It seems like a plethora of American advertising agency associations in recent weeks have just woken up to the fact that new generic Top Level Domains are coming. Individually groups such as American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers have been complaining to ICANN with letters strewn with errors.
Since this has not worked, the organisations have banded together with 87 of their co-conspirators to wail that the world will end with the introduction of new gTLDs and formed the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO).
Showing that they either display a lack of knowledge of the process, or are not of afraid of hyperbole, the organisation claims the new gTLD programme is deeply flawed, will lead to excessive cost and harm to brand owners, lead to the likelihood of predatory cyber harm to consumers and failure to act in the public interest, which they note is a core requirement of ICANN”s commitment to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“This unprecedented, united opposition to ICANN”s top-level domain expansion program clearly demonstrates the enormity of the dissatisfaction across the Internet stakeholder community,” Bob Liodice, President and CEO of the ANA moans in the news release announcing CRIDO, giving a bizarre definition of the “internet stakeholder community.”
“The major global industries represented by CRIDO foresee immense damage to their constituents, consumers and the economy. We implore ICANN to discontinue its efforts to roll out this ill-conceived, unwanted and destructive program.”
Members of CRIDO include the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Society of Association Executives, the National Restaurant Association, the Intellectual Property Owners Association, the American Council of Life Insurers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). The WFA represents a global network of 51 advertiser associations representing some 90 per cent of global marketing communications spending, equivalent to $700 billion annually.
To date, the following 47 associations have joined CRIDO and signed a petition that will be sent to the US Department of Commerce publicly stating their opposition to new gTLDs:
Additionally, the following 40 companies have joined CRIDO and signed their petition:
