The objection comes as the current chief at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Rob Beckstrom, announced that he will step down in 2012.
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), major corporations will be forced to buy domain names that cover their brands—like .verizon or .facebook—in order to prevent cyber squatters from grabbing them first. Given that applications include a $185,000 fee, that could be an expensive undertaking.
"ICANN's potentially momentous change seems to have been made in a top-down star chamber. There appears to have been no economic impact research, no full and open stakeholder discussions, and little concern for the delicate balance of the Internet ecosystem," Randall Rothenberg, CEO and president of IAB, said in a statement. "This could be disastrous for the media brand owners we represent and the brand owners with which they work."
In June, ICANN approved a plan to increase the number of generic top-level domains (gTLDs), which could significantly increase peoples' options when it comes to domain names. At this point, there are 22 gTLDs, including .com, .org, and .net. ICANN, however, approved a plan that would allow people to apply for new gTLDs, like .pcmag, for example.
But that includes the $185,000 evaluation fee, with $5,000 upfront. One might argue that the steep fees will deter cyber squatters in the first place, but the IAB is not entirely convinced. "We hope that ICANN will reconsider both this ill-considered decision and the process by which it was reached," Rothenberg said.
Beckstrom, meanwhile, announced on Twitter earlier this week that "I have decided to wrap up my service at ICANN July 2012." He assumed the role of president and CEO on July 1, 2009.
"I am incredibly proud of ICANN’s achievements throughout my tenure," Beckstrom said in a later statement. "In two short years we have advanced this organization to a new level of professionalism and productivity, and turned it into a genuinely multinational organization that will serve the world community long after my time here."
In terms of accomplishments during his tenure, Beckstrom pointed to the 2009 agreement that saw Department of Commerce relinquish some of its control over ICANN in order to allow more international participation in the process.
One issue with which ICANN has been contending is the .XXX top-level domain, which was approved in March. Earlier this week, GoDaddy.com rolled out prices for the first .XXX domain names, with adult content providers charged as much as 17 times the cost of a standard .com domain name.
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