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

Prototypical answer:

Both registrants and Internet users will benefit from a fully validated namespace and transparent rules for the TLD both in terms of eligibility as well as acceptable use versus abuse.
This will make it easier
- for registrants to reach their target audiences either with information or services and
- for Internet users to interact and do business with registrants.
ad i-iii.
To achieve those benefits, the .gmbh gTLD will make sure that users will understand that .gmbh domain names are governed by policies ensuring a high quality standard.
Additionally, companies are given the chance to use a domain name on the Internet that corresponds with their commercial firm name.
The namespace will indicate to Internet users that the registrant is a GmbH. A self-explanatory .gmbh domain name will mean registrants will likely be found better via search engines.
In contrast to other namespaces, the .gmbh TLD will have a high reputation because of the validation, as well as strict policies requiring registrants to keep Whois data accurate. As such, it will be a trustworthy alternative to “open” TLDs, targeting a specific group of registrants with specific needs and synchronized with legal obligations that already exist and are now transferred to the online-level.
The applicant will offer registrations with umlauts to enable registrants to register their name since names with umlauts are different from those without umlauts (e.g. Müller and Mueller are different names).

Registrants will also benefit from directory services and other offerings regarding GmbHs provided by registrants undertaking to the registry to provide high quality and relevant content.

ad iv.
In addition to the rules and policies mandated by the new gTLD Agreement, .gmbh will include the following in its policies:

The .GmbH Eligibility Policy will specify that only GmbHs and gGmbHs (the latter being GmbHs serving the public good) whose existence can be validated with the respective public registers in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland are eligible registrants. It will further specify how the names entered into registers will be “translated” into domain names. This is particularly important because (for example) many companies are known in the trade by a catchword or acronym and users would be confused if they were confronted with the full company name.

The applicant will apply an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) which provides for clear demarcations of acceptable use versus abuse.

The AUP will differentiate between “registration abuse” and “usage abuse” (together “malicious use”).

“Registration abuse” is:
- use of faulty⁄falsified⁄incomplete⁄stolen person-related or company-related data on registration (danger to WHOIS accuracy, as detailed in our answer to q28);
- cybersquatting⁄typosquatting;
- registration of illegal domain names which themselves constitute a breach of applicable laws;

“Usage abuse” is:
- violation of applicable laws or regulation; in particular the provisions of the German Criminal Code, the German Youth Protection Act and the German Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media (JMStV); only content and services that are not liable to detrimentally affect the development of young persons and no adult material may be offered without restrictions;
- use of a domain to publish content which incites to hatred against parts of the population or against a national, racial, religious or ethnic group, content which glorifies violence, content which violates the human dignity, content which denies or plays down acts committed under the National Socialist regime;
- distribution of child abusive material;
- use of a domain name for the dissemination of spam, i.e. unsolicited bulk electronic communication (e-mail, instant messaging, on websites, in forums or mobile messaging) or advertising a domain name by means of spam;
- use of a domain name for Distributed Denial-of-service attacks (“DDoS attacks”);
- use of domain names in phishing activities, tricking Internet users into divulging personal data such as names, addresses, usernames, passwords, or financial data;
- use of domain names in pharming , such as DNS hijacking and DNS cache poisoning;
- use of domain names for the intentional distribution of malicious code such as spyware, botware, keylogger bots, viruses, worms or trojans;
- use of domain names to command and control botnets , i.e. a network of compromised computers or “zombies,”
- use of domain names in activities intended to gain illegal access to other computers or networks (“hacking”), as well as any activity to prepare for such a system penetration;
- use of a domain name fast flux hosting, disguising the location of Internet addresses or Internet services;

The AUP will be enforced by means of robust escalation procedures including response times to provide for swift action, if needed.

Due to the fact that the AUP is based on the rigid youth protection provisions in Germany, registrants are required to make adult material available only in closed user groups using age verification systems that follow standards issued by the Commission for the protection of minors in the media (www.kjm-online.de) and material which is detrimental to the development of minors or harmful to minors may only be made available when criteria laid down in the respective legislation are met and which will be further specified in a transparent manner in the policies. This will help provide a high protection level and exceptional user experience.

In order to support the goal of creating a namespace with unique content, the applicant has chosen to give special treatment to certain domain names.
Certain Premium Names will be blocked from general registration and will be sold and⁄or auctioned off by the applicant to parties that undertake to provide high quality content and present a concept for the domain name to the registry. Such concepts will be reviewed by the registry and only accepted if quality criteria to be further specified are met. By doing so, the applicant reduces the risk of speculative domain registrations for domain names that are important in the namespace. It can be expected that such domain names will be primarily invested in by parties that wish to use the domain names for offering content or services.
Further, the applicant has the right to reserve certain .gmbh domain names for personal and⁄or internal use and for the provision of information or services to populate the namespace with valuable information relevant to the TLD. This measure is intended to enable the applicant to promote population of the namespace with unique content from the very beginning, in order to stimulate the creation and publication of content relevant to TLD.

v.
Preserving diversity and freedom of opinion as well as the protection of personal and confidential information is one of the core values of the applicant. Users have the opportunity to share personal data in many places on the Internet and they do not know which offers can be trusted.
Here, users will benefit from the fact that the registrants are validated and that their contact details are published in the Whois database.
Since the registrants are bound by applicable data protection laws in addition to their visibility, users can more easily make an informed decision whether or not to provide the registrant with personal data or express their opinion via the services offered by the registrant. As such, the TLD will provide enhanced possibilities for sharing information in a trustworthy environment. Further, users might tend to trust such registrants more when it comes to providing confidential information.
As far as registrant data as such is concerned, private or proxy registrations are not permitted in the .gmbh gTLD since this would contravene the concept of transparency and ability to verify registrant data with the respective public registers.

Similar gTLD applications: (0)