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

Prototypical answer:

The .SECURITY TLD will benefit the registrants and internet users by providing an immediately identifiable, secure, and exclusive domain for security-related entities and individuals, especially if their preferred domain name selection is not currently available under .COM or another TLD of their choice. These benefits are detailed in the below.
18b (i) Defender Security’s expertise in the security-related business is well known. Since its inception in 1998, Defender Security has emerged as a leading dealer for a prestigious portfolio of home security and digital communications brands. The company recently broadened its portfolio of residential service offerings with the addition of an Outsourced Sales Center Division and continues to use its sales force expertise to improve lead acquisition for outside clients in other industries. Defender Security employs more than 2,100 individuals in 50 states with over 120 branch offices nationwide.
Defender’s stellar growth has been fueled by an aggressive direct-marketing focus and national expansion. The company mission is, “businesses don’t grow—people do.” This mission which fostered continuous employee development has permitted the company to grow faster than many of its peers because defender employees have grown as individuals. Defender sales have doubled because the capacity and talents of its leaders have doubled. A few years ago, Defender stopped trying to double its business and realized the way to grow was to double its team members’ enthusiasm, optimism, and skills. Defender offers a culture of continuous learning including; seminars, leadership conferences, and self-help programs. The company builds a culture, on purpose, not by accident. This same focus will be directed to grow Defender’s .SECURITY business.
The goal of .SECURITY is matching the Defender Security existing business goals by creating world class results in brand awareness and new customer acquisition. Defender will utilize its existing experienced marketing resources to rapidly create a unique persona and marketing strategy for .SECURITY. It will leverage its existing marketing channel relationships in digital, print, direct mail, television and emerging channels to develop and support the .SECURITY initiative. This will be established by providing a secure, differentiated security-branded domain to be registered and used by the global Internet community in an appropriate manner under strict anti-abuse and use-policies. Defender Security and its back-end operator, Afilias, will provide an unmatched secure technical platform which will be facilitated to signify technical security and identification to Internet users.

SECURE OPEN gTLD
The primary goal of .SECURITY is to add value to security-related entities and internet users that exceed current DNS standards through its highly reliable, resilient and stable technical registry system, its protection policies and its associated compliance functions. .SECURITY will generate trust in application developers by establishing a highly secure TLD with appropriate use, anti-abuse policies aligned with the highest available technical operational standards. Trust will be key to the future of the Internet, especially with the anticipated high volume of new gTLDs being introduced. Historically application developers have incorporated protection mechanisms for some TLDs. As described in response to question #16, Defender Security is aware of this risk and will communicate its established policies and operational functionalities to the operators involved in the application-layer of the DNS to ensure usability and acceptance of the TLD across applications to ensure a streamlined user experience. This will for example enable search engines to trust .SECURITY domains more in security-related searches given their higher likelihood of relevance to security pertaining to serving the most optimal and reliable search results.
.SECURITY PREMIUM DOMAIN CHANNEL
Defender Security’s objective is to connect trusted, security-related entities to their target consumer base while benefitting law-enforcement agencies mitigate online criminal activities and malicious conduct.
Traditionally premium names under newly-launched TLDs have been auctioned to generate immediate income to the TLD registry operator. Defender Security will use the premium names under .SECURITY to:
- Develop sites to promote the TLD and its mission.
- Engage in partnerships with entities specializing in different security-related industries to develop dedicated destinations to drive Internet users to law-abiding security-related entities.
- Develop local and regional directories specialized for the security-related industries to help connect them with their target audience.
The Premium Names sites will be developed with security entities in mind and to benefit Internet users and other stakeholders, such as law-enforcement and governmental stakeholders.
Premium Channels will be search engine optimized and will also enable direct navigation under the most popular security-related terms. For example, a consumer searching for a home security system can directly visit “home.SECURITY” to find relevant services in the home security business.
Defender Security today has national marketing expertise with over 7 billion of pieces of print marketing collateral distributed throughout the US each year and millions of digital impressions. Defender Security employs 2,100 individuals in 50 states with over 120 branch offices nationwide. Defender has expertise in brand positioning and strategy, marketing communications, target market identification and analysis’s and marketing brand development. Defender will augment this existing distribution channel to reach consumers and provide them information to the .SECURITY Premium Names.
18b (ii) The primary differentiation of the .SECURITY TLD that is non-existent in the current TLD space is the meaning of the extension symbolizing security-related activities, and the security-focused strategy adopted by Defender Security. The .SECURITY TLD will provide competition to gTLDs and ccTLDs that Internet users might otherwise choose by providing value-added innovations as described earlier; by differentiating by instilling trust and secure focused values to Internet users as well as fulfilling the high accountability requirements that define the security sector. Secure TLD management is established following the registration policies and compliance measures as described below, and also through responses to questions #23-44 in which every element of registry operations will facilitate the most optimal technical resources, especially in regards to protocol implementations, hardware, security access requirements, and the anti-abuse policy and monitoring.
Furthermore, this is enhanced by the opportunity for registrants to register their domain in their preferred TLD niche that identifies them as a member of the security-related industry.
18b (iii) When visiting .SECURITY sites, Internet users are provided an experience with an immediate identification and a level of confidence and trust that is not available today. The message a .SECURITY domain name sends to its users is that they are engaging with safer entities than they normally would. Defender Security will back this experience by providing optimal secure technical operations, including adopting operational policies that take action against any illegitimate use or abuse in relation to a .SECURITY domain name.
Traditional search engine results pages are agnostic to whether security-related domains within their search pages are legitimate or not. Defender Security will change this experience for the global Internet user by providing a unique symbol of trust and protection to the users in when engaging with .SECURITY domains.
If a domain under .SECURITY is used for any illegitimate uses it will be taken down. As discussed in abuse-prevention section below and also in response to question #28 and #29 repeat offenders will be placed on a special monitoring list by Defender Security and in extreme cases will be denied domain name registrations under .SECURITY.
Defender Security will work directly with law-enforcement agencies. Furthermore the .SECURITY back-end registry provider also indirectly engages in Internet security-focused activities such as with the SSAC and APWG, to ensure that they have the latest technologies and resources available in the operations of .SECURITY.
While .SECURITY domains cannot be validated to belong to security industry members, they are required to follow continuously updated use and anti-abuse policies. And in addition Defender Security will implement a validation of the registrant data ensuring that such data is valid thus ensure access to registrants in case of issues. As a result, the user experience with .SECURITY domains will be trusted, giving confidence that purchases or other type of interaction with secure entities in the security-related industries are legitimate and safe.
The .SECURITY Premium Domains will be operated and developed directly by Defender Security to promote the TLD through their existing activities in the security-related industries; or by Defender Security partners. Such partners are selected in accordance with strict requirements for existing activities and for management of the Premium Names. The Premium Names will set a standard for all other .SECURITY registrants and as a result will reduce users’ exposure to malicious conduct by serving secure and high quality relevant content to search engines. This in turn will help obtain higher search engine results for a long tail of security-related keywords served by the differentiated, unique and focused .SECURITY Premium Names incorporating local, national and regional searches. This type of search result ranking criteria is already implemented by search engines such as Google and Bing with existing TLDs (such as .GOV for government-related content or .EDU for education-related content) and ccTLDs (such as .DE for local content served to users in Germany) since those results are deemed trusted and⁄or highly relevant.
Search engines are expected to modify their algorithms to accommodate relevant, high quality and unique content, especially if it can be used to filter and counter illegitimate and infringing websites. The official Google Blog highlights the new Google algorithm changes (http:⁄⁄insidesearch.blogspot.com⁄2012⁄02⁄search-quality-highlights-40-changes.html) that will be leveraged by the .SECURITY Premium Names to benefit .SECURITY registrants and achieve higher search rankings.

18b (iv) To reach the above mentioned goals, Defender Security has implemented several measures to protect intellectual property rights in registrations under .SECURITY, and to ensure that .SECURITY domains are used in a manner benefitting the security-related industries resulting in reducing online abuse that currently exists.
The policies are built to take advantage of the latest technology in DNS security resources and using TLD best practices and experience from the previous ICANN new gTLD introductions; and they are established to ensure a higher security level for .SECURITY domains than what is considered standard requirements for gTLDs. Defender Security will work with law enforcement agencies, government entities, security-focused DNS technical stakeholders, and partners in all security-related industries to continuously ensure that the TLD management operations exceed expectations.
Aside from the below described policies, the .SECURITY TLD will be launched with all the standard gTLD registration rules, e.g. in terms of grace-periods. See response to question #27 for .SECURITY lifecycle. Defender Security will adhere to all ICANN mandated rights protection mechanisms and consensus policies in accordance with the ICANN Registry Agreement.
RESERVATION PROTECTION: second-level names will be reserved per ICANN requirements, including country-territory names (see response #22) and names for registry operations.
INNOVATIVE PREMIUM NAMES RESERVATIONS: premium name reservations to develop the Premium Channels (e.g home.SECURITY) to (i) promote the .SECURITY TLD through Defender Security’s existing activities in the security-related industries, (ii) for Partnerships with actors in the security industry to generate dedicated information sharing and access to security industries, and (iii) to generate local directories to enable efficient local security-related discovery.
Defender Security will also reserve a list of highly-sensitive names under .SECURITY, such as homeland.SECURITY. These can only be registered by the relevant authority it is reserved for, or it will forever be blocked for registration.
RIGHTS PROTECTION AND NOTIFICATIONS SYSTEM:
• Trademark Clearing House will be implemented in accordance with ICANN specifications.
• Introductory Sunrise phase to allow trademark holders fulfilling the ICANN established marks criteria a first access to register under .SECURITY. Trademarks will be validated to control access into the Sunrise phase.
THREE TIME-RESTRICTED LAUNCH PHASES in the following order (i) Sunrise for and to protect trademark holders (ii) Landrush and (iii) General Availability to ensure all Internet users have access to .SECURITY creating fair competition with other gTLDs.
Multiple applications for the same domain in either the Sunrise or Landrush phase will be decided upon via a mini-auction after the phase. In General Availability the domains are available for all applicants on a first-come-first-serve basis.
ANTI-ABUSE POLICY for all registrants under .SECURITY; incorporated in the registration agreement for all .SECURITY registrants. It is in place to prevent malicious use of domains which can lead to security and stability issues for the registry, registrars, and registrants, and general users of the Internet. It is detailed in response to question #28.
REGISTRY DATA VALIDATION: Defender Security will validate elements of the received WHOIS data as a requirement for .SECURITY domain registration. If registrants do not comply with the data validation requirements, after notification and adequate time to cure such incompliance, the domains will go through the deletion process. Exact validations will continuously be evaluated to be sufficient based on continuously evaluations of the security level of the TLD, and increased if deemed necessary. Defender Security will take advice from law-enforcement agencies, government stakeholders, technical bodies focused on DNS security, and premium names partners from across security-related industries to always ensure that .SECURITY is managed with best available resources. The initial validation data will be determined based on additional reviews of resources such as for example the Five C’s WHOIS model [http:⁄⁄costarica43.icann.org⁄node⁄29531] presented at the recent ICANN meeting in Costa Rica, but is anticipated to at minimum include:
1.The registrant’s email address through validation links
2.The registrant’s phone number through validated PIN-codes

Additionally, Defender Security will reserve the right to implement content & use policy, as well as a name-restriction policy for which names can be registered under .SECURITY and restrictions in terms of usage and content of websites associated with .SECURITY. Defender Security will perform due diligence in making such determination including seeking advice from its Advisory Committee. In such case Defender Security will also implement a corresponding .SECURITY Policy Dispute Resolution Process (SPDRP) to solve dispute concerning compliance with such policies.
COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT
Defender Security will take proactive and reactive measures to enforce its TLD policies. Proactive measures are taken at the time of registration. Reactive measures are addressed via compliance and enforcement mechanisms and through dispute processes.
Any potential SPDRP is not a replacement for the UDRP⁄URS and alleged violation of the UDRP⁄URS shall be enforced under the provisions contained therein.
The UDRP and URS are required in the registrarsʹ registration agreements with registrants, and proceedings must be brought by interested third parties in accordance with the associated policies and procedures to dispute resolution providers.
Defender Security will conduct random compliance efforts across all the .SECURITY criteria. Periodically a sample of .SECURITY registrations will be verified for compliance with all established .SECURITY criteria.
If a Registrant is found out of compliance with any of the .SECURITY criteria the registrant will be notified that the domain will be placed on registry lock and the registrant will be given a reasonable time period to cure the compliance matter or the domain will be terminated.
Repeat offenders of the .SECURITY criteria will be placed on a special monitoring list that Defender Security staff will conduct additional compliance checks against. Defender Security holds the right to prohibit repeat offenders from registering .SECURITY domains for a period of time or indefinitely.
Defender Security will review all policies and processes on a regular basis with involvement from the .SECURITY Advisory Committee.
18b (v) The .SECURITY TLD will use best practices around privacy and data protection. Afilias, the back-end service provider will administer specific WHOIS protections per response to question #26, and promote WHOIS accuracy per response to question #28.
The .SECURITY TLD is established to allow entities in security-related industries to identify themselves online and be discovered and have as much visibility and exposure as possible. Defender Security will provide this unique and branded visibility. The domain registration services and Premium Name development will be designed to respect the privacy of personally identifiable information and confidential information, including with respect to applicable local laws for regional or local focused premium names.
18b (vi) In order to meet the benefits described in responses to 18b (i-v) Defender Security is committed to continue to conduct and expand upon outreach and communication activities. A primary goal with .SECURITY is trust, and from that goal a long range of benefits is met. To reach trust communication and outreach is key, as well as allowing participation through that outreach and communication, including the following:
1. Create an advisory committee in support and development of .SECURITY. The advisory committee will be created from holders of .SECURITY premium names. The goal of this committee will be to create trust in and knowledge of the .SECURITY brand. The association will be developed under the following principles:
1.1. Developed for the interest and benefit of premium .SECURITY name holders
1.2. Community will be solicited on ideas to create and promote a successful association
1.3. Premium name holders will be requested to provide input on the associations operational guidelines
1.4. Public meeting will be held with participating stakeholders
1.5. Interim group will be established
1.6. Inaugural meeting will be held to create bylaws and association rules
2. Participate in trade shows and communities tangential to the .SECURITY brand with the goal to create and expand awareness of the .SECURITY brand.
3. Launch a .SECURITY website to promote .SECURITY awareness
4. Create a digital⁄print .SECURITY newsletter that will be distributed to groups interested in .SECURITY
5. Establish .SECURITY annual conference, marketing summit and educational opportunities to expand the use and penetration of the .SECURITY brand.
6. Create membership organization for members holding non-premium names.

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