18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Prototypical answer:

We expect that our customers will benefit if the .hotmail gTLD registry allows us to lay the ground work to provide a more secure, globally recognized platform to complement our ongoing efforts to further enhance the security, stability, and reliability of the Hotmail email service. We constantly strive for ways to identify and remove spam and are assessing how a .hotmail registry can enhance these efforts.

i. What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of speciality, service levels or reputation?
Microsoft was a cloud computing pioneer more than 15 years ago with its first version of the Hotmail email service. The goals of our proposed .hotmail gTLD are to obtain a platform through which we have the opportunity to offer our hundreds of millions customers an increased sense of security and authenticity and to protect one of our most important brands.

ii. What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space in terms of competition, differentiation or innovation?
We are proud of the features that differentiate our Hotmail email service from our competitors’. For example, the most recent version offers an encrypted connection for the entire duration of a session and allows users to create one-time passwords to help to protect their privacy on a computer located in a public space such as an internet cafe. We anticipate the opportunity to operate a .hotmail gTLD may provide an authentic and secure platform through which we can continue our commitment to innovation and improved customer experience.

iii. What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
Millions of people trust us to maintain the Hotmail email service securely. They want to view all their email accounts in one place; share photos, files and folders; and sweep away junk. We will be delighted if a new. hotmail gTLD provides us with the opportunity to enhance the perception that the Hotmail email service is the most trustworthy.

iv. Provide a complete description of the applicants intended registration policies in support of the goals above
The Microsoft Domain Name Management team is responsible for the development, maintenance and enforcement of the .hotmail Domain Management Policy (hDMP). This policy defines the rules associated with eligibility and domain name allocation, sets out the license terms governing the use of a .hotmail domain name and describes the dispute resolution policies for the .hotmail TLD. This policy is intended to be updated and revised regularly to reflect Microsoft’s commercial and strategic interests and, where appropriate, changes in ICANN Consensus and Temporary Policies. We summarize below the .hotmail hDMP.

Registration of a .hotmail domain name is undertaken in four steps: Eligibility Confirmation, Naming Convention Check, Acceptable Use Review, and finally Registration.

Registration of a .hotmail domain name will be restricted to Microsoft Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries and eligibility checks will be performed. All domains in the .hotmail registry will remain the property of Microsoft Corporation or one of its wholly owned subsidiaries. Registrants may not assign rights in .hotmail domains to any third party.

Checks will be performed to ensure that each applied-for .hotmail domain name conforms to the .hotmail Naming Conventions. Each .hotmail domain name must:
• not be a prohibited label such as “example”;
• be at least 3 characters and no more than 63 characters long;
• not contain a hyphen on the 3rd and 4th position (tagged domains);
• contain only letters (a-z), numbers (0-9) and hyphens or a combination of these;
• start and end with an alphanumeric character, not a hyphen;
• not match any character strings reserved by ICANN;
• not match any protected country or territory name identified in the internationally recognized lists set forth in Specification 5 to the New gTLD Agreement, unless Microsoft reaches agreement regarding release of such names with the applicable government or pursuant to a proposal reviewed by the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee and approved by ICANN.

The .hotmail registry may support Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) at the second level.
.hotmail domain names must be used solely for purposes that, in Microsoft’s sole discretion and judgment, enhance its strategic or commercial interests. .hotmail domain names shall not be used to knowingly infringe, violate, or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Microsoft will require that the WHOIS data for all .hotmail domains is accurate and complete.

v. Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy of confidential information of registrants or users?
Microsoft is committed to protecting the privacy of employee and customer data.
The .hotmail registry will be operated by the Microsoft Corporation, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Washington; data will be processed in accordance with applicable data protection requirements. We intend to comply with the Personal Data obligations set forth in Section 2.10 of the Registry Agreement.

vi. Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits?
We anticipate engaging in the types and scope of outreach and communications appropriate to the operation of a .brand registry in which the brand owner and its wholly owned subsidiaries are the registrants of all second-level domain names.

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