Members of Congress Cite “.cpa” Risks in Urging Review of Internet Corporation's Policies

Four members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to the President and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to voice concern about ICANN’s recent actions regarding generic top-level domain strings (gTLDs) regulations.

Representatives Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), Michael Conaway (R-Texas), Steve King (R-Ind.) and Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev.) wrote to urge ICANN to develop and promulgate verification regulations for gTLDs that are at greatest risk to fraud and abuse, such as “.cpa.”

Writing on August 7, they noted that a 2013 communique by ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) identified several gTLDs that are linked to regulated or professional sectors. “The GAC recognized that ‘these [gTLDs] are likely to invoke a level of implied trust from consumers, and carry higher levels of risk associated with consumer harm,’” they explained. “Further, the communique highlighted that gTLDs such as ‘.cpa’ could be used to deceive consumers of CPA services in the United States and around the world if granted to those outside the global CPA community.”

“Ultimately,” the legislators explained, “the communique recommended ICAAN ‘[e]stablish a working relationship with the relevant regulatory, or industry self-regulatory, bodies, including developing a strategy to mitigate as much as possible the risks of fraudulent, and other illegal, activities,’ and specifically cited ‘.cpa’ as requiring “Category 1” safeguards.”

“Unfortunately, to date, ICANN has not fully implemented this recommendation,” the lawmakers wrote. “While it has taken steps in the right direction, gTLDs, such as ‘.cpa,’ are still not regulated in a way to prevent fraud and abuse. For a gTLD that has a strong connection to a regulated industry, such as ‘.cpa,’ the protection of the public against fraud or other illegal activities should be of paramount concern to ICANN. Strong, reliable verification procedures are essential to protect the public interest. The importance of the public trust to the CPA profession around the world cannot be overstated, and the potential harm to the public of fraudulent or illegal use of a “.cpa” domain is immense.”