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ICANN cancels New York new gTLD party

Kevin Murphy, April 17, 2013, 03:40:22 (UTC), Domain Policy

ICANN has decided to call off its big New York City new gTLD launch “party”, DI has learned.
The high-profile media event, scheduled for April 23, was set to feature an appearance from mayor Michael Bloomberg and was expected to be a coming-out party for new gTLDs.
The original plan was for ICANN to sign the first registry agreements with new gTLD applicants during the event, but that notion was later scrapped due to ongoing contract talks.
However, during the public forum at the ICANN Beijing meeting last week, CEO Fadi Chehade said that the event was still going ahead.
That, according to an ICANN email sent to registries and registrars today, appears to be no longer the case. The email cited “current timelines” as the reason for delaying the event.
The Registry Agreement and Registrar Accreditation Agreement still under discussion between ICANN and contracted parties, and there are other factors in play such as the Governmental Advisory Committee’s wide-ranging advice from Beijing and continued uncertainties about the Trademark Clearinghouse.
With so much up in the air, a public awareness-raising event for the program may have been seen as premature.
A second, private set of meetings between ICANN and domain name companies, also scheduled for April 23 in New York, is still going ahead, according to the ICANN email.
Following on from discussions held over the last few months, the New York talks will focus on improving the image and professionalism of the domain name industry, one of Chehade’s pet projects.
Talks will cover items such as: forming a DNS industry trade association, a possible trust-mark scheme, conferences and media/analyst outreach.

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Comments (10)

  1. Tom G says:
    April 17, 2013 at 4:44 am

    Trustmark Scheme, eh?
    Don’t worry ICANN, our approach from now on will accentuate the positive in a professional manner.
    We’ve already begun changing our messaging to avoid negative perceptions. We made our point, now it’s time to support New gTLDs in a productive and positive way.
    Maybe we’ll even earn the ICANN trustmark seal of approval.
    More likely not. Requirements would probably exclude newcomers and non-insiders.
    No matter, lots of ways to instill trust – Professional Design, Truste Privacy logos, BBB logos, Security Logos etc.

    Reply
    • Tom G says:
      April 17, 2013 at 12:33 pm

      Heck, we could even design our own ‘New gTLD Trusted Authority’ Seal of Approval and place it prominently on all pages.
      Trustmark only works if people recognize it and know what it means. which usually requires a lot of investment, over time.

      Reply
  2. Murray M. says:
    April 17, 2013 at 10:27 am

    “Don’t worry ICANN”… Tom, I trust you would like to join the ICANN discussion in more detail?
    The North American Regional At-Large organization ( NARALO ) represents an open channel to raise any issues with the organization, and ISOC New York is very active in ICANN.
    IMHO ICANN is not a private club, with Pet projects from its CEO.
    If you have an opinion and wish to make them known, please feel free to join in on the complex but exciting world of multi-stakeholder governance.
    Murray McKercher
    ICANN NARALO

    Reply
    • Tom G says:
      April 19, 2013 at 12:53 am

      Thanks for the invite Murray, I’ll look into that at a later date.
      For now I’ll be busy taking my opinions directly to my audience, which coincidentally, is ICANN’s audience – end users and consumers needing New gTLD information.
      My point was that ICANN need not fear negativity from my direction, we’ll be focused on positive messaging and promotion of New gTLDs.
      While we may offer points of view that ICANN will not, or cannot express. They will, nonetheless help advance their goals of improving the image of the domain name industry and New gTLDs specifically.
      Regards,
      Tom Gilles
      New Dot Media

      Reply
  3. Tom G says:
    April 17, 2013 at 12:05 pm

    Thank You Murray, I’ll look into it.
    Half a dozen ignored attempts to establish direct contact with ICANN staff and the ‘industry association’ regarding new gtld outreach has proven entirely unconstructive.

    Reply
  4. Tom G says:
    April 17, 2013 at 12:06 pm

    Thank You Murray, I’ll look into it.
    Half a dozen ignored attempts to establish direct contact with ICANN staff and the ‘industry association’ regarding new gtld outreach has proven entirely unproductive.

    Reply
  5. Rick Schwartz says:
    April 17, 2013 at 1:47 pm

    ClusterF*ck ACT ONE!

    Reply
  6. ChuckWagen says:
    April 17, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    What will they do with all those Big Gulps?

    Reply

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