the
official
website for a major film that hits
theaters February 26. The .movie
extension, operated by the world's
largest operator of new gTLD
registries, Donuts,
seems to be gaining excellent
traction with Hollywood studios. It
has been used for other major movies
including the latest film in The
Hunger Games series, Dirty
Grandpa and Freeheld.
Given
that rapidly developing relationship
it wasn't surprising to see Donuts and the
Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA) today jointly announce
an agreement to help ensure that websites using domains registered with Donuts are not engaged in large-scale piracy.
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Under
the terms of the agreement, the MPAA
will be treated as a “Trusted
Notifier” for the purpose of
reporting large-scale pirate websites
that are registered in a domain
extension operated by Donuts. The
agreement imposes strict standards for
such referrals, including that they be
accompanied by clear evidence of
pervasive copyright infringement and a
representation that the MPAA has first
attempted to contact the registrar and
hosting provider for resolution.
The
agreement specifies that Donuts will
work with registrar partners to
contact the website operator and seek
additional evidence. If Donuts or its
registrar partner determines that the
website is engaged in illegal activity
and thereby violates Donuts’
Acceptable Use and Anti-Abuse Policy,
then they, in their discretion, may
act within their already established
authority to put the infringing domain
on hold or suspend it. Overall,
the new program is a voluntary best
practice designed to help promote a
healthier Internet by mitigating
blatantly illegal online activity.
Jon
Nevett
Donuts Co-Founder &
Executive VP |
Donuts
Co-Founder and Executive Vice
President Jon Nevett
said, “This is a
groundbreaking partnership and
one we’re proud to
undertake,” said .
“Donuts, as the operator of .MOVIE,
.THEATER, .COMPANY
and almost 200 other domain
extensions, is committed to a
healthy domain name
environment and this is
another step toward a safe and
secure namespace.”
Nevett
added, "While this
agreement is geared
specifically to film and
television piracy, it can also
be adapted to address other
illegal activity online.
Hopefully, it will become a
model for similar agreements
that can be reached with
operators in the domain name
ecosystem and other Internet
intermediaries.”
Former
U.S. Senator Chris Dodd,
who now serves as Chairman and
CEO of the MPAA, said "I
want to thank Donuts for their
leadership. This agreement
demonstrates that the tech
community and content creators
can work together on
voluntary initiatives to
help |
ensure
vibrant, legal digital
marketplaces that benefit all
members of the online
ecosystem. Filmmakers and
distributors are already using
the Internet to offer more
options than ever before for
accessing online legal
content, including over 115
such sites in the U.S. alone.
But sites engaged in
large-scale piracy threaten
this continued growth and
creativity, as well as the
livelihoods of the 1.9 million
Americans whose jobs depend on
our industry.” |
The
announcement immediately precedes the
first Healthy
Domains Initiative summit
tomorrow in Seattle, an event
organized by The
Domain Name Association,
that will bring domain name industry
leaders who are focused on issues such
as this, including the safe and
healthy evolution of the namespace.
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