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

Prototypical answer:

Benefit to registrants: The .BLOG extension will benefit registrants by being a choice to establish blogs with a stateful and meaningful domain name. Right now, domain names with a strong brandable name are scarce and it is hard to find a domain name that meaningfully states the subject of a blog under a generic, global extension. Furthermore, blog application providers generally offer subdomains of a domain of their own as addresses to the blogs. Those addresses are definitely not the best way to address a blog and do not state the nature of the site in the name. With .BLOG, registrants will be able to determine their online presence outside the given subdomains, but still expressing their nature through their web address.

Benefit to Internet users: Internet users will benefit from the extension because domains under the extension will have a clear indication of the content of the site located at a .BLOG addresses. Also, the existence of the extension will promote the creation of strong brandable blogs that will increase the number of blogs on a particular subject, therefore increasing Internet usersʹ options.

Benefit to the market as a whole: Right now, more than one half of the domain names in the world are under two extensions, both operated by the same company. The Internet as a whole needs to encourage and promote competition in a way that market rules apply to the domain extension market. The existence of .BLOG may be part of this process of enhancing competition. This in the long run benefits all the Internet consumers as products have to compete by offering better specifications and consumer services. Furthermore, being a company from Latinamerica, the extension will help strengthen ICANN´s mission to promote a really global independent Internet.

Specialty: The extension will specialize in providing names to blogs for both individuals and companies worldwide. The extension is not intended for sites that are not blogs or that are not related to the blogging activity but will also not have issues if such situation were to arise. This will encourage specialization of sites under the extension as places full of user generated rich and interactive content.

Service Levels: Regarding service levels, this issue may be split into three sections that imply the Registry directly:

Technical service level at the Registry level regarding the avilability of DNS for the domains under the .BLOG extension: This subject will be discussed in the technical section. Basically, we have contracted with a specialized Registry services provider whose expertise and technical background guarantee the highest availability and stability of the DNS services for the domains under the .BLOG extension.

Technical service level at the Registry level regarding the availability of the registration interface to the Registrars: As with the previous question, this will be discussed in the technical section. Availability of the interface to Registrars will rely on our technical services provider.

Support service level at the Registry level to act upon support requests made by Registrars: As has been agreed with our technical services provider, support will be provided by a qualified and competent team. Support will be provided via phone and email for Registrars and will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Reputation: We will strive on achieving a reputation of a responsible stable space where free speech is present. We will have stability and availability of our service as our pilar. Over this we will promote freedom of speech by incentivizing the creation of sites that promote access and publishing of information on every topic.

The extension will add to the current namespace a specialized innovative way to brand and name blogs. Right now blogs have no natural location but are spread all over the Internet on different domain names. This gives the extension a great possibility to become the de facto choice to name blogs. For Internet users, the extension will be a name that expresses the contents to be found in the site. The extension will allow users to know what to expect when they visit a .BLOG extension. Regarding competition, right now there are not many memorable and brandable domain names available for people starting their blogs. The extension will give Internet bloggers a huge space in which to establish great names for their blogs.

Regarding user experience, at a registrar level the .BLOG TLD will be registered using the existing distribution channels. We will have an outstanding support for our registrars and will consistently promote user adoption with Above The Line strategies. As for the Internet User experience, .BLOG will work strongly on achieving a reputation of being the home of content generated by independent individuals. .BLOG will constantly work to get sites under the extension to express their spirit and nature. With this, when users go to .BLOG websites they will know what not and what to expect.

The achievement of the goals stated above requires that we do not incorporate a complex policy framework. We need to manage policy in a way that makes user adoption easy and straightforward. The .BLOG Registry will be an open space in which one of our main goals is to facilitate as much as possible the registration of domain names. Below is a draft on the policy on domain registrations under the .BLOG extension.

Policy draft

Introduction: The policy below is an initial approach to the policies that will rule over .BLOG domain registrations. The policy includes:

- Gradual Offering Plan
- Geographic String Protection (Details addressed in question 22)
- General policy considerations
- General Availability policies

Gradual Offering plan:

The Gradual Offering Plan seeks to fairly distribute domain names to registrants, protecting intellectual and industrial property, and assigning second level .BLOG domains in a fair and orderly manner. The Gradual Offering Plan ends when the
domains are finally available for public registration.

Objectives:

There are two main objectives sought with the Gradual Offering Plan. 1) to protect trademark rights and intellectual⁄industrial property to prevent⁄avoid abuse and bad faith in domain regsitrations. 2) to allow a phase of registration where domains are not registered in a first come, first serve basis for special commercial and other interests.

Structure: The plan is divided into two phases. The Sunrise phase and the Landrush phase. Both phases will be detailed next.

Sunrise: The Sunrise phase will allow companies with Trademarks to apply for the domains at the second level that match the protected strings according to the Trademark record.

Timeframe:

The Sunrise phase will begin 90 days after the execution of the Registry Agreement with ICANN and will last for 45 days. Both opening and closing of the phase will be done at 00:00:00 UTC.

Applicable strings (Strings that may be delegated in the second level in this phase):

Only trademarks registered before the 31st of December of 2011, and in full force at the time of the request may apply for the Sunrise phase.

- The exact equivalent of a textual trademark.
- The exact textual portion of a trademark that has textual portion and an image.

Explanatory textual terms about the trademark or the trademark registration: LLC, LTD, S.A., TM, INC, etc. may be removed from the requested domain, if and only if the text is for explanation purposes.

In the case of URLs, TLDS may be removed from the domain requested like .COM, .NET. ORG, .CO, etc. WWW may also be removed from the requested domain.

Characters like spaces and: . , ! : ? ! ” # $ % & ⁄ ( ) - _ etc. may be transcribed (f.e. & for AND or Y) removed from the requested domain.

If the trademark includes letters like “á”, “é”, “í”, “ó”, “ú”, “ü” “ñ”, these may be replaced for corresponding letters like “a”, “e”, “i”, “o”, “u”, or “n”, or the conventionally accepted characters.

No other changes may be made to the domains requested.

Contention:

If two requests are received for the same domain, these requests will go to auction. Auctions will be conducted as detailed later. Every valid request on the Sunrise phase will be temporarily reserved by the Registry until the outcome of the registration is defined.

Special Considerations

- All Sunrise requests must be done through ICANN Accredited Registrars.
- Proxy Registrations may not be used in the Sunrise phase. Registrations may change their records to Proxy records after the extension is released to General Availability.
- Both Trademarks that are registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse, and Trademarks that are not registered in the Clearinghouse may apply for the phase.
- The Registry may reject, delete, revoke, suspend, cancel or transfer a domain according to the rules of the Registry-Registrar Agreement that will stand between the Registry and all the Accredited Registrars for any domain registration to be submitted and maintained.
- Sunrise registrations may only be done for 1 year. Subsequently after General Availability applicants may renew the domain as allowed by this policies.

Landrush: The Landrush will applicants with commercial or specific interest to apply for a domain name. This also includes trademark holders that for some reason may have not applied for the Sunrise phase.

Timeframe:

The Landrush phase will begin 20 days after the end of the Sunrise phase and will last for 45 days. Both opening and closing of the phase will be done at 00:00:00 UTC.

Any valid domain that has not been reserved or requested in the Sunrise phase may be requested in the Landrush phase.

Contention:

If two requests are received for the same domain, these requests will go to auction. Auctions will be conducted as detailed later. Every valid request on the Landrush phase will be temporarily reserved by the Registry until the outcome of the registration is defined.

Special Considerations

- All Landrush requests must be done through ICANN Accredited Registrars.
- Proxy Registrations may not be used in the Landrush phase. Registrations may change their records to Proxy records after the extension is released to General Availability.
- The Registry may reject, delete, revoke, suspend, cancel or transfer a domain according to the rules of the Registry-Registrar Agreement that will stand between the Registry and all the Accredited Registrars for any domain registration to be submitted and maintained.
- Landrush registrations may only be done for 1 year. Subsequently after General Availability applicants may renew the domain as allowed by these policies.

General Availability policies

General Availability will allow registrants to register a domain name on a first come first serve basis. This phase will be the regular operation of the registrations under the extension.

Timeframe:

The General Availability phase will begin 20 days after the end of the Landrush phase and will be indefinite. Opening of General Availability phase will be done at 00:00:00 UTC.

Any valid domain that has not been reserved or requested in the Sunrise, Landrush or GPP phase may be requested in General Availability.

Trademark claims service:

Registry will implement the Trademark Claims service as detailed and instructed by ICANN for the first 60 days of operation of the Registry.

Special Considerations

- All requests must be done through ICANN Accredited Registrars.
- Proxy Registrations may be used in General Availability.
- The Registry may reject, delete, revoke, suspend, cancel or transfer a domain according to the rules of the Registry-Registrar Agreement that will stand between the Registry and all the Accredited Registrars for any domain registration to be submitted and maintained.
- General Availability registrations may only be done for up to 10 years.
- Any domain active in the General Availability phase may be renewed so that the Registration is due for 10 years from the actual date.
- Domains may only be renewed for a period of 1 year.

IDN implementation:

Chinese IDN domain names are supported from the first day of General Availability. IDNs for other character sets as Arabic, Spanish, Russian, etc. will be implemented over time if there is a demand for such names. IDN implementation will follow all of ICANN´s guidelines.

Auction rules:

When contention occurs in any initial phase of the launch of the domains under the extension an auction will apply between qualified applicants. All the auctions will take place at the same time. The Registry has considered both the possibility of running the auctions internally or outsourcing the auction process.

The following considerations have been initially drafted:

Timeframes:

- Auctions will be held for a period of 60 days with every auction lasting 5 days or 120 hours.
- Batching of the auctions will be done by alphabetical order.

System:

- The auctions will be conducted through an online bidding system.
- Applicants must agree to the terms and conditions of the online bidding system. If the applicant does not agree to the terms and conditions the auction will still take place and the winner of the auction will be assigned the domain name. The Registry, the auction provider if any, the registrar and any other related party will not be liable in the case an applicant fails to use the auction system.

Bidding:

- Bidding will start at 1 dollar and will have increments as implemented in the auction system.
- Proxy bidding will by allowed in the auction system.
- Extensions will also be done in case bidding is active at the final periods of the auction.

Payment:

Applicants will be required to pay within 30 days of the end of the auction. Notices of the payment will be sent every 5 days to the applicant. If payment is not received by the term provided, the domain will be reauctioned between the other applicants 45 days after the initial auction ended. This process will repeat until a successful payment is received. If only 2 applicants are participating in the auction and one defaults in payment, the domain will be awarded to the other applicant free of fees.

Allocation:

The winner of the auction must choose an accredited registrar to register and maintain the domain name after the auction results.

General policy considerations

Technical and Syntax requirements

- Domains consist exclusively of the letters A-Z, numbers 0-9, and hyphens.
- Domains cannot begin or end with a hyphen (-)
- Domains can´t have a hyphen in the 3rd and 4th position.
- Domains can´t exceed 63 characters excluding the TLD.
- Only domains with 3 or more characters may be registered through accredited Registrars.

Reserved domain names:

- Registry will reserve all the names as instructed by ICANN in Specification 5 of the Registry agreement and any changes that may occur in the future.
- The Registry reserves the right to reserve domain names for its personal use or mere ownership at any time. The Registry will allocate or register such names as allowed by ICANN provided that Registry Operator may reserve names from registration pursuant to Section 2.6 of the Registry Agreement. The reservation of the domain names will be inline with section B of Specification 9 of the Registry Agreement.
(Note: It is important to note that part of the Registry´s marketing activities will be to develop and promote sites under the .BLOG extension. These sites will be reserved and will be used by the registry in the process of marketing the extension)
- Release of reservations: Registry will undertake discussions with ICANN and the GAC relating the release of names reserved according to Section 5, Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement.
- 1 and 2 character domains will be reserved by the Registry as allowed by ICANN policies.

Compliance:

- Registry will implement and hold related parties responsible for the implementations of policies required by ICANN, including UDRP, URS, and any other policy that were to be determined by ICANN. Please note that RRDRP does not apply in this case as the TLD is not a community based TLD.

Privacy Policy:

A Privacy Policy will be developed regarding the access, destination and usage of all the external information at the Registry. The objective of the Privacy Policy is to allow the Registry to use the information to successfully develop the extension while maintaining companies and individuals safe from any unwanted usage of private information.

Specific information about the collection, destination and usage of private information will be publicly posted. The privacy policy will be inline with the best practices of privacy standards and ICANN recommendations about the matter.
Protection of private information from Registrants:

- Privacy registration or Proxy registrations are allowed after the domains are available to the general public. This allowance will comply to ICANN´s resolutions about WHOIS information and any other related determination made about the privacy of registrant information.

- Our privacy policy will be clear on the possible usage, destination and collection of data from Registrants. This policy will be strictly implemented and followed as part of our commitment of maintaining a reliable trustworthy extension.

Protection of information from all other stakeholders will be done through an internal policy framework in which usage and access to information will be strictly controlled. The best practices regarding transmission and storage of information will be implemented to guarantee the security of information available to the Registry.

Outreach and communications will help achieve our projected benefits. Outreach and communications will help achieve our goals because:

- By marketing and communications we will achieve the awareness we use about the existence of the extension.
- Communications and marketing will communicate the ideas behind the extension. The place for responsible freedom of speech and access to information
- Communications will also allow us to communicate the existence of the .BLOG, and therefore will inform the general public of the availability of options that increase competition.
- Part of the communications and outreach will be the implementation of blogs that will allow access to information in a responsible and free manner.

For the points outlined above, our outreach and communications strategy will support and contribute to achieve our goals.

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