http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-24nov09-en.htm
Over
88 percent of domain names covered by new protections
24
November 2009
Less than six months after
new registrant protections were approved by the ICANN Board, over 88 percent of
all generic domain names are now covered.
The protections include
improved ways of storing data that require registration companies to submit to
more stringent rules. These are included in a revised contract between ICANN
and registrars, called the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA).
Since the revised RAA was
approved on 21 May 2009, 650 registrars have
voluntarily agreed to be bound by the new agreement; collectively they
represent 88 percent of all generic top-level domains registered. In return,
those that have signed the new agreement are recognized by ICANN on its listing
of accredited companies.
Under their existing
contract, registrars are not required to sign up to the new RAA until their
existing agreement ends, but they can voluntarily sign up early. The high level
of coverage achieved to date is due primarily to these voluntary early
adopters.
ICANN CEO and President Rod
Beckstrom said of the high sign-up rate: “The fact that the vast majority
of generic domain names are now covered by these protections is a clear sign of
the industry’s goodwill and its commitment to effective self-regulation -
especially since some of these protections come at a cost to the companies
themselves. It is an extraordinary achievement in a very short time.”
Some of the additional
protections afforded registrants under the new contract include:
“Registrars and the
ICANN community successfully collaborated to make sure consumers are well
protected while respecting the competitive marketplace ICANN has made part of
its mandate,” said Mason Cole, Vice President of Oversee.net and chair of
the Registrar Stakeholder Group. “It’s encouraging to see how
quickly and assertively registrars have adopted the terms of the new
agreement.”
As an aid to potential
registrants, ICANN has added an indicator on each of our public lists of
registrars to show which registrars have adopted the 2009 RAA. See:
Glen de Saint Géry
GNSO Secretariat
gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org
http://gnso.icann.org