18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

18a.1 Background

With the trend of rapid development of internet innovation and increasing acceptance by diversified end users, higher demand for Internet accessibility and specialized content has been evolved within Chinese language end-user community. Take China, the country with the largest online population in the world for example, according to the data in the China Internet Development Statistical Report (http:⁄⁄cnnic.cn⁄dtygg⁄dtgg⁄201201⁄W020120116337628870651.pdf) published by Chinese Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), by the end of 2011, there were 513 million internet users in China, and the number of web-pages in China showed an increase of 44.3% from that in 2010, reaching at 86.6 billion, of which Chinese web-pages account for 98.8% (simplified Chinese web-pages: 97.2%; traditional Chinese web-pages: 1.6%). In addition, Chinese versions of many overseas Chinese websites begin to spring up, and the types of Chinese language Internet services increase rapidly.

Even though the Chinese language internet interface has met a rising demand in Chinese language community, the current global Domain Name System (DNS) still fails to fully meet the needs of Chinese language Internet community in some aspects, specifically:

(1) The current domain names are mostly in alphabetical format, whereas the Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) in Chinese language has yet been well introduced to both consumers and software vendors, which makes it inconvenient for Chinese language users to utilize the current DNS to access the Internet content in their own language;

(2) The current space is too limited for Chinese language registrants, since the most recognizable and valuable alphabetical domain names have been almost registered by others which leads to relatively higher cost barrier, whereas the current Chinese top level domain are mostly geographical which are unable to meet the needs of Internet service for global Chinese community;

(3) There is a serious conflict between the incumbent alphabetical domain names and the Chinese trademark system, which result in most Chinese network services and internet applications providers have to register English trademarks to protect their trademark rights in the domain names;

Therefore, CNNIC endeavors to introduce ʺ.网络ʺ, an IDN TLD specifically for global Internet services in Chinese language, with the aim of expanding the scope of application and utility of the existing DNS, exploring the needs of Chinese Language Internet community that have not been met yet, and concurrently improving the utilization of domain names by Chinese Internet users.

18a.2 CNNIC’s Mission and the Application for ʺ.网络ʺ

Based on CNNICʹs self-positioning, as the constructor, operator and manager of the National Top Level Domain Name ʺ.CNʺ and ʺ.中国ʺ, CNNIC’s mission of applying for ʺ.网络ʺ is a correspondence of ICANN’s expectation of promoting new gTLD, and also represent its own strategic guiding thoughts as: Maintenance for Public Interest, Security and Reliability, Standardization and Efficiency and Service for Applications, specifically:

18a.2.1 Maintenance for Public Interests
During its 15-year history, to claim interests on behalf of the Chinese Internet community in the global Internet governance arena and solve the needs of Chinese language community for Internet resources have been a consistent social responsibility of CNNIC. At present, CNNIC is an active participant of Chinese Domain Name Consortium (CDNC), ICANN Variant Issues Project Chinese Case Study Team and many other working groups in support of internationalized domain names, which has made a great contribution to the development of Chinese domain name (CDN) development.

In addition, CNNIC also publishes on a regular basis of Internet utilization statistics, showing the Chinese language users’ needs for more efficient Chinese domain names. Based on a full investigation, CNNIC’s application for ʺ.网络ʺ is a substantial response to such needs with the aim of increasing the overall value of the Internet for the society.

As one of the measures that CNNIC takes to promote social benefits, CNNIC’s application for ʺ.网络ʺ inherits CNNIC’s fine tradition of maintaining the public interests and is expected to increase the overall value of the global DNS.

18a.2.2 Security and Reliability

Since its establishment in 1997, CNNIC has been continuously providing ʺ.cnʺ and ʺ.中国ʺ domain name services with high service levels. In addition, in order to guarantee the smooth introduction of Chinese new gTLDs, CNNIC has been running an experimental operation of ʺ.公司.cnʺ and ʺ.网络.cnʺ ever since 2008. By the end of December 2011, there are 39172 domain name registration in such ʺ.网络.cnʺ domain. Our existing registrants shows great expectation for the continuity of ʺ.网络ʺ service in the global DNS root.

In order to secure the rights and interests especially trademark rights, CNNIC has also developed a scientific registration process which maintains a high Whois accessibility rate of 99.08%. Meanwhile by actively carrying out measures which provided a full guarantee for users’ information security and stable system operation, in 2011, the overall abusive registration rate occurred under CNNIC’s management is controlled below 3%.

CNNIC would like to share its years of experience in ccTLD operation with the ICANN community, with the hope to improve the compatibility and stability of global DNS system and the Internet security of the Chinese language community, so as to increase consumers’ trust.

18a.2.3 Standardization and Efficiency

Ever since 2000, CNNIC has been actively engaged in international standardization process with respect to Chinese domain names, and took the lead in formulating the Chinese domain name standards RFC3743 and RFC4713 and Chinese E-mail standards including RFC 5336, which have now become the working standards approved by Internet Engineering Task Force.

In the coming days, CNNIC will continue to adhere to this mission by implementing standardized operations in ʺ.网络ʺ operation, ensuring high quality and efficient services.

18a.2.4 Service for Application

A strategy that CNNIC has been making continuous efforts to carry forward is to improve services and promote innovation of Internet application. CNNIC has been engaged in active interaction with Internet community and provides full support for technological innovations such as DNSSEC, IPV6 and Chinese E-mail services.

The Chinese domain name registration policies developed by CNNIC in cooperation with government authorities such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has been widely accepted by the registrants of domain names, and is continuing to play a significant role in support of innovations of the Internet applications.

CNNIC will, based on its innovation achievements in the Chinese language community, conduct further cooperation with software vendors and Internet community at large to bring about innovative Chinese language applications based on the global DNS services.

18a.3 Goals for the Proposed ʺ.网络ʺ

Based on its missions above, CNNIC is dedicated to

(1) providing global Chinese language users with ʺ.网络ʺ Chinese domain name services that meet their Chinese input, reading and memory habits and reduce their confusion for domain names;

(2) providing Internet service community with a global ʺ.网络ʺ domain without geographic restrictions, which is conducive to their promotion in Chinese language community around the world;

(3) making efforts to build a brand image of the ʺ.网络ʺ network services of being secure and reliable and of high quality through disciplined DNS services and domain name registration management;

(4) cooperating with ICANN accredited registrars to carry out best practice and increase consumers’ trust and taking steps to enhance the accuracy of WHOIS.

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