.doctor Pre-Register Domain - .doctor Domain Information

MISSION/PURPOSE

The .doctor generic Top Level Domain is an exclusive, industry-specific TLD run by The Medical Registry Limited (MR) and designed for the long-term benefit of the global medical community.

This TLD will be a clear identifier confirming an eligible individual's status in the medical profession and will be an exclusive and authoritative online space for the industry. It will provide recognisable, succinct domain name registration possibilities for the industry as a whole and seek to provide the medical profession with a clearly identifiable and reliable online destination in which they can demonstrate their rightful place as professionals within their field. As such, second level domain registrations will only be available to industry members, thus instilling a strong level of purpose and validation in the TLD.

The .doctor TLD mission is to create a reliable, sustainable registry for the medical industry, with all entities registering within the .doctor TLD being required to produce verifiable credentials linked to evidence of professional qualifications or affiliation. The rationality of this mission as a business concept is directly connected to the uncertainty that consumers currently experience on the Internet and provides inherent benefit for the registrant and the pervasive Internet audience.

Due to a range of inadequate policies and inconsistent application of such eligibility across the current global ccTLDs and gTLDs, Internet users have no real ability to confirm that the sites they use are validated and subsequently have limited confidence in communicating with critical functions such as the medical industry or financial industry. However, .doctor seeks to modify this perception and believes that the TLD will have a positive long-term effect on users and their interaction with the medical community online. Consider these parallel findings: In a Jupiter Consumer Survey, a staggering 54 percent of consumers reported that they would be willing to switch doctors for the ability to perform certain functions with their physician or physicianʹs staff online, such as appointment scheduling, requesting prescription renewals, e-mailing regarding treatment questions, or checking lab results.

Likewise, Cyber Dialogue finds 20 percent of e-health consumers are willing to switch to another physician if that doctor has a Web site, and 17 percent would switch to a physician who uses e-mail. ʺThe cost to providers of not meeting consumer demand for increased connectivity with patients is competitive disadvantage,ʺ Cyber Dialogue concludes. With the intention to assist the medical profession to provide a reliable and validated beacon on the Internet, the .doctor TLD will provide the medical industry and consumers with a new, more accurate and orderly system by which they might use, define and find services on the Internet.

At its core, .doctor will foster the medical communities' ability to distinguish itself on the Internet while providing consumer confidence that the professionals and companies listed with a .doctor TLD are suitably credentialed or accredited in their field. Moreover, with the existing TLD space crowded and ambiguous, .doctor will create an intuitive navigation for consumers looking, searching or communicating with doctors, as well as with their practices and other companies within the community.

.doctor will be dedicated to helping patients connect with the health care providers who are best suited to address their specific needs and preferences. The easy-to-remember TLD and inherent search directory will help people and businesses find and connect with the medical professionals and industry who can best meet their needs.

For doctors and other medical professionals and companies, .doctor will be the ideal venue to establish online credibility, increase awareness of medical practices, generate new business and strengthen relationships with patients and consumers.

BENEFITS TO REGISTRANTS AND INTERNET USERS

The following four goals have been identified as goals of the .doctor TLD:

WIDER AND BETTER CHOICE FOR REGISTRANTS WITHIN THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL

The initial benefit to a registrant under the .doctor TLD is the wider choice of domain names which are available. The increasing use of existing TLDs has resulted in many domains becoming unavailable due to multiple competing interests seeking the same or similar strings. The result has been a dilution of choice and a necessity to settle for less-than-optimal domain name registrations or expensive acquisitions in the secondary market. This has affected the medical industry due to the increasing use of the Internet as a way to obtain medical information, find doctors online or communicate with within the medical community.

Such problems are addressed by the TLD expansion program and the .doctor TLD will benefit the medical industry through an increased availability of domain strings, in particular for the ability to obtain ‘key' or ‘highly memorable' second level domains.

IMPROVED CREDIBILITY THROUGHOUT INDUSTRY

The increased availability of strings will provide added credibility to the medical industry on the Internet and within the existing DNS. Credibility and marketing benefits will be realised through increased potential for direct navigation to appropriate sites. In addition, an industry-specific TLD will be seen as enabling community where industry participants and those that they serve can come together in a targeted and exclusive TLD.

In effect, this strategy will provide users with additional confidence that those with a .doctor domain name have been validated by submitted credentials are legitimate.

IDENTIFIABLE ONLINE DESTINATION

The .Doctor TLD aims to create a valued online ecosystem for the medical community. The registrant eligibility criterion is intrinsic to this. By limiting eligibility to entities with a verifiable credential, the .Doctor TLD will quickly become the standard online location of medical-related resources, identification of medical professionals and the industry as a whole.

With the advent of the e-health revolution, including many facets of the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge initiative throughout most of the industrial world, creating a dedicated online space will provide a certain level confidence and a higher degree of identity as it relates to inter alia electronic records, telemedicine, mHealth and personalised health care (see Health Information & Libraries Journal, Volume 28, Issue 2, pages 148-151, June 2011).

The .Doctor TLD will be the source for (a) consumers to locate doctors and other medical industry-related parties on the Internet; and (b) to introduce the medical industry to the Internet as a way to enhance their businesses and communications efforts.

Through the introduction of the core product (.doctor TLD) and complementary products such as a master directory, .Doctor will be able to communicate the value proposition of a restricted TLD and the .Doctor TLD for both consumers and professionals and the companies that serve them.

Currently, doctor names are competing for URLs in crowded TLDs such as .com. Even if a doctor managed to secure a representative URL, it would not be identified as a doctor without adding some reference in the URL. Take for example, the world famous doctor, Dean Ornish. The obvious URL within the ubiquitous .com is www.deanornish.com. However, this takes the user to a domain squatter site with links to random and meaningless services. In addition, the made-famous-by-TV doctor, Mehmet Oz, who many of us know affectionately as Dr. Oz, does not own his domain www.mehmetoz.com. In fact, the domain forwards to a news site in Turkey.
With the .doctor TLD, the URL for both Dr. Ornish and Dr. Oz would be www.deanornish.doctor or www.droz.doctor or www.mehmetoz.doctor. This will instil greater confidence in the Internet user of being able to access content and communicate securely.

REPUTATION AS A RELIABLE ONLINE DESTINATION

Through opening up a wide range of new available domain names, the .doctor TLD will appeal to medical professionals within the industry and will enable them to acquire domains that more clearly reflect who they are as professionals and the consumers they serve. The public will be easily able to find the right professional or company under the domain. These attributes combine to create a reputation for .doctor as a useful, reliable and easily-navigated online space.

User experience under the .doctor TLD will reflect the TLD's reputation as a valued source of medical-related information, content, directory and application services. The eligibility criterion is inherent in creating and protecting this reputation. The hurdle of an eligibility requirement is highly important for registrants seeking to establish commercial aspects in registered domains, as well as for users who will utilise commercial applications, and this hurdle will serve to maintain the integrity of those applying for registrations.

For general Internet users, the industry-focused nature of the TLD is likely to further increase direct navigation to .doctor domains, as users will be able to navigate to the TLD while knowing that material presented on a web site is related to the medical community.

ANTICIPATED CONTRIBUTION TO THE CURRENT SPACE

IMPROVED COMPETITION

The .doctor TLD will add a significant level of competition to the market for domain registrations, as the primary market identified for this TLD presently gravitates towards the .com TLD, driven in part through lack of an industry-specific TLD. Increasing the choice of registrations to include those under a new and highly appropriate TLD will improve the general competition level in domain registrations, which is a major factor in the general TLD expansion initiative. Increasing registration options will only result in increased competition if the new offering is a realistic alternative and .doctor is differentiated in such a manner as to affirm this.

Overall, the addition of .doctor to the TLD landscape is seen by the applicant as an invaluable contribution and provides the industry with a new namespace for the benefit of the online community, reflective of ICANN's overarching purpose for launching the new TLD program.

DIFFERENTIATION

A .doctor domain is differentiated from market dominant existing TLDs by being clearly aligned with a particular industry. The medical industry reaches vast numbers of people around the world. Combining the explosion of the Internet with the established reputation of one of the most important professions and industries in the world creates a uniquely targeted TLD. This unique focus of the TLD is what sets it apart from existing TLDs and provides a high level of differentiation.

Over time, the eligibility criteria will enhance public acceptance of this TLD and other niche TLDs, through raised levels of comfort in the content presented.

REGISTRATION POLICIES IN SUPPORT OF THE .DOCTOR TLD

Registrations will be provided under .doctor upon the submission of appropriate professional or industry-specific credentials. In addition to standard information relating to registrant identity being collected, registrants will be obliged to provide certain credentials, inter alia, certification, geography and industry segment.

Underlying the integrity of information collected, as part of each applicant's addressing of the TLD's eligibility criteria is the requirement that each registrant warrants that the information provided is true and correct.

Registrations where multiple entities seek identical domains and where each holds an appropriate validation credential will be determined by auction during sunrise and landrush (as described in response to Question 29) and on a first come-first served basis during general availability.

The target market for the sale of .doctor domains will be medical professionals and related medical companies. A professional or industry-related business will be considered eligible if it:

- presents credentials (such as a government-issued registration number) that illustrate the professional or industry-related company (such as a medical practice) is authorised to offer services in the medical field.

MR will also be supported by a Medical Registry Advisory Board (MRAB) which will provide additional skills and support to MR. The role of the MRAB will be to provide advice and direction in key areas such as business planning, strategy, sales and marketing, financial and structural planning and development of proper and authenticated credentialing of professionals.

The advisory board will be composed of the following members:
-members from within the global medical association community (e.g. American Medical Association, British Medical Association, Fédération Européenne des Médecins Salariés, Japan Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association)
-members from within the medical community (eg doctors, health practitioners)
-Members of the not-for profit or government sector
-members with CEO/Chairman backgrounds in the medical industry

The Advisory Board will be incentivised at the parent level, therefore being zero direct cost to MR.

PROTECTION OF PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

In accordance with the mission and purpose of the .doctor TLD, MR is committed to the protection of privacy and confidential information and fostering increased consumer reliability through providing a safe, user-friendly and valuable Internet space for Internet users. As the .doctor TLD will be based in the United States, its operations may be governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Public Law 104-191, which sets down specific terms and conditions for collecting, storing and using personal information. A Privacy Policy has been developed which is compliant with this legislation and ensures that a high level of privacy and information security surrounds all collected data.
The .doctor TLD and its policy will comply with the Specification 9, subsection 1(e), of the Registry Operator Code of Conduct contained within the Registry Agreement.
To address registrant privacy, the .doctor domain is administered with compliance to a Privacy Policy, which requires that identifying information received by the Registry Operator in connection with registrations will not be disclosed to third parties, except as required to combat any abusive registrations (as outlined in the response to Question 28) and comply with our contractual obligations to ICANN and investigations conducted by law enforcement agencies.

MR will provide a publicly-available WHOIS look up facility, where information about the domain name status and registrant information (including administrative and technical contact details) can be found in accordance with Specification 4 of the Registry Agreement. In order to prevent misuse of the WHOIS look-up facility, MR will utilise measures, including a requirement where any person submitting a WHOIS database query is required to read and agree to the terms and conditions in accordance with the registration policy. This will include the terms of use that the WHOIS database is provided for information purposes only and that the user agrees not to use the information for any other purposes, such as allowing or enabling the transmission of unsolicited commercial advertising or other communication.

MR will deploy Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), which is intended to benefit users interacting with domain names under the .doctor TLD. DNSSEC provides additional security by validating information in transmission; therefore it is intended to benefit those who publish information in the domain name system (DNS) and the users who retrieve information from .doctor.

Further, MR will comply with all security measures, policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and any relevant Consensus Policy for protecting the privacy and confidential information of registrants and users in the .doctor TLD.

OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS ACTIVITIES

Because .doctor is a new product launch in a wholly unique environment, .doctor must adopt an aggressive education and communication outreach plan.

An international marketing campaign aimed at the final consumers, with a "top of mind" and unaided awareness, will help drive demand through the consumer to .doctor TLD. .doctor will focus a good deal of attention on working with medical associations and medical industry groups. The strategy will be followed to meet the particular requirements in each market internationally and to maximise the branding aspects of .doctor.

.doctor will also work with these professional organisations and industry groups and others to refine registration qualification guidelines and gain endorsements and market awareness.

.doctor's branding strategy is aimed at developing .doctor as the reliable online authority for locating medical professionals who have provided evidence of their qualifications and those that they serve and. As a source of information, .doctor can also expand and brand the function of the registry with valuable incremental services, while maintaining autonomy and credibility.

Advertising strategies will focus on education and product value-added awareness from both the consumer and the professional point of view. Developing top of mind and unaided awareness will be critical among consumers who will in turn drive the demand by the doctors and the medical industry. The message will convey the underlying tenants of reliability and validation associated with .doctor as a TLD.

The focus of .doctor's publicity campaigns will be on educating the consumer and the professional, not only to the availability of the TLD as a source of information, but also as a platform for new and unique business and communication opportunities. Elements of the program to be implemented will include speaking engagements to raise public awareness and the support and encouragement of the medical industry to attend and sponsor events at various worldwide conferences.
Our public relations strategy will help build awareness of the DNS among all consumers.

INTRODUCTION

The introduction of the .doctor TLD is anticipated to result in the minimisation and, in some cases, the elimination of social costs and other negative consequences imposed upon consumers by the adoption of the following operating rules:
1. Method of resolving multiple applications for a domain name.
2. Cost benefits for registrants.
3. Contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalations.
These operating rules are described below, along with the manner in which they serve to eliminate or minimise social costs and negative consequences imposed upon consumers.

METHOD OF RESOLVING MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS

The method of resolving multiple applications for a domain name varies, depending on the particular stage of the launch process — i.e., whether or not the domain name is being registered during the Sunrise, Landrush or General Availability period. The resolution method for each stage is provided below, along with a discussion of the manner in which the selected method serves to eliminate or minimise social costs.

Sunrise Period

A ʹsunrise period' is a period of time for a defined category or categories of prospective domain name registrants to register domain names before registration opens to the general public. The initial Sunrise Period will be aimed at trademark holders. In accordance with the Registry Agreement, a sunrise period must be implemented in all new gTLDs for a minimum of 30 days during the pre-launch phase, to protect the legal rights of trademark holders. Multiple applications for a domain name will be resolved by auction during the Sunrise period aimed at trademark holders.

Utilisation of the auction method to resolve multiple applications in the .doctor TLD during the sunrise period for trademark holders is anticipated to minimise and possibly eliminate social costs and other negative consequences imposed upon consumers. The subsequent increase in legitimate and accurate online content serves to promote consumer reliability and minimises the amount of time and money wasted by consumers on illegitimate sites.

Landrush Period

A ‘landrush' period is a period of time for all prospective registrants to register domain names before registration becomes available on a first-come/first-serve basis. In accordance with the Registry Agreement, a trademark claims service must be implemented during the first 60 days that registration is open for general registration. This will coincide with the landrush period for the .doctor TLD.

The auction method will be used to resolve multiple applications for a domain name during landrush, because the benefits of utilising auctions and burdens of using the first-come/first-serve method in sunrise, as described in the immediately preceding section of this answer, apply with equal force to the landrush period. Just as in the sunrise period, auction allocation during the landrush period provides an efficient, transparent, fair and objective method for resolving multiple applications for a domain name.

General Availability

General availability commences when domain names are made available for general registration. Upon commencement of general availability, domain names will be able to be registered at the standard registration fee and allocated on a first-come/first-serve basis. The lower cost and certainty associated with the first-come/first-serve method renders it a viable and sustainable method of resolving multiple applications on an ongoing basis.

COST BENEFITS TO REGISTRANTS

Although registrations in the .doctor TLD will not offer cost benefits when compared to existing TLD offerings, significant benefits will be obtained through the higher level of service, recognition and authority provided by the TLD.

CONTRACTUAL COMMITMENTS TO REGISTRANTS

Domain names in the .doctor TLD will be provided to and renewed by registrants at competitive markets rates. Although registrants will be provided with advance written notice of price increases as required under the Registry Agreement, no further contractual commitments will be made to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation, as commitments of that kind may serve to restrict the registry operator's ability to adapt to changes in the market place.
OTHER OPERATING RULES WHICH ELIMINATE OR MINIMISE SOCIAL COSTS

No constraints will be placed on parked sites. The imposition of an eligibility restriction (possession of medical credential) is assumed to be sufficient to provide a barrier to non-authentic registrants and thus minimise the risk of parked sites or other uses which may contravene the TLD's overall mission and purpose.

By imposing an eligibility restriction designed to restrict registrations to medical industry participants, the .doctor TLD supports its planned mission/purpose and thus the medical industry. It is anticipated that vulnerabilities to the registrant and Internet users who access content through the .doctor TLD can be reduced or eliminated. This will be safeguarded through policies and procedures which ensure that registrations are made using eligibility criteria. Further, abusive registrations and use of registrations will be prevented by having in place and enforcing a robust anti-abuse policy; this policy is described in detail in the response to Question 28.

We have engaged ARI Registry Services (ARI) to deliver services for this TLD. This response describes protection of geographic names as implemented by ARI.

1 PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

In accordance with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, the registry operator must initially reserve all geographic names at the second level, and at all other levels within the TLD at which the registry operator provides for registrations.
ARI supports this requirement by using the following internationally recognised lists to develop a comprehensive master list of all geographic names that are initially reserved:
- The 2-letter alpha-2 code of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including all reserved and unassigned codes [http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm].
- The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 List, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union [http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#EU].
- The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardisation of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World. This lists the names of 193 independent States generally recognised by the international community in the language or languages used in an official capacity within each country and is current as of August 2006 [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/ungegn%20tech%20ref%20manual_M87_combined.pdf].
- The list of UN member states in six official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardisation of Geographical Names [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/9th-uncsgn-docs/econf/9th_UNCSGN_e-conf-98-89-add1.pdf].
Names on this reserved list in ARI's registry system are prevented from registration.
A corresponding list of geographic names will also be available to the public via the registry operators website, to inform Registrars and potential registrants of reserved names. The lists noted above, are regularly monitored for revisions, therefore the reserved list (both within the registry and publicly facing) will be continually updated to reflect any changes.
In addition to these requirements, ARI are able to support the wishes of the Governmental Advisory Council (GAC) or any individual Government in regard to the blocking of individual terms on a case by case basis. ARI's registry system allows such additions to be made by appropriately authorised staff, with no further system development changes required.
The following applies to all Domain Names contained within the registry's reserved list:
- Attempts to register listed Domain Names will be rejected.
- WhoIs queries for listed Domain Names will receive responses indicating their reserved status.
- Reserved geographic names will not appear in the TLD zone file.
- DNS queries for reserved domain names will result in an NXDOMAIN response.

2 PROCEDURES FOR RELEASE

We understand that if we wish to release the reserved names at a later date, this will require agreement from the relevant government/s or review by the GAC, and subsequent approval from ICANN.