20 Sep, 2013
Know Your Net: Internet Safety Education Campaign Launched
Washington, DC (PRWEB) September 19, 2013 – The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) Wednesday announced a public awareness campaign to educate businesses and consumers about Internet safety, particularly with the expected addition of more than one thousand top-level domains – the text to the right of the dot in a web address.
The Know Your Net Campaign consists of communicating best practices tips through the websites and social media channels of the campaign sponsors and other interested parties: on Twitter, follow #KnowYourNet. The campaign will also feature data from CADNA’s cybersquatting research report, and stories from organizations that deal with cybersquatting.
“Education about Internet safety is always pertinent,” said CADNA President Josh Bourne. “But it is especially important now because of the massive Internet expansion that will occur over the next year when over a thousand new top-level domains are added to the web. Restricted-access, top-level domains like .BBB, .AARP, and .PHARMACY and closed domains such as .MARRIOTT will provide safe online experiences. But with potentially millions of new websites in completely open-access spaces, it will be harder for users to identify safe, trusted, legitimate sites from which to purchase goods and services and obtain information.
“The Know Your Net Campaign will raise public awareness about the dangers and pitfalls in this vast new tract of Internet real estate and also bring greater attention to some of the promise which will come from trusted spaces and smart new business models. It will help businesses maintain the integrity of their brands and the safety of their customers online and help promote rewarding online experiences for Internet users.”
“CBBB is pleased to co-sponsor and promote Know Your Net with CADNA, and looks forward to a campaign that will help consumers and businesses of all sizes better protect themselves from the dangers of cybersquatting,” said Anjali Hansen, Deputy General Counsel at the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., Vice Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, said at the Know Your Net Campaign kickoff that it is important to raise public awareness on cybersquatting and new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), and that he looks forward to potential hearings in the future. He also expressed the need for Congress to hear from the public, including brand owners, since the public is often the first to see issues on the horizon.
In addition to CBBB and CADNA, other participants in the campaign are the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), which will mark October as National Cyber Security Awareness month, and AARP.
In the next year, approximately 1,400 new gTLDs will become available on the Internet in addition to the 22 commonly used now, such as .COM, .EDU, and .ORG. Along with the 2,500 percent increase in gTLDs, thousands upon thousands of new websites will be created in each gTLD’s second-level domain space, to the left of the dot in an Internet address.
A major part of cybercrime involves cybersquatted websites that lure unsuspecting Internet users into a false sense of security by incorporating well-known trademarks into domain names that host Pay-Per-Click links, phishing scams, malware, or peddle counterfeit goods.
Recent studies report that cybercrime could cost the global economy as much as $500 billion annually and potentially result in the loss of 500,000 U.S. jobs alone.
CADNA is also going to launch a letter-writing campaign to key Members of Congress urging reform of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) to strengthen deterrents against cybersquatters and other trademark infringers.
Please contact us about sharing these Know Your Net documents with your audiences: cadna.org/contact.
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