Unified Domain Blocking Service Protecting Brands Online | GlobalBlock
Tony Kirsch
When the domain name industry meets in Bali this October, it will mark a time of significant change and opportunity for the ICANN community.
Following the application period for the second round of new gTLDs, ICANN will publish its full list of prospective TLDs and their applicants, likely just prior to its Annual General Meeting from October 17-22.
Dubbed ‘Reveal Day,’ this milestone will give our industry as well as brands and consumers around the world a glimpse into the potential future domain landscape.
The BSA team will attend ICANN87 and looks forward to meeting with registries and new applicants; to discuss proactive abuse mitigation and the benefits it can offer to registry operators.
ICANN announced the application window closed with more than 1,600 new gTLD applications.
There are several stages remaining for applicants to pass through, including community input and auctions over contested extensions. The final number of approved and progressing TLDs won’t be known for some time yet.
However, while ICANN will keep the full list confidential until Reveal Day, some applications have been made public by the companies and organizations behind them. Approximately 700 prospective TLDs have been announced, including business, community, technology, language and culture-related terms.
Two applicants alone have submitted more than 300 applications each.
Of the publicly announced strings, around 13% are currently contested by more than one applicant.
Whatever the final landscape looks like, prospective registry operators will need to actively develop strategies to protect their namespaces from abuse from the outset.
Applicants in the second round range from experienced domain industry veterans to first-time entrants. Regardless of previous expertise, prospective registry operators should now shift their focus to building the foundations for a secure, trusted and commercially sustainable registry.
The first new gTLD round provided some important lessons. Registries that struggled to manage abuse faced reputational and operational consequences, while traditional approaches to brand protection, including Sunrise periods, often failed to deliver the anticipated value. Second-round applicants now could learn from that experience and build more effective protections into their strategy from the outset.
The BSA already works with hundreds of registries across more than 840 extensions to reduce opportunities for brand abuse while creating a reliable revenue stream through GlobalBlock.
For new applicants, now is the time to build that protection into your plans. At ICANN87, we’ll be meeting with prospective registry operators to share what we’ve learned and discuss how GlobalBlock can support a healthy, trusted namespace from day one.
If you’re attending the meeting in Bali and would like to connect with the BSA team, please reach out to us today at hello [@] brandsafetyalliance [.] co.
Jason Loyer
When the BSA team attended INTA’s TMAP meeting in Berlin last year, much of the conversation around new TLDs and AI-driven domain abuse was anticipatory. The threat was real, but for many trademark professionals, it still felt like something on the horizon.
Tony Kirsch
From the early days of the Brand Safety Alliance, response to our mission from registries, registrars and brands in the Asia Pacific region has been strong. Many registries have chosen to participate in GlobalBlock and are recognizing the benefits of stronger brand and IP defenses in improving registry health and protecting internet users by proactively stopping abuse before it occurs. In the coming months, our commitment to this community ramps up through several events in partnership with the Asia Pacific Top-Level Domain Association (APTLD). The BSA’s Leona Chen-Birkner will present a webinar to APTLD members, before giving a presentation at the upcoming APTLD90 meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in September.
Leona Chen-Birkner
A lot has changed across the registry landscape since my last trip to the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain (APTLD) conference over two years ago in Danang, Vietnam. From the increasing role that AI plays in our businesses through to the ever-expanding abuse conundrum, the threat landscape has shifted in ways that should concern every registry operator, regardless of size and region. I'm excited to reconnect with the APTLD community at two upcoming events. First, I'll be joining APTLD members for a webinar on 26 August, followed by a session at APTLD90 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia this September, where I'll be sharing how the Brand Safety Alliance and GlobalBlock are helping registries and brands tackle online abuse through collaborative global protection programs.
Ben Anderson
The Brand Safety Alliance (BSA) team welcomed another opportunity to connect with the broader BSA community and celebrate shared milestones this June, at the ICANN86 Policy Meeting in Seville, Spain.