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

Prototypical answer:

Q18b) - Mission-Purpose

The projected benefits of .بازار to the target users and registrants fall under four broad categories:

General benefits of an IDN gTLD
Cross-language nature of .بازار
Semantic content of .بازار
Planned registry practices to enhance the use of this TLD.

For coherence and expositive clarity purposes, wider explanations of these four categories have been distributed across the answers to the subset of 18 b enumerated questions:

b) i.What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?

The goal of the .بازار TLD in terms of specialty relies on its focus to provide a natural platform for enabling and promoting widespread adoption of e-commerce and local content in the large and linguistically diverse region where Arabic script is used to express local languages.

CORE Internet Council of Registrars, is establishing an advisory group of experts representing different language groups that use the Arabic script to assist the organization in introducing .بازار and to communicate its potential value as a tool of e-commerce in the region. In addition to .بازار variants policy, as described in response to Question 15, and in order to further safeguard the security of the domains and registrants, CORE Internet Council of Registrars will be urging the registrars to participate in a voluntary program of informing registrants of ‘quasi-variants’ to their registered domains. Loosely speaking, a quasi-variant to a second-level domain is a domain that could be confusable for a careless observer, but is not sufficiently similar to qualify as a variant. Quasi-variants in question are constructed according to a well-defined algorithm that will be made available to all registrars of .بازار domain.
Participating registrars will advise applying registrants of the list of quasi-variants and their status as possibly registered domains.

Regarding Service levels, The .بازار Registry will match or exceed the high end of currently existing TLDs. The .بازار Registry will vigorously build and defend the reputation of the .بازار TLD as an orderly and progressive TLD.


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

Competition

It is to be acknowledged that governments and ccTLDs had a leading role in efforts to establish the development of IDN domain space. This development together with the opening up of gTLD space, creates a natural opportunity for IDN gTLDs to complement the ccTLD expansion and reach out to the online community where ccTLDs, especially government-run ccTLDs, are not likely to penetrate effectively. IDN ccTLDs are markers of linguistic and national identity and are often bound by priorities that may not be very accommodating to the development of e-commerce and other existing and emerging applications. This is especially true for government–run ccTLDs, as is the case with most of the ccTLDs in the targeted area for .بازار

Differentiation

Turning to the semantic potentialities of the .بازار as a TLD, what makes this string distinct from similar notions such as .com, .biz, and .shop is the ‘portal’ interpretation inherent in the word as understood over centuries by the population of targeted region. As explained in response to Question 18a, a common picture imparted by this word is a large complex of intertwined alleys where each alley or segment thereof specializes in offering products or services of a particular nature. The ‘Grand Bazaar’ is comprised of smaller bazaars such as the ‘Carpet Bazaar’, ‘Gold Bazaar’, ‘Shoe Bazaar’ and even the modern equivalents of ‘Mobile Bazaar’, ‘Computer Bazaar’, etc. One can exploit this concept to offer novel values to registrants and users in several ways:

Portals serve as efficient entry points for purposeful search. The extension .بازار signals a search for the product or service that may appear at the second level.

In the same vein, generic names of products and services used at second level under .بازار will represent very valuable pieces of domain real-estate as they can become highly useful mini-portals or natural search points. One can predict a brisk secondary market for such domains once .بازار is properly recognized. As evidence, we note the high transaction prices paid for such domains as toys.com, autos.com, pizza.com, gold.asia, and flowers.mobi, to mention a few. A common attribute of all such highly valuable domains is that they are in fact portals that provide efficient access to a broad class of products or services.

The hierarchical structure inherent in this traditional interpretation of .بازار may have interesting consequences. While the early notion of hierarchy in domain space proved to be a failure, it is premature to write off the potential of this particular domain in view of the changes in the expanding TLD space and the evolution of search engines.

The ‘portal’ or ‘umbrella’ effect of .بازار provides a ‘community’ aspect to the gTLD across a wide spectrum of markets and industries. There are additional benefits to all registrants of .بازار through their collective promotion of the new gTLD in that the adoption of the gTLD by each user increases its value to all registrants. This type of network externality is an important and unique part of this new gTLD.

Innovation

The proposed TLD string is specifically aimed at activities with a commercial nature. The role of IDN here is to serve as a facilitator of commerce in a medium where communication takes place in the language⁄script identified by the TLD. As such, the Registry will be able to apply innovative and market-driven measures normally employed in gTLD environment to address user requirements and the fast pace of technology development.

As was pointed out in response to 18a, a feature of .بازار is that it can serve a number of languages that use the Arabic script. Like Latin script, Arabic script is widely adopted as the writing system for a number of disparate languages from very distinct language families. Nevertheless, geographic affinity and historical interactions have led to extensive word borrowings between languages, of which .بازار is an example. The IDN Table for .بازار accommodates the necessary characters for rendering a number of languages including Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi, Urdu and Malay (as written in Jawi), and it can probably be used to express other languages in the target area. In addition, several letter-characters, not part of the official alphabet of the above languages, are also included in the IDN Table. Among the benefits of this extensive cross-language IDN Table for registrants and Internet users, one can mention the following:

A cross-border platform to enable, facilitate, and foster commercial interaction in the regions where Arabic script is in use.

The extensive IDN Table allows linguistic minorities and smaller communities to enter the Internet world. In particular, the letter-characters referred to above (not part of the official alphabets of the five languages cited) are part of the vernacular of some language communities in the area.

Some of these characters are actually used in commerce to express non-native sounds as they occur in the name of foreign companies. An example is the character ʹʹU+06A4ʹʹ used in Arabic to express the German ‘v’ sound. The introduction of these characters in the IDN Table will be a facilitator for foreign companies wishing to establish a visible presence in local script.

This open policy paves the way for future expansion of the IDN Table, albeit with necessary precautions regarding variants within ICANN and IDNA guidelines, to accommodate other languages that use the Arabic script.

b) iii.What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

Compared to most existing TLDs, the .بازار TLD user experience will greatly enhance predictability and memorability of domain names, specifically in those areas where Arabic script is predominant. Its cross-language Arabic script characteristics, the orderly development process and strong intellectual property support ensure that users will generally find the services they are looking for under the names they intuitively tend to use for them.

User experience is improved by the singular specificities of an IDN gTLD, that will provide to the the users that naturally lean towards their non-ASCII script, and to those willing to address commercial online communications specifically targeted to Arabic scripts specific users, the means to identify such communications under a TLD explicitly designed to this purpose.


In a paper titled “An Economic Analysis of Domain Name Policy” published in 2004, in the “Law and Economics Research Paper Series” edited by the University of San Diego School of Law, Karl M. Manheim and Lawrence B. Solum identify the following attributes that make a domain name valuable:

- Guessability
- Memorability
- Branding
- Meaningfulness
- Enterability

The proposed gTLD .بازار satisfies these criteria as well as a further attribute of ‘universality’. The word or its recognizable cognates are meaningful in a huge number of modern languages enabling it to cut naturally across national and cultural boundaries. This is all the more important as the next phase of rapid Internet growth is expected to be driven by growth in the non-Western world.

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

Registrations under the .بازار TLD are available for strings in Arabic string only, according to the rules and IDN Table porvided in Q44 below, and subject to bona-fide use of the .بازار TLD for commerical purposes, and subject to the further requirement that the registrant’s use of the registered domain name, must be:

- generally accepted as legitimate; and

- beneficial to the mission and purpose of the .بازار TLD, and

- commensurate with the role and importance of the registered domain name.


The registration policies are differentiated between Pre-launch phase, Launch phase and General Availability.

1, Pre-launch phase

During the Pre-launch phase, a Pioneer and name space mandate programs will be launched by the .بازار Registry to accommodate content provision commitments and projects aimed at maximizing the visibility and overall value of the .بازار TLD, and at fostering Arab script based ecommerce. The Pioneer program will have a twofold focus: to gather intelligence about the current state of development of the Arabic name space; and to foster the interest of the most relevant Internet actors in the areas where Arabic script is predominant. Commitments to projects specifically targeted at raising the profile of the Arabic name space and at the enhancement of usage of the Arabic script on the Internet will be actively sought and negotiated. All potential registrants and mandate holders will be subject to due screening and thorough pre-validation. For more details on the pioneer and the name space program, please see response to Q18 c) below


2.Launch phase

During the Launch phase, all registrations are thoroughly pre-validated; Launch phase pre-validation depends on priority status. The Launch phase includes 3 categories for registrants with prior rights, and a fourth one, which is in fact, a Landrush, running in parallel in time, but being the lowest in priority. The categories are the following according to hierarchy:

Public Authorities of the areas where Arabic script is used
Entities which consolidated commercial activities are aligned with the goals pursued by the .بازار TLD, such as: stock markets; cities with a longstanding tradition as commercial hubs; market places with a distinctive association with the ʺبازارʺ name, etc.

Trademark and other distinctive signs rights holders. This includes trademarks registered in Arabic scripts, and figurative trademarks whose textual part is expressed in Arabic script.

No prior rights. Eligible registrants not able to claim any of the priorities listed above will be able to apply during the whole duration of the Launch phase, as a preparation for an orderly and transparent Landrush.

3. Post-launch: General Availabilty

At General Availability, First come First served registration is the only basis to allow registrations. The ongoing compliance program will monitor abusive and non-compliant uses (see answers to Q28 and Q29 below for more details). Strong protection of trademarks will help stamp out cybersquatting and abusive registrations.


4. Reservations on second level

- For the protection of geographic names on the second level, please see response to Q22. For the reserved list contained in the Specification 5 of the proposed TLD Registry Agreement, it is necessary to state that, due to the IDN gTLD nature in Arabic script, none of these names can be registered or used neither by the Registry nor by any third-party registrant,as they are expressed in Latin sctipt, ACII characters only. Notwithstanding that, the .بازار Registry, in an effort to actively seek the development of a secure and trusted name space, will offer ICANN its cooperation to block the equivalents in all languages using Arabic script of the names included in aforementioned Specification 5, according to the translation and lists provided by ICANN

- Upon launch of the .بازار TLD, the Registry Operator will inform the market in due manner a complete list of reserved names, including major city names in addition to the above Second-Level Reservation for Registry Operation.


b) v. 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.

CORE Internet Council of Registrars recognizes first-hand that this is a relevant issue and an evolving area of law in which there is no international standard. The protection of privacy and confidential information of registrants and users will comply with applicable Law. Within the bounds of applicable regulations, the Registry will implement anti-data mining measures by way of rate limitation, authenticated access or white-listing⁄black-listing, as well as tools to prevent unauthorized recourse to repetitive automated access.

CORE Internet Council of Registrars also intends to incorporate contractual language in its Registry Registrar Agreement (RRA) modeled after language which has been included in the template Registry Agreement and which has been successfully utilized by existing ICANN gTLD Registry operators. Specifically, Registry Operator shall notify Registrar of the purposes for which Personal Data submitted to Registry Operation by Registrar is collected, the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data, and the mechanism for access to and correction of such Personal Data. Registry Operator shall take reasonable steps to protect Personal Data 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. Registry Operator may from time to time use the demographic data collected for statistical analysis, provided that this analysis will not disclose individual Personal Data and provided that such use is compatible with the notice provided to registrars regarding the purpose and procedures for such use.

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

Use of outreach programs to achieve TLD goals: the .بازار TLD has outreach programs adapted to each phase of its introduction.

The Pre-launch negotiations involving calls for projects by innovators and pioneer users. They foster the intuitive usability of the .بازار TLD with a focus on the goals pursued by the .بازار TLD. Once these domain names are active, they become an outreach mechanism in their own right because they establish the touch-and-feel of the .بازارTLD in the minds of the users.

The Launch phase will involve outreach mechanisms that specifically leverage participation by the local public services, locally relevant trademarks and local actors.

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