ICANN asks government agencies for feedback on .sucks plan.
ICANN has sent a letter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA), asking them to consider if Vox Populi’s plans for the .sucks top level domain are violating any laws or regulations these agencies enforce.
.Sucks registry Vox Populi has an interesting pricing model that charges some brand owners — including those that have tried to protect their brands in new domain names — a higher fee.
The Intellectual Property Constituency wrote to ICANN last month asking it to take action to halt the rollout as it’s currently planned.
ICANN is deferring to the regulatory authorities as to if any rules or laws are being violated. If Vox Populi is not complying with all applicable laws, ICANN says it may be in breach of its registry agreement.
More details are available in an official ICANN blog post.
Thomas Brackey says
Ummm… the .Sucks Registry is ICANN-compliant, like it or not. Asking the FTC to review whether a specific ICANN-compliant registry violates federal law invites/requires a review by the FTC of all ICANN-compliant registries. Regardless of how you feel about the .Sucks registry, this is a misstep that opens the door to regulatory review of ICANN policy and all those who are governed by it.
Andrew Allemann says
I believe they had said early on that, although they won’t control pricing, people have other avenues to go after registries if they violate any laws. I think this is an example, although it’s interesting to see ICANN making the contact rather than an outside group. Could be CYA.
David C says
Agree. This is a tactical move by ICANN to make as much noise as possible to prove what everyone already knows – that there’s nothing to see here. The .sucks folks should be sending ICANN a gift basket along with their dollar a name.
Sam says
I agree with Vox Populi’s determination to keep the domains out of brand owners’ hands, but the FTC may rule it’s unfair to show two different prices to two different people for the same product…