back to article ICANN urges US, Canada: Help us stop the 'predatory' monster we created ... dot-sucks!

DNS overlord ICANN – which opened the floodgates to waves of new dot-word domains on the internet – says it needs help in killing one of those dot-words: .sucks. In a letter [PDF] to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Canadian Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA), ICANN claims .sucks domains are being sold to trademark …

  1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge
    WTF?

    Are ICANN seriously trying to say they didn't think this would happen???

    1. Blane Bramble

      Of course not, they just wanted the money first before they refused it.

      1. Rob

        Exactly...

        ... because while this is all rumbling on and they have happily washed their hands of any responsibility, the £185,000 is earning them some interest.

    2. DaLo

      " ICANN claims .sucks domains are being sold to trademark owners in a "predatory" manner"

      And at $185,000 deposit + auction surely the original GTLDs were being sold in an even more predatory manner?

      1. Anonymous Blowhard

        $185,000?

        Maybe we can go on Kickstarter to raise money to buy .twats?

        1. Captain DaFt

          Re: $185,000?

          I'm in! Well... as long as I get the domain are.twats. :)

          1. Hollerith 1

            Re: $185,000?

            I will pay even more ffor .dickheads

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I thought this kind of force-'em-to-defensively-register-more-domains was the whole raison d'etre of the pointless creation of countless worthless TLDs.

      Of course, as Blone Bramble pointed out, ICANN have *their* money from the .sucks sale now, so there's nothing to lose here, except their already-squandered reputation, at least not unless it scares off other registrars they want to flog off more poxy TLDs to.

  2. Jay 2
    WTF?

    Maybe they shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place then? But that would deprive them of all that lovely money that these shitty new gTLDs have ushered in.

  3. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Still trying to work out

    what was wrong with .com and .co.<country code>...

    1. 100113.1537

      Re: Still trying to work out

      As commentard TeeCee said below:

      "ICANN are a bit skint."

      By selling rights to create new TLDs ICANN are earning money. I don't know whether they need that money to continue operating, but at the end of the day, they are being caught out by their own actions when the "wrong people" get involved.

      1. Terry Cloth
        Pint

        “I don't know whether they need that money to continue operating”

        @100113.1537:

        Erm...remember that ICANN replaced one guy.

        Interestingly, the author of that paen, Vint Cerf, seemed to forget the point when he joined the ICANN board.

        1. Yes Me Silver badge
          Unhappy

          Re: “I don't know whether they need that money to continue operating”

          > Vint Cerf, seemed to forget the point when he joined the ICANN board.

          Well, in fairness, he tried to limit the madness. Vint didn't create ICANN; actually it was forced on the world by Ira Magaziner in the Clinton administration, and by some fairly powerful commercial interests that didn't want to see such a cash cow left to techies who might throttle the free money faucet.

          And yes, there's a DNS record for icann.sucks. But it's a loopback address (127.0.53.53). And no whois server will admit that it's been registered by anybody. How strange.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Still trying to work out

      Johnny come latelys were upset that all the good domains, like johnnycomelately.com, were already taken.

      It is kind of a problem that I can start a business called Bob's Burgers, for instance, and so long as there isn't one in town or the next few towns over, or a chain elsewhere in the state, I have no problem. Having only .com makes it so there can be only one bobsburgers.com, and everyone else has to do weird stuff like theoriginalbobsburgers.com, bobsburgerschicago.com and so forth. The real problem was that while countries like the UK used the .co.uk domain as intended, no one in the US used .co.us and everyone wanted .com in the rest of the world.

      New TLDs aren't a fix for this though, if there was a .burgers domain there's still only one bobs.burgers. Domain names are unfortunately just not a good solution on the scale we use them today, which is why search engines become so popular. I don't blindly type bobsburgers.com and hope it is the right one. I google "bobs burgers chicago" or "bobs burgers glasgow" and even if it is called bobspizzaburgersandhummus.com I'll find it. ICANN and registrars refuse to admit that the domain name system has been irrelevant for the past decade.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Still trying to work out

        "no one in the US used .co.us"

        From the point of view of smaller and/or more local business it sounds like a .state.us level might be a useful domain level. Or do they already exist?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @John Brown Re: state.us

          Yes, I believe all or at least most states have domains like state.il.us and some have city domains below those. I've never seen them used anywhere outside of government and primary/secondary school websites.

        2. Rick Damiani

          Re: Still trying to work out

          I believe they were established in 1985 along with the .us TLD. People have stayed away in droves though.

        3. Cirdan
          Headmaster

          Re: Still trying to work out

          They exist.

          Example:

          (school district initials).k12.mi.us

          For school.kindergarten through 12 th grade (pre college).state of Michigan.us

          However, this was shunned for things like Okemosschools.net

          FYI

          ...Cirdan...

      2. Jaybus

        Re: Still trying to work out

        In some cases that is true. However, there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of registered names for which there is not even a website in place. This is exacerbated by the many registrars that offer "parking" services. So called brokers register these names and hold them for very minimal cost, hoping to some day sell them to a real business at a substantial, often ridiculous, profit.

        If the only use of the name is for a one page website stating "The bobsburgers.com somain name is for sale", then any one of the Bob's Burgers with a copy of their business license or some other proof of legitimacy should be able to force de-registration of the name and make it available for actual use.

    3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Still trying to work out

      "what was wrong with .com and .co.<country code>..."

      Yeah, that bugged me a bit too, especially all those towns a cities spending wodges of cash on, for example .london. Depending on where in the world you live, .london could mean different things so .town is a prime example of a TLD that should have been created at the second level by the country TLD registry, eg .london.uk. I know there is .amsterdam.nl so did they spend money on .amsterdam or did they not see the point?

      1. Hollerith 1

        Re: Still trying to work out -- .london

        The Evening Standard bought into the .london madness and tried to challenge us Londoners to wear our hearts on our domain names. Wonder how that worked out...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well, that just...

    .sucks

  5. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    Or, in other words.

    ICANN are a bit skint. They're angling for an excuse to ban .sucks before the clock runs down and they have to fork out $2,500 for "icann.sucks".

    1. tapanit

      Re: Or, in other words.

      Actually I seem to recall ICANN routinely reserves icann.anything in all registrar agreements for new domains, so icann.sucks is presumably reserved to them already. Guess they know they suck. :-)

      1. SolidSquid

        Re: Or, in other words.

        Interestingly icann.sucks redirects to an Apache2 Ubuntu server default holding page, but the other iterations of ICANN redirect to icann.org. Wonder if someone nabbed .sucks before they had a chance to

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Or, in other words.

          "Interestingly icann.sucks redirects to an Apache2 Ubuntu server default holding page, but the other iterations of ICANN redirect to icann.org. Wonder if someone nabbed .sucks before they had a chance to"

          Hehe, that's your local machine? icann.sucks resolves to 127.0.53.53 which is the loopback network.

      2. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

        Re: Or, in other words.

        ICANN.really.sucks

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

          Re: Or, in other words.

          Thats' ALSO 127.0.53.53

    2. PleebSmash
      Mushroom

      Re: Or, in other words.

      $184,750 is enough for anybody.

  6. Thrud61

    I don't think sucks means what he thinks it means

    "allowing folks to speak and be heard about the products they buy and the companies they support"

  7. Graham Marsden
    Holmes

    Well...

    ... isn't THAT a surprise, boys and girls?!

    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Well...

      Only a surprise for the boys.

  8. Marcus Aurelius
    Happy

    ICANN't help laughing

    So ICANN thought they were onto a winner by extorting $185,000 from everyone applying for a TLD, and are upset by the fact that someone has outsmarted them.

    Quite honestly $2500 is probably small change to most companies that wish to pre-register. I quite honestly believe that no real company should be able to own its own .sucks domain.

    .

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The photo

    Shame on you El Reg displaying a photo of how NOT to pull a plug from a socket.

    On the other hand, being a US plug with exposed pins that may be the safest way of doing it ;)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The photo

      How is that any different than the the plugs shown in the following link to Google Images?

      https://www.google.com/search?q=European+Computer+plug&safe=off&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GZAZ_en&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=u98nVaLJCYz1oAS014GYDA&ved=0CAUQ_AU

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The photo

        It may not be but it is quite different to these:

        https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=uk+computer+plug&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The photo

        AC, the socket shrouds the pins until they are well free of any electrical contact. In fact it is impossible to get a finger in the socket and touch the exposed metal of the plug.

  10. This post has been deleted by its author

  11. Alister

    I thought the originally stated intention of Vox Pop. was that they would not allow defensive registrations by companies at all. It would appear that the money was too good to miss...

  12. Version 1.0 Silver badge
    Devil

    To date I'm seeing a massive uptick in spam from .work and .science domains - I'm planning on blacklisting all the new TLDs at the mail-server on the Albigensian theory of "Kill them all, God knows his own"

  13. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
    Facepalm

    Do ICANN really not have a process in place for taking domains back from registrars who are abusing them, or running them badly?

    Why the hell did they write themselves a contract that doesn't give them a get-out clause? Given that they can have some byzantine appeals process that basically means you appeal to one subcommittee of the ICANN board, and then appeal against them to a different sub-committee of the same board... For an organisation that are so good at subverting any kind of due process, with vague rules and no proper oversight, I'm amazed.

    Still, if they've paid themselves all the previous gTLD cash in bonuses, and can't afford any lawyers, they could always auction off dot.skint, dot.needaloan, dot.loanshark, dot.fuckup and dot.buggeriti'moffdownthepub...

  14. reeferman

    I eagerly await the .isatwat and .knobend TLDs.

  15. Peter Stone
    Happy

    I've said it before, I would love the gTLD .estmerde

    1. Preston Munchensonton
      Coat

      That's a shitty gTLD...

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        Americans will think this is actually a country, probably near Sweden or thereabouts

        smug_frog.jpg

        1. Preston Munchensonton

          Americans, like everyone else, will ask why do we need more gTLDs.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    I read about this a few days ago.

    There was an article on CNBC about how Kevin Spacey bought up Kevinspacey.sucks, and Yahoo! bought yahoo.sucks.

    This domain is a bit of a shakedown, and it doesn't add much to the public discussion. However, ICANN created this monster, and were happy to take the money to create it. I guess now they are getting nasty calls from their corporate masters who have to defensively buy up the domains now.

    1. Tom 38

      Re: I read about this a few days ago.

      How is this more or less of a shakedown than every other new gTLD that has a sunrise/landrush period for registrations for existing trademark holders/people prepared to pay for it? All public gTLDs have sunrise/landrush...

    2. OrientalHero
      Joke

      Re: I read about this a few days ago.

      I just went to KevinSpacey.sucks and he's done nothing with it! It's just a blank page...

      I thought he was a "creative" ;)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Go

        Re: I read about this a few days ago.

        Hey! It takes awhile to get the intellectual property rights to re-broadcast K-Pax!!

  17. Kevin Johnston

    What's that old saying?

    Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind

    1. richardcox13

      Or perhaps, hoist by their own petard.

  18. VeganVegan

    I can has .sucks, who knew!

    They should startup a .lolcats TLD, and be the only registered domain in it.

  19. Spaceman Spiff

    RIght!

    Personally, I think that ICANN just .sucks! I think, if it isn't already registered, I'll bid for the icann.sucks domain!

  20. Colin Miller

    Domain available

    .icann.sucks

    just sayin'

  21. Captain DaFt

    Naughty, naughty, ICANN!

    Creating a clusterfuck and expecting Governments to bail you out?

    What? You thought you were a bank?

    Obligatory Wondermark: http://wondermark.com/703/

  22. Richard 12 Silver badge
    FAIL

    The new TLDs were sold in an almost identical manner

    So that's equally 'predatory', yes?

  23. toughluck

    What's stopping registrars from creating .suck, .blows, .blow, .isapieceofshit and so on?

  24. Chris Hunt

    What law do ICANN think Vox Populi are breaking? From what I can see, they're just charging a vastly inflated price for the goods they are selling (in order to recoup the large sum demanded by ICANN in the first place, one might add).

    If that's against the law, then there are other companies that should be a long way ahead of them in the queue to the courthouse. Starting with one from Cupertino.

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