On Jun 26, 2008, at 7:58 PM, Ken Simpson wrote:
This gives an (unofficial) estimate :
<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080626-confusion-icann-opens-up-pando...
.confusion: ICANN opens up Pandora's Box of new TLDs By Jacqui Cheng | Published: June 26, 2008 - 12:11PM CT
<snip> Not every zany TLD will be immediately available to anyone who want to register a domain, however. Businesses must apply to register the TLD first, then go through a review process to ensure that it isn't offensive and doesn't infringe on anyone's intellectual property. If approved, registering the TLD will cost anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000, ICANN says, and the business or organization must prove that they are either capable of managing the TLD or can reach a deal with a company that will. This is no small beans— unless you're planning to fork over up to half a million dollars and put in the labor to manage everything that appears under the TLD, this task is probably best left to large organizations and governmental entities. The organization registering the TLD will also be responsible for determining whether it will be restricted to certain types of sites or open to the public. <snip>
Thanks for the info. Okay, well that kind of pricing will prevent most of the fraudsters from obtaining TLDs. But of course it doesn't prevent shady operators from setting up a TLD with lenient abuse controls - such as .info or .to. Imagine 40 .infos spamming away...
What I wonder is what that amount is going to ? Is that a fee, or is it an estimate of what it would take to set up a registrar ? If it is the latter, GoDaddy or Network Solutions may start offering TLDs for a lot less. I don't see much of an intrinsic reason why it should be more than 1 hour of person time to evaluate, thus a cost in the $ 100's of USDs, plus ongoing registry costs. This https://par.icann.org/files/paris/GNSO-gTLD-Update-Paris22jun08.pdf makes it look like much of the process could be automated. Regards Marshall