(R-FL) Addresses TRAFFIC Conference — Cliff Stearns

Congressman addresses domain conference in Miami, Florida.

Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL) addressed the TRAFFIC domain conference this afternoon. Regarding 75 people were in attendance during Stearns’ fireside chat with show organizer Howard Neu. Stearns was joined by retired Congressman Mike Ferguson. Stearns is a member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, and Ferguson was on this subcommittee while he served.

Stearns stated there are lot of things people in the domain name industry ought to be concerned regarding:

-Cybersecurity, shutting down your domain names, and trademarks
-ICANN, concerns regarding moving it to under umbrella of United Nations, Stearns stated he’s been fighting this
-Net Neutrality, possible taxes on internet service
-Reciprocity for fraud overseas
-Copyright infringement/trademark
-Re-write of the 1996 Telecommunications Act

Stearns stated the domain industry ought to look to Congress to set a level playing field. He stated that if a big firm sues you over a trademark, odds are you’re going to wilt since they have more money than you.

Ferguson noted that there are a special interests that are getting their voices heard, and the domain name industry needs to do the same thing.