WASHINGTON, June 20, 2011 – Earlier today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted to approve the new gTLD program at its public meeting in Singapore. Over the past three years, the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) has worked within the multistakeholder structure of ICANN, helping to shape the policies of this program in a way that represent the best interests of brand owners, the consumers they serve, and the Internet community as a whole. In that time, CADNA has advocated for improvements to the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook, and even helped to bring the program to the attention of the U.S. House of Representatives.

While the program has come a long way, there is still substantial room for improvement, and CADNA looks forward to continuing to push for positive changes within the program, and to making sure that it is implemented in a secure and ordered manner. “We want to express our appreciation for our members, as well as for all the non-member companies that have supported and continue to support our efforts,” said CADNA President Josh Bourne. “We especially want to thank the companies who wrote nearly 100 letters to members of the U.S. Congress. Through their support, CADNA has fought to ensure that the new gTLD program benefits the Internet community as a whole, not just those parties motivated by financial interests.”

CADNA will also continue to work to reform ICANN in other ways. Unfortunately, ICANN still suffers from poor internal governance and an opaque policy development process, which often results in decisions that are not in the best interest of the Internet community. For that reason, CADNA supports the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (DoC) decision to scrutinize the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions contract, through which ICANN is granted the authority to coordinate the domain name system, for the first time since its creation in 2000.

The DoC is similarly concerned with ICANN’s governance structure, and that concern is reflected in the changes to the IANA contract that the Department recently proposed. The European Union has also voiced concern over the lack of accountability and transparency in ICANN governance, joining the U.S. government in calling for reform.

In addition to working with the DoC and advocating the renegotiation of the IANA contract, CADNA maintains its commitment to reforming the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and working with the U.S. Congress to update this piece of legislation to more effectively deter cybersquatting here in the U.S. CADNA is also working to expand and improve anti-cybersquatting policies abroad, with the goal of eliminating infringements online.

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the systemic domain name abuses that plague the Internet today. For more information, please visit www.cadna.org.