gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.CARINSURANCE	Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company	fairwindspartners.com	View

18.2 How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

AFCIC believes that the proposed .CARINSURANCE gTLD has the potential to offer a variety of benefits to Internet users and consumers, including the following:

-The .CARINSURANCE gTLD may provide a more trusted online marketplace for consumers seeking car insurance-related information and services.
-The proposed gTLD will offer short and memorable domain names that will facilitate the ease with which consumers locate information online.
-Because it is currently envisioned that only Allstate and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates will be permitted to register second-level domain names in the .CARINSURANCE registry for the first three years, there should be a reduced potential for customer exposure to online phishing, pharming, and other harmful activities.
-AFCIC’s proposed validation of agents will facilitate the ability of the “abuse point of contact” (as required in Section 4.1 of the template Registry Agreement) to respond to use complaints in a more timely fashion, especially with regard to “any reports from law enforcement, governmental agencies, and quasi-governmental agencies of legal content.”

18.2.1 What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

The primary mission of the .CARINSURANCE gTLD is to provide a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace for car insurance-related information, products, and services.

As technologies for delivering this content and these services evolve, AFCIC will continue to pursue and explore online opportunities to reach consumers and, by validating the identity of registrants in the .CARINSURANCE namespace, will help mitigate potential phishing, fraud, and other online scams to which consumers shopping for insurance are often subjected.

18.2.2 What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

Unlike most generic TLDs that ICANN has approved over the last decade, which have largely been operated by new Internet companies, AFCIC’s affiliate, Allstate, is an established company in one of the most highly regulated industries in the world, with affiliates that operate internationally and with the ability to potentially leverage its established network of agencies, affiliates, and subsidiaries to potentially increase the profile of the .CARINSURANCE gTLD. In addition, Allstate believes that it will gain valuable first-hand experience with the operation of several branded gTLDs that it has also applied for in this gTLD application round. Allstate could then leverage this experience and work with a larger cross section of the car insurance marketplace in order to develop new and innovative business models and practices for the .CARINSURANCE gTLD.

While some of ICANN’s new gTLDs have previously been the subject of claims regarding increased spam and phishing activities, .CARINSURANCE should be a trusted source of products and services for consumers looking for information online about insurance. AFCIC will initially rely upon the established good business practices of Allstate to create a marketplace with safeguards designed to minimize fraud and other illegal activity.

18.2.3 What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

AFCIC believes that the .CARINSURANCE gTLD will provide a single, trusted, ecosystem experience for the millions of potential consumers searching for insurance-related information online. By acting as the foundation for this trusted ecosystem, all domain name registrants in the .CARINSURANCE gTLD, as described herein, initially consist only of Allstate and Allstate’s qualified subsidiaries and affiliates, will be able to share in the benefits of this collective resource.

With Allstate’s experience as an industry leader with a proven track record in expanding from traditional insurance sales channels (brick-and-mortar agency locations) to newer outlets (online channels), AFCIC will initially leverage this experience to foster an environment of innovation and consumer choice.

In looking at potential sources of robust safeguards and goals for the gTLD, AFCIC reviewed the work of ICANN’s High Security Zone TLD Advisory Group (HSTLD AG). This was a multi-disciplinary advisory group was originally created to help ICANN address and minimize potential malicious conduct within the New gTLD Program. AFCIC specifically found value in and supported the stated goal of HSTLD AG “to bring together community representatives to evaluate the viability of a voluntary program, supporting control standards and incentives that could potentially be adopted to provide an enhanced level of trust and security over the baseline registration-authority controls.ʺ

18.2.4 Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

AFCIC is fully committed to implementing all of ICANN’s consensus policies and other Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPMs) as identified in the Applicant Guidebook. Moreover, based upon Allstate’s commitment and established track record in providing a safer ecosystem for consumers and vendors, AFCIC intends to provide meaningful safeguards that will evolve over time.

At the time of filing this application, AFCIC envisions the implementation of an additional RPM that will allow trademark owners to challenge domain names initially reserved⁄allocated by the registry (e.g., generic and geographic names discussed herein). This process will be modeled after the trademark challenge process adopted by the DotAsia Organisation in connection with its launch.

18.2.5 Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures

As a member of an insurance group with operations in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere, AFCIC recognizes that this is an evolving area of law in which there are no international standards. Based on the proposed business model discussed herein, the current best thinking is that all domain names in the .CARINSURANCE gTLD will initially be registered to Allstate and Allstate’s qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. Based on this plan, AFCIC has a vested interest in ensuring that accurate and current domain name information is readily available.

Allstate employs a variety of physical, electronic, contractual, and managerial safeguards to protect personal and confidential information within its premises and on its websites. AFCIC will take similar precautions to protect registrant and user data associated with the .CARINSURANCE gTLD.

AFCIC will ensure that the operation of the .CARINSURANCE gTLD will be consistent with local and national laws governing privacy rights protection, as they are interpreted and applied, and has obtained a similar warranty from its backend services provider.

In addition, AFCIC intends to incorporate contractual language in its Registry-Registrar Agreement (RRA) modeled after language which has been included in the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement and which has been successfully utilized by existing ICANN gTLD Registry Operators.

The Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement states “Registry Operator shall (i) notify each ICANN-accredited registrar that is a party to the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD of the purposes for which data about any identified or identifiable natural person (“Personal Data”) submitted to Registry Operator by such registrar is collected and used under this Agreement or otherwise and the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data, and (ii) require such registrar to obtain the consent of each registrant in the TLD for such collection and use of Personal Data. Registry Operator shall take reasonable steps to protect Personal Data collected from such registrar from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. Registry Operator shall not use or authorize the use of Personal Data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars.ʺ

18.2.6 Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

As noted in 18.2.2, most of the generic gTLDs that ICANN has approved have primarily been operated by new Internet companies created solely for the provision of domain name registration services, e.g., .INFO (Afilias Limited), .BIZ (Neustar Inc.), and .TRAVEL (Tralliance).

Allstate is an established insurance group with international experience and the ability to leverage a diverse range of media outlets and its agency offices to increase the profile of the .CARINSURANCE gTLD. AFCIC will also look to leverage any first-hand experience that it gains in connection with the operation of its applied-for gTLDs. AFCIC has applied for additional gTLDs other than the .CARINSURANCE gTLD.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.GOODHANDS	Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company	fairwindspartners.com	View

18.2 How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

AFCIC believes that a proposed .GOODHANDS gTLD has the potential to offer a variety of benefits to Internet users and consumers, such as establishing a trusted source of information and an online marketplace for the millions of consumers searching for insurance product information through Allstate’s online content; for investors and third parties seeking information; and for the general Internet user population.

In addition, .GOODHANDS will provide AFCIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries, affiliates, and business partners having the Required License with short and memorable Internet addresses and increased ability to navigate to information about Allstate insurance policies and services, while minimizing the cost and need for defensive registrations because domain names within the .GOODHANDS gTLD will only be allocated by AFCIC to its affiliate company, Allstate Insurance Company, as well as potentially qualified Allstate subsidiaries and affiliates, and business partners having the Required License.

AFCIC also intends to use .GOODHANDS to develop a potential platform for the secure access to, research of, purchase of, payment for, and distribution of Allstate insurance policies and information to consumers, in order to minimize the potential for deceptive practices or infringing content. Also, consumers may benefit from lower incidents of phishing and malware often associated with mistypes of domain names in the .COM space that are owned by cybersquatters since they will be navigating to domain names in the .GOODHANDS gTLD.

Currently, Allstate operates a number of corporate websites using a combination of second-level and top-level domain names.

AFCIC believes that a .GOODHANDS gTLD can provide a single, online source identifying function for its current and future customers around the world, instead of the current mix-and-match approach that Allstate is forced to resort to as it expands into different markets.

18.2.1 What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

The primary mission of the .GOODHANDS gTLD is to provide a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace to aggregate Allstate content and other offers and services. As Allstate continues to expand, the desire is to pursue and develop opportunities to market and distribute its online content and products to consumers on various platforms, including the Internet and mobile devices, among others. Given that customers increasingly demand access to Allstate information, products, and services through a variety of channels, which include domain names and the address bar, AFCIC believes that a .GOODHANDS gTLD has the potential to provide an innovative, virtual avenue to content that will deepen and broaden Allstate’s relationship with consumers.

Most importantly, AFCIC will be able to help ensure access to Allstate products and online content in a namespace less affected by piracy, cybersquatting, and other malicious activities.

Providing consumers with a trusted experience is a paramount goal to AFCIC and Allstate, and a .GOODHANDS gTLD will be used to further that goal. Given the high saturation of insurance-related sites, including many that offer misleading or outright incorrect information to users, and even sites that defraud users, the .GOODHANDS extension offers assurance that current and prospective Allstate policyholders are receiving authorized and up-to-date information, all in the global public interest.

While insurance providers, such as Allstate, fight never-ending battles to protect their valuable intellectual property from fraud and piracy on the Internet, a .GOODHANDS gTLD offers consumers a safer and more intuitive means of accessing authorized content from Allstate.

18.2.2 What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?

As a branded gTLD, the primary driving factors of a .GOODHANDS gTLD are differentiation and innovation. The success of the gTLD will not be measured by the number of domain names registered. Instead, it will be measured by the level of consumer recognition of and trust that is placed in the .GOODHANDS gTLD.

Using this benchmark, AFCIC strives to build consumer recognition and trust that rises to the level of that found in the .EDU and .GOV gTLDs.

As noted above, Allstate leverages emerging technologies to deliver insurance and financial products and services to its consumers in the United States and internationally. The .GOODHANDS gTLD has the potential to aid this online strategy.

18.2.3 What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

AFCIC believes that the .GOODHANDS gTLD will provide a single, trusted ecosystem experience for the millions of current and prospective policyholders worldwide who seek information about insurance. In addition to providing consumers with short, memorable, and intuitive domain names, AFCIC hopes to have robust safeguards to minimize any fraudulent activity within the .GOODHANDS gTLD, if potential consumer benefits that ICANN experts have forecasted become a reality.

In looking at potential sources of such safeguards and goals for the gTLD, AFCIC reviewed the work of ICANN’s High Security Zone TLD Advisory Group (HSTLD AG). This was a multi-disciplinary advisory group originally created to help ICANN address and minimize potential malicious conduct within the New gTLD Program. AFCIC specifically found value in and supported the stated goal of HSTLD AG “to bring together community representatives to evaluate the viability of a voluntary program, supporting control standards and incentives that could potentially be adopted to provide an enhanced level of trust and security over the baseline registration-authority controls.ʺ

The initial use of the .GOODHANDS gTLD will involve AFCIC registering a conservative number of second-level domain names in the first year. This initial use will provide Allstate’s IT and security personnel the ability to run a number of assessments for seamless and secure access to the website, and interoperability with various software and Web⁄mobile-based applications. Once appropriate security and stability issues have been satisfactorily addressed, AFCIC plans to begin allocating domain names for internal corporate use and may redirect new .GOODHANDS domain names to pre-existing content.

This phased rollout will likely take place over a multi-year period, but is subject to change depending upon a range of external factors, and will be in line with Allstate’s marketing strategy and technology needs.

18.2.4 Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

The .GOODHANDS gTLD is initially intended to be exclusively used by AFCIC, its affiliate, Allstate Insurance Company, and potentially other subsidiaries and affiliates. Should business partners eventually be allowed to register second-level domain names, each will have the Required License, which will terminate in the event of a misuse. The termination of the Required License will result in the deletion of any second-level domain name(s) registered to any such business partner. Because of this intended use, any registration and use requirements are more appropriately vested in these corporate⁄affiliate agreements and in the Required License (if any), not in a domain name registration agreement itself.
While Allstate is fully supportive of, and committed to, ICANN’s bottom-up, consensus-driven model, the Allstate mark GOOD HANDS is a valuable brand, the protection of which is of paramount importance. Therefore, any registration and use requirements (e.g., trademark quality control provisions) must, necessarily, vest in these other agreements.
Notwithstanding these concerns, AFCIC will incorporate all required ICANN consensus policies and other legal⁄policy requirements imposed on new gTLD applicants into the terms and conditions of the domain name registration agreement that each registrant will execute.

18.2.5 Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.

As a business with operations in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere, Allstate recognizes firsthand that this is an evolving area of law in which there is no single international standard. However, due to the fact that every domain name will be registered initially to AFCIC or potentially a qualified subsidiary or affiliate, AFCIC has a vested interest in ensuring that accurate and current domain name information is readily available in connection with each .GOODHANDS domain name.

Allstate employs a variety of physical, electronic, contractual, and managerial safeguards to protect personal and confidential information within its premises and on its websites. AFCIC will take similar precautions to protect registrant and user data associated with the .GOODHANDS gTLD.

AFCIC will ensure that the operation of the .GOODHANDS gTLD will be consistent with relevant local and national laws governing privacy rights protection, as they are interpreted and applied, and has obtained a similar warranty from its back-end services provider.

In addition, AFCIC intends to incorporate contractual language in its Registry-Registrar Agreement (RRA) modeled after language which has been included in the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement and which has been successfully utilized by existing ICANN gTLD Registry Operators.

The Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement states “Registry Operator shall (i) notify each ICANN-accredited registrar that is a party to the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD of the purposes for which data about any identified or identifiable natural person (“Personal Data”) submitted to Registry Operator by such registrar is collected and used under this Agreement or otherwise and the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data, and (ii) require such registrar to obtain the consent of each registrant in the TLD for such collection and use of Personal Data. Registry Operator shall take reasonable steps to protect Personal Data collected from such registrar from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. Registry Operator shall not use or authorize the use of Personal Data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars.ʺ

18.2.6 Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

Allstate sees the potential for this gTLD to serve as a component of Allstate’s future online strategic initiative. However, there remain a number of unanswered questions concerning consumer recognition and adoption of new gTLDs in the marketplace that first must be fully answered to Allstate’s satisfaction.

Allstate plans to start using these domain names primarily as redirects to existing .COM domains. After careful analysis and study of a targeted pilot rollout using the new .GOODHANDS domains as addresses, Allstate may plan to engage in a broader, strategic initiative, should the results be positive. The actual usage of .GOODHANDS domain names will dictate what public communications and consumer outreach may be done to encourage navigation to the .GOODHANDS gTLD. This is not limited to, but may include, advertising, media outreach, in-store communications, and email campaigns. However, there is currently no specific plan or budget for such communications given the uncertainty of consumer adoption of new gTLDs in the marketplace.