MUMBAI: In the backdrop of ICANN’s (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) 31st International Public Meeting in New Delhi in association with Department of IT and National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), the DotAsia Organization announced signups from India for its Celebrity Pioneer Program.

DotAsia is a not-for-profit organization formed by national top-level-domain registries around Asia (including .IN in India, .CN, .JP, .KR, .NZ, .SG, etc.), designated to operate the global “.Asia” Internet domain for the Asia region. The Celebrity Pioneer Program offers Indian celebrities the priority to register their domain name with .Asia before the registrations are opened for public later this month on 20 February. Early adopters of the program in India include Indian cricket hero legendary cricketer Kapil Dev, pop diva Shibani Kashyap, TV star Rakshanda Khan, ‘Indian Idol’ fame Rahul Vaidya, and Channel V VJ Anoushka.

According to DotAsia Organisation Limited CEO Edmon Chung, “There are more than 450 million online customers in Asia, and the .ASIA domain name is a gateway to reach this largest Internet market in the world. While .COM ignited the ecommerce boom in the US, .EU was created for Europe. .Asia is the first global top-level-domain that is headquartered in Asia and will be the platform for growth of the region. The Pioneer Domains Program focuses on building positive usage of the .Asia domain which in turn drives adoption and development for the Internet community across Asia.”

Indian stars Amitabh Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Kajol, Ajay Devgun, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone and Kapil Dev have one thing in common. None of them own their domain names. Sushmita Sen is all set to legally sue a Canada-based man for having squatted on her domain name www.sushmitasen.com. Shah Rukh Khan had to pay through his nose to buy back www.shahrukhkhan.com. Most Bollywood filmstars are unaware that their cyber identity has been hijacked or that sites in their names can be potentially misused for abusive purposes. 

Cricket veteran Kapil Dev said, “Yes, I lost out on securing KapilDev.com and KapilDev.in for myself. However, KapilDev.asia will be my home on the Internet. It is indeed a pleasure to join hands with DotAsia for it is doing commendable work through its Celebrity Pioneers Program. It’s time for all stars – especially athletes and cricket stars – to take their online presence seriously. With .Asia website in their name, they have a perfect platform to connect with their fans and audience.” 

Pop singer Kashyap added, “I own ShibaniKashyap.com but I still opted to register ShibaniKashyap.asia and Shibani.asia to secure my cyber identity and to reach out to my fans in Asia with a domain that conveys even better relevance to the region. I intend on making previews of my songs and videos available on my shibani.asia website. I really think that artists should be proactive and book their .Asia domain name before anyone else grabs it. Why pay a fortune to buy back afterwards?”

DotAsia is committed to the orderly and stable launch of the .Asia domain into the technical and social fabric of the Internet. In contrast to the mad rush to domain names which had left brand owners around the world frustrated in past launches of new top-level domains, a comprehensive “Sunrise” (priority period for Trademark owners and businesses) process was implemented for the .Asia registry. Besides providing a phased approach to protect the rights of intellectual property rights holders, an important feature of the .Asia startup process is the leaving behind of the conventional chaotic lottery-like pure first-come-first-served process, and the adoption of an auction mechanism to resolve contesting interests. 

During the Sunrise and Landrush phases, all applications received within the corresponding period are considered to be received at the same time. Where there is only one qualified application, it is awarded to the applicant. If there are more than one qualified application, an auction is being held between the applicants. This provides a calm, fair and logical process for everyone interested in the domain.