Countries would need a UDRP-like system for ccTLDs and online access to an accurate Whois.
The text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty has been released, and it has a couple requirements related to the countries’ country code domain names. Article 18.28 addresses domain names (pdf).
Each country that is a party to the treaty must offer a mechanism for handling cybersquatting claims that is along the lines of the UDRP. They also must offer “online public access to a reliable and accurate database of contact information concerning domain-name registrants”. It does not specify what contact information is required.
On the surface, these seem like reasonable requests. Many ccTLDs already use a UDRP-like system.
But could this have unintended consequences? Some governments use their ccTLDs for government purposes. Could a cybersquatting claim be filed against a domain name reserved by a government?
There are some obvious safeguards against this, but it will be interesting to see if anything unusual happens.
The 12 parties to the treaty are the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
(Hat tip: John Berryhill)
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