In her speech today to the ICANN community, Meredith Atwell Baker from the United States Government identified the following areas of concern with the new gTLD process that need careful and thoughtful consideration and resolution prior to moving forward:

(1) Impact of potential changes to the registrar/registrar marketplace to allow for vertical integration;

(2) Expanding the marketplace before having effective and meaningful tools to protect consumers and brand owners;

(3) Demonstrating ICANN has sufficient capacity to enforce contract compliance with, as yet, an unknown number of new contracts;

(4) The fee structure, the possible use of auctions and the disposition of excess revenue given ICANN’s status as a non-profit; and

(5) Appropriate mechanisms to address dispute resolution, including the very delicate issues of morality and public order.