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

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.music.music LLCfarfurther.comView
How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others? Answers should address the following points:

1. What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

Our goal is to work with members of the global music community to create a trusted, secure and restricted TLD for accredited members of the music community. The dotMusic Registry will provide qualifying registrants the opportunity to register their preferred domain name in a safe, reputable and globally accessible TLD. Registrants will be identified and validated as members of the music community through their existing and maintained membership in existing associations related to the creation and support of music.

The World Wide Web today features a large number and enormous variety of music-related websites. While our business model depends only on modest uptake in the early years, we anticipate that as the .music TLD demonstrates the trust and security of a specialized namespace over time, more and more music-related content and related economic transactions will be moved to the .music TLD from current gTLD and ccTLD domains.

• The .music TLD will meet or exceed the ICANNʹs availability requirements. The .music TLD will operate as an exemplary registry, using best practices and deploying appropriate technology to safeguard creative rights, providing end users assurance about the identity and community qualifications of the TLD’s registrants.
• The .music TLD will use a variety of online scanning tools that search for key words that are commonly used to signal the availability of music distributed without appropriate authorization or in violation of intellectual property rights to aid in mitigating copyright infringement for the music community in general.
• The .music TLD will maintain a reputable marketplace for end-users through our general abuse policies and their active enforcement.

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

Among ICANN’s core values is a fundamental commitment to “Introducing and promoting competition in the registration of domain names where practicable and beneficial in the public interest.” The dotMusic Registry will be a new direct competitor to the current group of global generic TLDs, offering an entirely music-focused environment and branding. Our business plan is to serve musicians in economically-developed, as well as key growing international markets, who will benefit from a TLD registry dedicated to address the unique needs of its community.

The dotMusic Registry’s differentiation will be “supporting and sustaining musical creativity through respect for intellectual property”. More than any of the current community-focused gTLD registries, we will provide end-users a domain space that assures them of the community qualifications and identity of a registrant. The reputation of that registrant is tied to their domain registration through verification of their membership standing by their applicable music association. The dotMusic Registry will directly verify a registrant’s affiliation with a qualifying music association member both at initial application and through annual reviews of each association. Intrinsically, this adds the reputational weight of many music associations (through our .music registrants) to that of the domain name.

The dotMusic Registry’s innovation will focus on two areas: 1) The restricted registrant participation of our string, which we believe is an ideal combination of inclusiveness for all music associations and their members AND validation of community standing, and 2) Our enhanced abuse management programs to ensure the sustainability of the artist and songwriter through protection of their creations.

New gTLD registries have largely focused on North America and European marketplaces. Since music is the “universal language”, as the dotMusic Registry, we will offer the .music TLD to international markets, with the goal of a truly global distribution of registrants. To further serve the international market, the dotMusic Registry may at its option, offer the IDN equivalents of .music in other scripts⁄languages.

Our intent is to operate .music with a focus on trust and security for the .music brand. This entails running a robust rights protection program from initiation, which in our case meets - and significantly exceeds - ICANN’s requirements. We will engage an abuse-detection and prevention team, as well as bring on board an experienced and disciplined management team. These, along with other strong provisions (detailed in our answers to 28, 29 and 30), will enable us to act where registrars are remiss in their responsibilities. The dotMusic Registry will have the potential to set new standards for the reduction and mitigation of domain abuse.

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

The purpose of .music is to provide an online “home” to registrants identified as members of the .music community to hold active registrations for their name or online identity⁄brand The Internet user will know that they are dealing with a registrant that is identity-verified and compliant in their use and distribution of intellection property. This assurance allows Internet users of the .music TLD to have high expectations of trust and security regarding content purchased or consumed. These are intrinsic in the qualifications associated with our defined community.

The dotMusic Registry will deploy DNS Security Extensions, also known as DNSSEC, for the .music TLD. DNSSEC will help prevent data integrity attacks, and the risk of users being diverted or hijacked to malicious or unsafe sites, which often are involved in identify theft. DNSSEC deployment will ensure that visitors to .music domain names are in fact reaching their intended website and not subject to malicious activity such as phishing or identity theft. We will also abide by all policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and⁄or via any Consensus Policy.

In support of this registration requirement, we make a firm commitment to protecting users of our TLD and to maintaining the TLD as a reputable space. Our .music will have powerful policies and procedures for dealing with abusive registrations, and the illegal or malicious use of domain names. We describe those plans fully in our response to Question 28 (“Abuse Prevention and Mitigation”).

The introduction of .music will include a rollout planned with a primary goal of protecting trademark rights and intellectual property. We describe those plans fully in our responses to Question 18(c) and Question 29 (“Rights Protection Mechanisms”).

Users of the .music TLD will also have the use of the WHOIS service; registrants and other contacts will have their contact details available via WHOIS. Please see our answer to Question 26 regarding “searchable WHOIS” and rate-limiting. Limiting the mining of WHOIS data will mitigate spammers and other malicious parties who abuse access to WHOIS services by mining the data for their own illegitimate purposes.

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

Musical artists, musicians, songwriters and music professionals who are validated members of a qualifying music association will be permitted to register second level names (name, online identity⁄brand) in the .music TLD. As such, the TLD will have a restricted registration policy so that Internet users are assured that a .music registrant is in fact a member of at least one or more Member Organizations in the Global Music Community. The TLD is supported by music organizations and associations from around the globe, and will be available to registrants in all areas of the world. Since many qualifying music associations themselves are global in nature and⁄or accept membership from individuals globally, we anticipate rapid international participation. Domain registrations may be accepted, but will not resolve until the registrant has been identified and validated as a member of the music community via their membership in at least one existing association related to the creation and support of music. Second level .music domain names can be registered by individuals, businesses and not-for-profit entities.

Members of the community of musical artists, musicians, songwriters, and music professionals have highly varying needs and use websites in a wide variety of ways. In addition, because .music will operate as a global registry from inception, formatting flexibility is required to accommodate bandwidth constraints that may be experienced in the developing world. Accordingly, the registry will not mandate any particular formatting or usage. Registrants must, however, hold valid rights to all materials displayed on and⁄or distributed through their specific site. We anticipate this will result in innovative and creative websites by .music registrants.

Reserved Names:

In .music we will reserve the following classes of domain names, which will not be available to registrants via the Sunrise or subsequent periods:

• The reserved names required in Specification 5 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement.
• The geographic names required in Specification 5 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement, and as per our response to Question 21. See our response to Question 22 (“Protection of Geographic Names”) for details.
• The registry operator will reserve its own name and variations thereof, and registry operations names (such as nic.music, and registry.music,), so that we can point them to our Web site. Reservation of the registry operator’s names was standard in ICANN’s past gTLD contracts.
• We will also reserve names related to ICANN and Internet standards bodies (iana.music, ietf.music, www.music, etc.), for delegation of those names to the relevant organizations upon their request. Reservation of this type of name was standard in ICANN’s past gTLD contracts.
The list of reserved names will be published publicly before the Sunrise period begins, so that registrars and potential registrants will know which names have been set aside.


Premium Names:

• The dotMusic Registry will also designate a set of “premium names,” which will be set aside for distribution via special mechanisms. Premium names have been a standard feature of gTLD and ccTLD rollouts since 2005. The list of premium names will be published publicly before the Sunrise period begins, so that registrars and potential registrants will know which names have been set aside.
• Premium names will be distributed by application only. We will accept applications that describe intended use of a given premium name that best supports the development of the .music community consistently with its defining criteria. The policies and procedures for receiving, reviewing, and awarding premium name applications will be posted on the .music web site in advance, based on input from the .music Policy Advisory Board. We will create policies and procedures that ensure clear, consistent, fair, and ethical distribution of names. For example, all employees of the dotMusic Registry operator, and its contractors, will be strictly prohibited from bidding in auctions for domains in the TLD. As an additional protection for Rights Holders we will continue to use the Trademark Clearinghouse during General Availability (Trademark Claims Service) for an additional 60 days, for notifications of new registrations only where the string is a complete match with a filing in the Trademark Clearinghouse. Additionally, we will address this process asynchronously to the registration process and in consideration of the technical capabilities⁄limitations of the Trademark Clearinghouse, once an implementation model for the Clearinghouse has been finalized.

Dispute Resolution Mechanisms:

• Registrants and rights holders will have access to several dispute mechanisms. These are fair and transparent processes to adjudicate claims to domain names, and they also protect registrants against reverse domain hijacking.
• Names registered in the Sunrise Period will be subject to a Sunrise Dispute Policy. This policy and procedure will be in effect for a finite time period, to provide special protection of qualified trademark rights. Please see our response to Question 29 (“Rights Protection Mechanisms”) for full details.
• As required by ICANN, .music domains will be subject to the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). Please see our response to Question 29 (“Rights Protection Mechanisms”) for full details.
• As required by ICANN, .music domains will also be subject to the Universal Rapid Suspension (URS) policy. See the URS specifications in Applicant Guidebook Module 5. Please see our answer to Question 29 (“Rights Protection Mechanisms”) for full details about how we will provision for our URS responsibilities.
• We will provision systems to take in and administrate cases as per ICANN’s Registrar Transfer Dispute Resolutions Policy ( http:⁄⁄www.icann.org⁄en⁄transfers⁄dispute-policy-12jul04.htm ) This process will allow registrars to protect registrants by filing disputes about inter-registrar transfers that they believe were unauthorized or improperly executed.
• MEDRP: .music will support the Music Eligibility Dispute Resolution Requirements Procedure. This dispute mechanism will be available to members of the .music community and end-users to file claims against registrants of the .music domain for violations of the .music eligibility and use community rules and policies. We will select an adjudication service from the list of ICANN approved arbitrators to facilitate MEDRP claims (please see Q28 and Q29 for further details).


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.

We will have several measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users.

• Please see our answer to Question 26 regarding “searchable WHOIS” and rate-limiting. That section contains details about how we will limit the mining of WHOIS data by spammers and other parties who abuse access to the WHOIS.
• Please also see our answer to Question 28, regarding the use of proxy and privacy services. We will allow the use of such services, where they comply with ICANN policies and requirements, which can protect the privacy and personal data of registrants from spammers and other parties that mine zone files and WHOIS data. If ICANN establishes a privacy⁄proxy service accreditation program, registrars will be required to use accredited providers only. We are aware that there are parties who may use privacy services to protect themselves from political or religious persecution, and we respect this need. In Question 28, we also describe our proposed policies to limit the use of privacy and proxy services by malicious parties, thereby reducing e-crime within the TLD.
• As per the requirements of the new gTLD Registry Agreement (Article 2.17), we shall notify each of our registrars regarding the purposes for which data about any identified or identifiable natural person (“Personal Data”) submitted to the Registry Operator by such registrar is collected and used, and the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data. (This data is basically the registrant and contact data required to be published in the WHOIS.) We will also require each registrar to obtain the consent of each registrant in the TLD for such collection and use of Personal Data. As the registry operator, we shall not use or authorize the use of Personal Data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars.
• As the registry operator we shall take significant steps to protect Personal Data collected from registrars from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration, or destruction. In our responses to Question 30 (“Security Policy”) and Question 38 (“Escrow”) we detail the security policies and procedures we will use to protect the registry system and the data contained there from unauthorized access and loss.
• As registry operator we plan to use ICANN accredited registrars who agree to a variety of information technology policies and procedures designed to verify registrant eligibility, validate registrant contact data, and protect registrant data from unauthorized access, use, or alteration. These may include standards for access to the registrar and registry system, password management protocols. Please see our response to Question 30 (“Security Policy”) for details.

• We also plan to offer a “registry lock” service, designed to help protect participating registrants’ contact data from unauthorized modification, and against unauthorized domain transfers and deletions. Please see Questions 23 (“Registry Services”) for details.

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

Our goal for .music is to create a trusted brand and secure name space for accredited members of the .music community. To achieve this, we will emphasize distribution channels internationally – not just in one or more focused regions. Our business plans call for focused outreach through our accredited community associations, who in connection with verifying registrant eligibility, may interact directly with ICANN-accredited registrars that have demonstrated their ability and willingness to adhere to the .music standards. As part of that relationship development, we will design our communication approach to initially target those accredited music associations seeking to work with registrars to distribute .music domains as potential resellers to their members.

We anticipate that ICANNʹs outreach and communications program will benefit all new gTLDs. Media coverage about the availability of new TLDs will validate and reinforce our efforts. The more that members of the .music community understand that new TLDs are available, the faster they are likely to adopt our .music registrations and other new TLDs.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.siteCharleston Road Registry Inc.google.comView
18.b. Benefits to Registrants, Internet Users, and Others

18.b.i.1. Specialty

Charleston Road Registry intends to apply for an exemption to ICANN’s Registry Operator Code of Conduct and operate the proposed gTLD with Google as the sole registrar and registrant. The proposed gTLD will specifically align with Googleʹs website publishing offerings, and will provide users with improved capabilities that meet their diverse needs.

The specialization goal of the proposed gTLD is to provide a dedicated second-level domain space for Googleʹs website publishing offerings. This specialization introduces a new domain name hierarchy that will generate new second-level namespace, and provide for streamlined, internal Google management of the introduction and phase out of Google products and⁄or services within the domain.

This specialization offers Internet users Google services that will enhance their current and future experience with Googleʹs website publishing offerings. Google will manage a process whereby users will be able to make use of unique vanity names in the gTLD; such second-level domains will only point to the Google offering. This provides users with a distinctive namespace as they develop and implement a unique, customized vision for their use of Googleʹs website publishing offerings. Google strives to offer its customers cutting edge tools that will not only enable them to better personalize their respective second-level domain content, but also spur further creativity and generate new options on the Internet.

As the Internet is ever changing, these services will evolve to meet users’ needs to the benefit of the Internet public. Google seeks to continuously provide tools that solve problems faced by Internet users, and, in partnership with Charleston Road Registry, the proposed gTLD will open the opportunity for Google to provide these customer-centric solutions.

18.b.i.2. Service Levels

Through its association with Google, Charleston Road Registry is uniquely positioned to enable and support the proposed gTLD by providing its service reliability and speed of delivery as a part of its services. Google brings unique expertise and a proven record of excellence in infrastructure operations: Google now runs the largest DNS system in the world, has industry-leading uptime on its services, such as web search, and offers enterprise services on which governments and businesses depend.

Charleston Road Registry’s service level goal for the proposed gTLD is to ensure that Google, as the proposed sole registrant, is supported in delivering the high level of quality, speed, and service to users for which it is known. Indeed, two of Google’s core principles in providing Internet search and related goods and services are “focus on the user and all else will follow” and “fast is better than slow.”

In focusing on the user, Google strives to provide the best user experience possible. Google will continue to operate under this principle when designing new offerings and providing goods and services within the proposed gTLD.

Google keeps speed in mind with each new product it releases, from faster mobile applications to improved Web browsers designed for rapid search and navigation. Google continues to devote its resources to improving speed and efficiency. In managing the proposed gTLD, Google expects to keep its service reliability and speed to this standard through direct management of all technical infrastructure related to DNS resolution other than the operation of the root servers.

Charleston Road Registry is committed to using the most technologically advanced, secure, and reliable registry services for all of the domain names within the gTLD so as to not compromise the service levels, security, and stability of the gTLD to users across the globe.

18.b.i.3. Reputation

Google has a proven record of providing high-quality, secure online services. Charleston Road Registry seeks to enhance Google’s reputation for excellence, superior quality, and high level of security and become known as an exemplary domain name services provider.

When Internet users visit a domain name in the proposed gTLD environment, they will be able to reliably expect and experience the high level of security and quality on which Google’s reputation has been built.

The registry will be structured so that Google registers and manages domain names in the site gTLD, that those domain names are used for only Googleʹs website publishing offerings-related purposes, and that the registry is responsive to legal rights owners (if applicable).

As noted, Charleston Road Registry intends to apply for an exemption to ICANN’s Registry Operator Code of Conduct and operate the proposed gTLD with Google as the sole registrar and registrant. This facilitates Google’s ability to further enhance the brand and reputation of the Google offering.

In addition, Charleston Road Registry’s operation of the new gTLD will provide the opportunity for users to build and⁄or bolster their unique brands or tailor unique user identities in association with the proposed gTLD and Googleʹs website publishing offerings.

18.b.ii.1. Competition

Charleston Road Registry supports the advancement of registry operators as a whole and the diffusion of gTLDs amongst diverse stakeholders to generate increased competition for the benefit of the Internet public. Increased competition will result in more competitive prices for consumers, generate efficiencies and increase productivity in enterprises, and spur innovation in the gTLD space.

Google will have the opportunity to differentiate and innovate upon its website publishing offerings, products and services through its use of the gTLD.

The proposed gTLD, .site, will provide a new mechanism whereby Google plans to offer individuals, groups and enterprises, products and services related to website publishing. Charleston Road Registry anticipates the .site gTLD will help grow the volume of user accounts of web publishing services on the Internet, thereby increasing competition among all service providers.

The proposed gTLD will promote competition in the gTLD space by inciting competitors to respond with improved gTLD operations, greater range and higher quality products and services integrated with domain name offerings, and⁄or the creation of their own respective gTLDs, to the benefit of all Internet users. Launching the proposed gTLD will also generate increased competition in the online marketplace by adding incremental availability to the second-level domain pool.

Charleston Road Registry intends to apply for an exemption to the ICANN Registry Operator Code of Conduct and to act as the sole registrar for the proposed gTLD. Given that the proposed gTLD is exclusively intended for use in connection with Googleʹs services, Charleston Road Registry believes that there is a reasonable case for such an exemption. Should ICANN not approve this proposed exemption, Charleston Road Registry will facilitate a fair and equitable registrar process, providing open access to any registrar who meets ICANN accreditation guidelines

18.b.ii.2. Differentiation

The proposed gTLD will clearly be differentiated from other gTLDs due to its purposefully limited scope. This differentiation includes: (1) uniqueness in terms of the users the proposed gTLD seeks to benefit; (2) a clear indicator that second-level domains within the gTLD offer a particular, targeted content; (3) and because the TLD will be associated with a Google offering, Internet users will immediately be able to rely on the quality of the product.

The gTLD will provide an authoritative environment for the provision of Googleʹs website publishing offerings. New, higher quality products offered in the gTLD will also attract new users to the Google offering.

The .site gTLD will provide Google with the opportunity to differentiate its services from other service providers by virtue of its suite of offerings and branded gTLD. This signification is not currently available in the gTLD space.

The proposed gTLD will also encourage differentiation among users. Google’s services, including tools to improve and customize users’ unique Googleʹs website publishing offering experiences, will provide users with new ways of distinguishing themselves from others.

18.b.ii.3. Innovation

The proposed gTLD is in itself innovative, as it seamlessly combines DNS services with other Google products and services. The proposed gTLD will promote further innovation by creating a new space for the categorization and classification of online content. It will also provide services to users that will enable them to improve their interaction with Googleʹs website publishing offerings on the Internet. This environment delivers value to the public by introducing new and differentiated content, goods and services.

The proposed gTLD, .site, will promote innovation by encouraging competitors of Google to provide linkages to their products that fulfill the same need as Google plans to deliver to its users. Google may choose to innovate within its portfolio of web spaces and introduce distinguishing feature(s) that will further crystallize the relationship between content offered in the gTLD and the Google brand and reputation. This will likely invite user comparison among domains, encouraging other web publishing service providers to innovate new features and services as a point of differentiation.

Charleston Road Registry considers the proposed gTLD to be a platform for innovation with existing and future Google products and services. Charleston Road Registry, therefore, may incorporate these new offerings into future registry service options (subject to the ICANN approval process), infusing new ideas into the gTLD for the betterment of the public.

Google consistently aims to improve upon technologies that connect people with information, as demonstrated by a proven record of innovation and iteration. Charleston Road Registry strives to offer its users this same level of continuous development in advancing its management and operation of the gTLD, engendering an improved user experience.

18.b.iii. User Experience

Charleston Road Registry will strive to provide the highest level of user experience through operational stability, security and performance to serve the interest of users in the proposed gTLD. Charleston Road Registry is uniquely positioned to provide this level of experience given its relationship with Google; per its SEC filings, Google invested over $3 billion in its IT infrastructure in 2011 and maintains a record of excellence in infrastructure operations.

Google keeps user experience in mind with each new service it releases, from allowing users to personalize their Gmail accounts to providing small to medium businesses with tools customized for their specific needs. The proposed gTLD provides Google with a formal mechanism whereby it can continue to improve its services to address the ever-changing needs of all Internet users.

The proposed gTLD, furthermore, facilitates an improved online user experience by provisioning the DNS on users’ behalf and streamlining the process by which users are able to link to and make use of the Google offering.

The proposed gTLD, .site, will provide users with an improved user experience by allowing for direct management of their respective content within the .site gTLD.

In focusing on the user, Google strives to provide the best user experience possible. Google will continue to operate under this principle when designing and providing new service offerings in the proposed gTLD. The proposed gTLD will provide users with improved customization services and facilitate additional opportunities to enhance their current and future experience with Googleʹs website publishing offerings.

The proposed gTLD will provide a more trusted and user-friendly environment where domain names and content related to the site gTLD can flourish. Charleston Road Registry seeks to have users deem the gTLD trustworthy and reliable and recognize it as an aggregated source of targeted goods, services, and information.

Lastly, the proposed gTLD improves the Internet user experience by creating greater structure and categorization on the Internet.

18.b.iv. Registration Policies

Because the sole purpose of the proposed gTLD is to associate domain names with the Googleʹs website publishing offerings, Charleston Road Registry intends to apply for an exemption to the ICANN Registry Operator Code of Conduct and operate the gTLD with Google as the sole registrar and registrant. As the sole registrant, Google will have the opportunity to differentiate and innovate upon its website publishing offerings, products and services through its use of the gTLD.

Given the proposed limited scope and use of the gTLD, Charleston Road Registry believes that there is a reasonable case for such an exemption. Should ICANN not condone this proposed exemption, Charleston Road Registry will make access to Registry Services, including the shared registration system, available to all ICANN-accredited registrars.

Google will manage a process whereby users will be able to make use of unique vanity names in the gTLD; such second-level domains will only point to the Googleʹs website publishing offerings.

Charleston Road Registry believes that given its specific use, the .site gTLD will best add value to the gTLD space by limiting all second-level domains to the sole use of pointing to Googleʹs web publishing suite of offerings. In addition, only entities and individuals with a Google log-in or who register for a new account will be eligible for a second-level domain within the gTLD.

Charleston Road Registry is committed to implementing strong and integrated intellectual property rights protection mechanisms. Doing so is critical to Google’s goals of model Internet citizenship and fostering Internet development, especially in emerging regions. Accordingly, Charleston Road Registry intends to offer a suite of rights protection measures which builds upon ICANNʹs required policies while fulfilling our commitment to encouraging innovation, competition and choice on the Internet.

18.b.v. Protection of Privacy and Confidential Information

Charleston Road Registry will strive to ensure the appropriate level of privacy and security will be met for its users. Although Google will be the only registrant (and is intended to serve as the only registrar for the gTLD as well), Charleston Road Registry and its provider of registry services, Google, have imposed measures to achieve this protection for their users; additional specifics regarding the practices for the registry include but are not limited to the following:

- Since Google will be the only registrant, personally identifying information regarding individual users will not be sent to or stored by the registry. Such data will remain on Google’s infrastructure used to provide the individual service, and is subject to Google’s existing privacy policy.

- Charleston Road Registry will attempt to prevent the misuse of WHOIS data for improper purposes such as spam, intellectual property theft or phishing. Charleston Road Registry will attempt to identify patterns of abusive usage of the WHOIS service and will appropriately use CAPTCHA, query throttling or other techniques to prevent information scraping.

- Google will restrict access to data and information systems maintained by the registry to a specific list of individuals involved with supporting the Google Registry system in production. Google will review this list on a periodic basis to ensure that the level of access granted to individuals is appropriate. Google uses two-factor authentication and other mechanisms to ensure that staff with access to user information are properly identified prior to using registry systems.

- In the event that other registrars are involved, registrar billing and payment information will not be stored alongside domain name registration information. All registrar billing and payment information will be stored in a PCI-compliant billing system similar to that used by Google Ads.

Beyond these specific mechanisms, both Charleston Road Registry and Google will govern its approach to privacy by the Google Privacy Policy. This policy applies to registrars, registrants and end users of registry services such as DNS zone publication and WHOIS data publication. The Privacy Policy is located at http:⁄⁄www.google.com⁄policies⁄privacy⁄.

18.b.vi. Outreach and Communications Efforts

Once Google begins developing public-facing resources in its gTLD, it intends to inform the public about the gTLD and the opportunity for users to obtain domain space there through marketing and public relation investments.

Charleston Road Registry, in conjunction with Google, intends to promote gTLDs under its purview collectively, such that the public gains an awareness and understanding of new gTLDs and the availability of new second-level domain space on the Internet. Charleston Road Registry and Google believe that this approach will make the strongest impact in modifying consumer behavior and is the best path to achieving success for all new gTLDs collectively.

Charleston Road Registry and Google will reach out to the Internet community via a number of different outreach and communications methods and venues to deliver its mission and message to the public, including but not limited to: press briefings, videos posted on various Internet sites, blogs and other social media, and paid advertising. In addition, when developing resources for localized Internet registrars in different global regions, Google will use local marketing and communications platforms as needed.