Fresh TLD program has two hearings on Capitol Hill within one week

Get ready for representatives to pretend like they know regarding domain names.

ICANN and its fresh top level domain name program will be put under the microscope in Washington, D.C. twice over the next 7 days.

Tomorrow morning the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a hearing called “ICANN’s Expansion of Top Level Domains”. As usual, the deck is stacked against ICANN. Three of the five witnesses will be against the program in its current form, ICANN will have one representative, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will probably be somewhat neutral.

Then on December 14 the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing titled “ICANN’s Top-Level Domain Name Program”. Witnesses have not been disclosed, but ICANN Senior Vice President Kurt Pritz may as well get an extended stay hotel.