Currently only open to companies and trademark holders, the French domain is set to take a major step towards becoming completely unrestricted when it opens up to individuals next year. French registry AFNIC manager Mathieu Weill explains what will happen and how it will happen.
When and how will individuals be able to register Dot FR domain names? Dot FR will be opened up to individuals before summer 2006, during the first half of next year. At that point, any individual with an address in France will be able to register a Dot FR domain. We will be automating the registration process as much as possible to ensure the best possible success rate for the opening of Dot FR to individuals.
Will some of AFNIC's requirements change due to Dot FR opening up to individuals? For example, will you still check a domain name's DNS configuration before green-lighting it for registration? We want to keep Dot FR's traditional strong points, such as its technical reliability. The new domain names we register will therefore have to be correctly set-up. Of course, different registration procedures will be introduced to cater for the specific needs of individuals as compared to those of companies which have been able to register Dot FR domains since the start. But the ability to identify the registrant of a Dot FR name will remain one of the domain's advantages.
As we're dealing with individuals, personal data protection systems will be introduced so that prospective registrants don't expose themselves to spam and the like. That's one more way in which we are trying to set Dot FR apart from other country code domains by offering registrants more.
Opening Dot FR before the summer means you risk facing stiff competition from Dot EU. Is that a worry for you? We are set to open around the same time as Dot EU, give a take a few weeks (Dot EU goes live on April 7 2006 – ed.). It's not a worry, I actually think it's an opportunity for both domains because both launches will generate interest in domain names in general, both for companies and individuals. Companies will obviously be more heavily involved in the previous two sunrise periods for Dot EU while we will be putting the emphasis on individuals with Dot FR, but I'm sure that we both domain launches will build momentum for one another.
Should companies, who have probably already worked to protect themselves and their names in Dot FR if they have in interest in the zone, be worried about the domain being opened up to individuals? There's no reason to expect problems. Those problems that we could expect have already surfaced when Dot FR became unrestricted for companies last year so I don't see any reason for companies to panic. AFNIC will continue to provide dispute resolution tools in order to help solve disputes as quickly and efficiently as possible. Those tools that already exist will continue to be available for companies, such as the Dot FR dispute resolution service provided by WIPO. We made be able to develop new tools to help solve disputes between individuals or initiated by individuals… that's something we're looking at. But companies already have a full set of dispute resolution tools to choose from.
How many names do you expect to have added to the French domain one year after you open it to individuals? We are expecting to see about 100.000 names added to the 400.000 that already exist in Dot FR.
Lettre gratuite
Sur votre site
RSS
Print article
Email article
= requiert un