigorously build and defend the reputation of .PARIS as a well-managed, orderly and progressive TLD for the Paris community.

(b) (ii)
The current Internet namespace has no City names, either as a gTLD or as a ccTLD. The .PARIS TLD is therefore innovative as it aims to bring the Paris identity to a unique web identifier. This is the first time a Capital city will have the opportunity of running a dedicated TLD and providing users with a unique area on the Internet. Currently, Paris only exists on the web as a subdomain of the French ccTLD Dot FR. Users do not have a clear defined area which they can link to Paris. The .PARIS TLD aims to remedy this.

As a name space specific to a metropolitan area with 12 million inhabitants and considerable economic and cultural significance, the .PARIS TLD fills a large gap in terms of consumer choice. From a competition standpoint, it creates a level playing field with respect to the market power of large unspecific TLDs. It is naturally differentiated from other TLDs both by its scope, by its governance model and by its intrinsic meaning. Innovation is greatly enhanced by the proactive structured development of the name space. The development of the TLD involves an open process with calls for proposals for purpose-built localized services based on designated portions of the .PARIS name space. This approach helps leverage the innovative potential that exists worldwide for the benefit of the Paris community and for the advancement of the global Internet.

(b) (iii)

The TLD, operated by a public body for the common interest of Parisians and visitors⁄lovers of Paris worldwide, will offer the following advantages.

= Social =

* Clearly identify the Paris community on the Internet.
* Create a single, easily recognisable identity for Paris on the Internet.
* Existing and new services can be tailored to fit local requirements and supervised by the City of Paris to ensure the public interest is upheld.
* As the use of the Internet through mobile devices is already widespread in Paris, specific services aimed at this type of use can be introduced and clearly labelled under .PARIS. Mobile use of the Internet is a key factor in increasing the quality of access to services and information provide by a key tourist destination such as Paris.
* Allow users to access these new services or create new services of their own through their operation of .PARIS web addresses.

= Image =

* Running its own TLD strengthens Parisʹ image as a technology leader.
* The .PARIS TLD is positioned as the official entry point on the Web for anything Paris-related, both for Parisians, local users and tourists.
* The decision, by a major city, to operate its own TLD also sends a clear signal to the national and international business community that Paris is extremely technology friendly, thus helping to boost the regionʹs economic development.

= Security =

* Operating its own TLD will give the City of Paris greater control over the use of the term ʺParisʺ on the Internet, as it pertains to the French Capital.
* Technical and security evolutions can be taken into account in a timely manner on the Dot Paris platform.

= Citizenship =

* Parisians will be able to signal their place of residence with a .PARIS domain name or email address.
* Local businesses will also be able to make their geographic location clear.
* Internet users with close links to Paris, be they business or personal, can reinforce them through a .PARIS domain name.

= Investment =

* Operating the TLD may generate revenue for the City of Paris. As a public body, the City of Paris would use this revenue for the common interest of its citizens, as the profits generated are reinvested in the public services the city oversees.
* The City of Paris has set a low registry price for .PARIS domains in the hope that registrars will sell .PARIS domains name registrations at a price that puts them within financial reach of the highest number of potential users.
* Due to its intended low registration price, users of a .PARIS domain name would benefit from quick and easy ROIs in terms of image (link to Paris) and SEO indexing (increased visibility for their .PARIS web addresses).

= Legal =

* As the name of a Capital city, Paris is a valuable term that needs to be protected in the interest of local citizens and visitors to the city alike. By operating its own TLD, the City of Paris would be able to monitor the use of the term Paris, as it pertains to the Capital of France, on the Internet.
* The City of Paris would be better equipped to defend its intellectual property rights through its management of a dedicated TLD. One example of this is the definition of reserved names by the City of Paris as a registry operator, thereby precluding the rogue use of certain infringing terms which it is powerless to do under existing TLDs which are operated outside of its control.

Compared to most existing TLDs, the .PARIS user experience will bring domain names that are more predictable to users in terms of content and easier to remember. The community-based focus, the orderly launch process and strong intellectual property support ensure that users will generally find the services they are looking for under the names they intuitively tend to use for them. Users will also gain greater comfort when using variants. Users in the Paris community will be able to get accustomed to the predictability of .PARIS domain names. As a result, they will also be better equipped to avoid being tricked by typosquatting, pay-per-click or domain-for-sale pages.

(b) (iv)

The registration policies are differentiated between the pre-launch, launch and general availability phases.

During pre-launch, projects and content provision commitments are actively sought and negotiated, especially for key public-interest portions of the name space. All potential registrants and mandate holders are subject to screening and thorough pre-validation.

During the launch phase, all registrations are pre-validated; launch phase pre-validation depends on priority status (public service, trademark, no prior rights) but will always involve community nexus.

At general availability, community nexus is subject to post-validation by way of an extensive compliance program. The ongoing compliance program will regularly be adapted to current needs based on experience and audit findings. Community nexus validation combined with strong protection of trademarks helps stamp out cybersquatting and abusive registrations.

(b) (v)

The protection of privacy and confidential information of registrants and users will comply with French Law and the European Data Protection Directive, as well as the ICANN standards. Within the bounds of applicable regulations, the registry will implement anti-data mining measures by way of rate limitation, authenticated access or white-listing⁄black-listing, as well as tools to prevent unauthorized recourse to repetitive automated access.

= Outreach =

A full PR and communications campaign was initiated as soon as the City of Paris announced its intention to apply for .PARIS. Paris was the first major city to commit to ICANNʹs new gTLD program in June 2008, as the ICANN Board approved the GNSOʹs PDP on new gTLDs.

Media and PR campaigns have helped raise awareness of .PARIS, making the TLD one of the best known potential new gTLDs set to come out of ICANNʹs program.

In 2010, a dedicated website was launched to explain .PARIS to the community. The website is at http:⁄⁄SoutenonsPointParis.fr (support .PARIS) and features an online support page where Internet users can sign up to show their support for the TLD.

Dedicated Twitter, Facebook and Flickr accounts have also been opened.

A special event has already been hosted at the Paris town hall, personally attended by the Mayor of Paris Bertrand DELANOE, in support of the .PARIS TLD.

The .PARIS TLD has outreach programs tailored to each of its launch phases.

Pre-launch will involve calls for projects by innovators and pioneers aimed at increasing the usability of the .PARIS TLD with a focus on the needs of the Paris community. Once these domain names are active, they become an outreach mechanism in their own right, because they establish the touch-and-feel of the .PARIS TLD in the minds of the users.

The launch phases will involve outreach mechanisms that specifically leverage participation by the local public services, locally relevant trademarks and local actors.

Promotion codes distributed through community-specific channels are a form of outreach available at any time. They are also a low-cost method to achieve community nexus and to prevent abusive registrations.

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