PLEASE NOTE THAT THE WORK BELOW BEGAN ON THIS PAGE.

FINAL VERSION TO BE SUBMITTED IF RATIFIED

FINAL DRAFT VERSION TO BE VOTED UPON BY THE ALAC

Background

On February 28 2013, the At-Large Advisory Committee approved a statement in response to the GNSO report on metrics designed to evaluate the performance of ICANN's gTLD expansion program. The statement, which was sent as correspondence by ALAC Chair Olivier Crepin-Leblond to the Chair of the ICANN Board and the Chair of the Board gTLD Working Group, indicated that the GNSO report did not adequately address metrics that would accurately measure end-user benefits and trust resulting from the expansion. In the statement, the ALAC committed to produce recommendations for additional metrics which it believes are required to supplement the GNSO recommendations. The ALAC created a Task Force to create the new metrics, which are listed below.

Scope

The ALAC found the scope of metrics used by the GNSO to be too limiting to be effective in measuring end-user benefit and confidence. To be effective, the metrics must evaluate the gTLD program not only between the different registries, but between the use of domain names and alternate methods to access Internet information. We are concerned about the effect of the expansion program not only on the new gTLDs, but on public confidence in the whole domain name system. It is possible that a reduction in confidence in new gTLDs could spill over to legacy registries which we believe metrics need to track.

The metrics proposed are intended to measure the gTLD expansion program from the point of view of Internet end-users, the ALAC's community as defined in ICANN bylaws. We assume that the needs of domain buyers and sellers are sufficiently addressed by the GNSO in its metrics. The metrics below supplement, not replace, the GNSO recommendations.

Format

In the interest of minimizing complexity and simplifying use, we will maintain the structure used by the GNSO metrics report. The section numbering starts at 4 to avoid confusion with the GNSO metrics.

Notes

1. As the scope of ALAC and ICANN itself is global, we anticipate and expect that any metrics to be measured by survey (both the ALAC and GNSO metrics) would need to be globally distributed and multi-lingual

2. External sources (such as business intelligence publications) can supplement (and reduce the cost of) customized surveys.

3. An automated system could sample random second-level domains to perform tests based on lists of domain names supplied by registries. The witholding of source data for metrics by contracted parties, in order to prevent collection of metrics which may be perceived to reflect upon them negatively, could impact the metrics and prevent ICANN from accurately measuring end-user trust

4. Significant growth in alternative methods of accessing Internet services may indicate a corresponding reduction in the relative trust of domain names to perform the same function. When possible, statistics should provide comparison with similar statistics for legacy TLDs.

FIRST DRAFT SUBMITTED

Public confusion / awareness related to the expansion
Public confusion of the difference between closed and open TLDs
Transparency of contact information, privacy policies and domain registration policies (for open and closed TLDs) 
Alternative methods to reach Internet resources
Proportion of new TLDs using IDNs at the second level
Unusual growth patterns in ccTLDs (perhaps as an alternative to new gTLDs)
Proportion of domains in gTLDs that are purely speculative in nature (for sale, park pages)
Instances of action taken by by police or regulatory agencies related to fraud or misrepresentation
End-user complaints to police, regulatory bodies or ICANN
Redundancy (multiple domain names going to the same resource)
Support by existing end-user-focused tools (browsers, search engines)
Encounters with technical difficulties reaching domains
Accuracy of marketing and promotion of new gTLDs
Number of ownership changes of TLDs

Background

On February 28 2013, the At-Large Advisory Committee approved a statement in response to the GNSO report on metrics designed to evaluate the performance of ICANN's gTLD expansion program. The statement, which was sent as correspondence by ALAC Chair Olivier Crepin-Leblond to the Chair of the ICANN Board and the Chair of the Board gTLD Working Group, indicated that the GNSO report did not adequately address metrics that would accurately measure end-user benefits and trust resulting from the expansion. In the statement, the ALAC committed to produce recommendations for additional metrics which we believe are required to supplement the GNSO recommendations. The ALAC created a Task Force to create the new metrics, which are listed below.

Scope

The ALAC found the scope of metrics used by the GNSO to be too limiting to be effective in measuring end-user benefit and confidence. We believe that to be effective, the metrics must evaluate the gTLD program not only between the different registries, but between the use of domain names and alternate methods to access Internet information. We are concerned about the effect of the expansion program not only on the new gTLDs, but on public confidence in and of the the whole domain name system. It is possibile that a reduction in confidence in new gTLDs could spill over to legacy registries which we believe metrics need to track.

The metrics proposed are intended to measure the gTLD expansion program from the point of view of Internet end-users, the ALAC's constituency as defined in ICANN bylaws. We assume that the needs of domain buyers and sellers are sufficiently addressed by the GNSO in its metrics. The metrics below supplement, not replace, the GNSO recommendations.

As the scope of ALAC and ICANN itself is global, we anticipate and expect that any metrics to be measured by survey (both the ALAC and GNSO metrics) would need to be globally distributed and multi-lingual 

Format

In the interest of minimizing complexity and simplifying use, we will maintain the structure used by the GNSO metrics report