The Internet's administrative body should reject proposals to create special areas on the Internet for kids and adults when it decides what domains should be the first to supplement the popular .com, .net and .org, a staff report recommends.
In one of its toughest decisions to date, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number at its board meeting in Los Angeles, is expected to select the first round of commercial top-level domains (TLD) to be added to the Internet.
Forty-seven companies and groups had applied to operate the new domains, but the board has said only a few are expected to be adopted for now.
In a report to the board, ICANN staff declined to recommend specifically how many or which of the original 47 applications for new domains should be adopted. But it did narrow the list of candidates to two dozen.
Among those that should be rejected, the report says, are three different proposals to create a .kids domain and one to create .xxx. Creation of a .kids domain would be troubled by "difficult definitional issues" such as determining who is a "kid" and what content would be appropriate for such a gTLD, or generic top-level domain, the report said.
As for .xxx, the report "other proposed TLDs without the controversy of an adult TLD would better serve the goals of this initial introduction of new TLDs."
The report also suggested rejecting telecom-related domains such as .tel or .one.
Jason Hendeles, president of ICM Registry, which submitted a .kid application and .xxx, said, "there appears to be a clear bias and unwillingness by ICANN to address the most significant concern on the Internet today: the safeguarding of children against harmful content."
Among those proposals praised by ICANN staff was one submitted by Afilias, a group of domain name registration companies such as Network Solutions Inc. and register.com, that have proposed the new domains of .info, .site and .web.
"I think the board will probably end up giving a lot of weight to the report," said Wayne State Law School Professor Jonathan Weinberg.
But he questioned how the board could move forward in such a short time in the absence of specific recommendations. ICANN lawyer Joe Sims said the board was briefed on the staff's work as it progressed, and he did not expect the board would delay a decision on new gTLDs.
