ICANN can now go after domain villains

As the list of virtual bad guys grows and the front has extended to a global scale, ICANN has been granted new powers that will allow it to track down and neutralize nefarious domain registrars. From cybersquatting to providing spammers with safe havens, they might sound like a band of villains out of a comic book, but the the threat is all too real.

At the highly publicized Sydney meeting, the oversight organization revised the Registrar Accreditation agreement,which was signed by several major registrars. It covers 21 generic top-level domains (gTLD), including .com,.net,.org, and .biz. The organization hopes this will help lessen the need for domain arbitration disputes, which are currently on the rise, with several high-profile cases this year.

The new powers will allow ICANN to handle the villainous domain registrars more effectively. In the past, they could only take away their accreditation. Now, they will be able to audit, fine and even suspend a registrar. This will give them a wider range of flexibility in dealing with various types of illegal and unethical behavior. It is not clear how much reach ICANN will have in countries that are plagued with these registrars, such as China, but time will tell.

Source: Internet Retailer