• by Karl Greenberg , December 14, 2011

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) told the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology of the House Energy and Commerce Committee today that ICANN’s plan for an unlimited expansion of the generic Top Level Domain (TLD) Name program is a “reckless experiment” that would seriously threaten both businesses and consumers in the online marketplace.
 
Dan Jaffe, ANA Executive Vice President, Government Relations testified today on behalf of the Association and CRIDO, the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight.  CRIDO is a coalition of 156 major national and international companies and trade associations united in opposing the roll-out of ICANN’s program, which is scheduled for next month. 
 
“The ICANN program would pile billions of dollars of cost onto a challenging global economy. These are resources that could be much better spent on job creation.  This is not merely a bad policy choice but a serious threat to the legitimate interests of both companies and consumers on the Internet.  We believe that both the decision and the process ICANN followed are fundamentally flawed and that the roll-out should be delayed.”
 
The ANA and CRIDO already sent a Petition to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce expressing strong objections to the new TLD expansion program.  In addition to the members of CRIDO, other groups including the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), the National Retail Federation (NRF), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have written to the Department of Commerce expressing opposition to the ICANN expansion.
 
Jaffe stated: “These are not just the concerns of the business community.  Last week, the general counsel of the YMCA told the Senate Commerce Committee that the ICANN program could be financially devastating and dangerous for the 1.5 million non-profit organizations in the U.S.  Also, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz told a House Judiciary Subcommittee that the unlimited gTLD roll-out could be a ‘disaster’ for businesses and consumers and could dramatically increase problems for law enforcement.  When the Chairman of one of the chief consumer protection agencies in the U.S. labels the program a potential ‘disaster,’ that should be a clear signal to everyone that this program should be delayed.”