|
IAB Opposes Custom Domain Extensions
|
The Interactive Advertising Bureau has come out
against ICANN’s recent decision to expand the number of generic
top-level domains, which will allow such suffixes as “.radio,” “.coke” or “.chicago.”
“This
could be disastrous for the media brand owners we represent and the brand
owners with which they work,” said IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg in
a press release.
“We
hope that ICANN will reconsider both this ill-considered decision and the
process by which it was reached.”
Rothenberg
claims ICANN approved the domain expansion without looking into potential
economic repercussions and without consulting company stakeholders.
The
IAB claims the new domains will come “at an extremely high cost to publishers
and advertisers” and create the potential for “cyber squatters,” entities who
use another’s domain name to damage their image, and/or sell the domain at a
greatly inflated price.
The Association of National Advertisers called the
move “economically unsupportable,” able to cause irreparable harm to the
Internet business community and putting the safety of consumers in jeopardy.
New domains are expected to be available in late
2012.
|