.bible Pre-Register Domain - .bible Domain Information

The purpose of the .BIBLE gTLD is to:
• Provide an additional choice of available domain names at competitive prices.
• Provide world-wide access to all qualified parties interested in disseminating or seeking information (whether non-commercially or commercially) about Bible issues, news, culture, lifestyle, entertainment or any other topic with a convenient and recognizable domain name that affirmatively associates them and/or their information with the Bible.
• Provide world-wide access to all those interested and qualified in selling or purchasing goods or services of any kind, or providing information, with a convenient and recognizable domain name that positively associates them and/or their goods or services with the Bible.
• Provide a top-level domain name that enables an identifiable means of communicating with people, organizations, and businesses that associate or identify with the Bible.
• Create new digital real estate and innovative partnerships that will empower global Bible engagement and protect the gTLD from inappropriate use.

The mission of .BIBLE is:
• The promotion of the Bible community, its issues, causes, interests, perspectives, positions, supporters, and admirers by making domain names ending in .BIBLE available to those who may want to use such .BIBLE domain names for their business, personal or other legal purposes in the United States and world-wide.
• The positive promotion of the Bible community by having information available and disseminated from websites and email addresses ending in .BIBLE for the registrants.
• The positive promotion of the Bible by allowing business, not-for-profits and individuals to positively associate their products, services, information and selves with the Bible..
• To provide an identifiable means for people, organizations and business to communicate with those who associate or positively identify with the Bible.
• To increase the number of people and organizations world-wide that publicly identify themselves via the Internet and new media with the Bible through their use of .BIBLE domain names and email accounts by making such .BIBLE domain names affordable and readily available (subject to compliance with the rules governing .BIBLE discussed elsewhere in this Application).
At present, no specific .BIBLE domain name, or useful top-level alternative domain name, exists for the people, organizations and businesses that associate themselves with the Bible, or people, organizations and business that want to communicate with them. Those wanting a domain name that indicates some level of association with or recognition of the Bible could seek a second level domain name such as "Bible.com," Bible.us" or "Bible.info," but such domain (or similar names) are not readily available under the limited number of existing gTLDs, and more importantly only provide a secondary (at best) or weak (at worst) relationship between the domain name and the Bible, which we believe is the primary goal of the registrant of such Bible-related names. From a competitive perspective, registrants that want a domain name that effectively and efficiently shows an association with the Bible, or registrants that want a domain name that allows them to identifiably communicate with people who associate or identify with the Bible face a domain name marketplace that provides them with few if any options for their purposes. The .BIBLE top-level domain will resolve this problem by providing registrants with an efficient, effective, prominent, instantly understood way of showing their association with the Bible, and provide those registrants who desire it a domain that that can effectively communicate information to such Internet users in an identifiable way, while at the same time providing competition with the existing TLDs and new gTLDs that will be approved by ICANN, thereby increasing consumer choice.

The goal of the .BIBLE top-level domain is to establish itself as the recognized choice for registrants who want to market and promote themselves and their websites to, and reach, the Internet-using community, for ministry, business, personal or any other purpose, through a positive association with the Bible; and, as the recognized top level domain name for Internet consumers to know which people, businesses, information sources or other online resources associate themselves with the Bible.
This applicant, like most organizations, takes its good reputation seriously. For nearly 200 years, we have provided the Bible for exploration, supporting free speech rights across a full range of faith traditions. Accordingly, we are fully cognizant that artistic, political, economic and social issues, all of which can be associated with the Bible, often provoke heated debate and are at times controversial. We believe that such expressions of opinion are important to the success of the .BIBLE, and that stifling them would be more harmful than good to .BIBLE's reputation, ministry, and business success. That being said, to protect .BIBLE's reputation and the associational benefits it offers registrants and Internet consumers, we will actively promote and enforce our Acceptable Use and Abuse Prevention policies and procedures, which we believe will effectively combat improper or unlawful unprotected speech and online conduct. We believe that these mechanisms will be effective in assuring the reputation of the .BIBLE top level domain, its registrants, and Internet Users, as well as the public.
The .BIBLE top-level domain will be marketed to registrants who want to associate themselves, their products, services, thoughts, ideas or anything else in a positive way with the Bible. Therefore we believe that the great majority of registrants who apply for a .BIBLE domain name will do so because of its association with the Bible and because they want to reach those who do. In these ways, the .BIBLE top-level domain will bring a special association with the Bible to the top-level domain name space.
We believe that the .BIBLE top-level domain will add significantly to competition and differentiation in the top-level domain space, both for registrants and Internet consumers. With respect to competition, registrants are presently extremely limited in their choice of domain names that allow them to efficiently and effectively associate themselves with the Bible. The availability of useful, effective, straight-forward domain names on existing top-level domains, such as .com, .net and .org, are few and far between, or may be for sale at prices that are out of reach for most. .BIBLE will allow registrants to obtain useful, effective, straight-forward domain names rather than be forced to purchase, for example, their fifth, sixth or even later choice .com or .net name, which may well barely relate to the registrant's purpose or use of the domain name and/or may be confusingly similar with numerous other .com or .net domain names. In addition, some existing generic top-level domain names, though newer, such as .xxx, may be inappropriate for most registrants for content associational reasons, while country-code top-level domains, though numerous, are not useful or appropriate for many registrants for geographical associational reasons. Thus, .BIBLE will increase competition for registrants who want a domain name that clearly, effectively and efficiently associates them with the Bible for their domain name purposes as well as for those registrants who want to reach Internet users who identify with the Bible.
.BIBLE registrants will also be encouraged to track their own efforts and progress using proven and well established Bible engagement assessment criteria. This data will allow us to quantify the impact of the .BIBLE TLD.
.BIBLE will also increase competition in the top-level domain name space by assuring that .BIBLE domain names are priced at levels that are appropriate to the vast majority of potential registrants to whom .BIBLE is targeted.
Internet consumers also benefit from this increase in competition, as less confusing and clearly associated .BIBLE domain names will make it easier for them to know that the owner of the second-level domain name seeks to positively associate with the Bible.
Likewise, .BIBLE will significantly help increase differentiation in the top level domain space. Existing leading generic top level domains names, such as .com, .net and .org no longer require and no longer represent any real differentiation in association, purpose or content. Newer top level domains, such as .xxx, .aero and .museum, do represent differentiation, but are either inappropriate or unavailable to most prospective registrants at whom .BIBLE is targeted. .BIBLE will further increase differentiation by allowing registrants to be associated, and consumers to know that the registrant seeks to associate with the Bible.
In terms of user experience, a goal of .BIBLE is to provide users with a top-level domain name that easily allows them to recognize that the registrant seeks to have its second-level domain name (and content) associated with the Bible. We believe this will be of substantial benefit to the Internet user community, as it will allow them to more easily and more readily understand the purpose or motives of the registrant's website or email, allowing for better, more efficient and more effective use of their time online.
Another goal of .BIBLE in terms of user experience is to protect third-party rights as well as to prevent abusive uses of a .BIBLE domain name. We intend to achieve this goal by crafting our Naming Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, and other policies to be readily understandable and easily accessible, and by making sure that our mechanisms for enforcing rights and preventing abuse (such as our Complaint Resolution Service) operate effectively, efficiently, and fairly, as well as by ensuring that they work symbiotically with other ICANN-mandated rights protection mechanisms such as the UDRP.
We have crafted a draft framework for registration of .BIBLE domains that fully support the goals, mission and purposes set forth above. Our draft registration framework is based on advice from ICANN, WIPO, applicable laws, and a variety of other expert sources. Specifically, the .BIBLE draft framework includes these interrelated sets of agreements setting forth our policies and regulations, all of which registrants must agree to be bound by:
• The Registrant Agreement, which registrars contracted with .BIBLE must present to registrants. This is a collateral agreement to the Registrar Registry Agreement (detailed below), and will bind registrants to .BIBLE's Acceptable Use Policy (as detailed below), .BIBLE's Privacy & Whois Policy (detailed below), ICANN-mandated rights protection mechanisms (including the Universal Dispute Resolution Policy ("UDRP"), and the Complaint Resolution Service;
• The Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP"), which details the proper use of domain names that end in .BIBLE, which is incorporated by reference in the Registrant Agreement that registrants must agree to;
• The Privacy and Whois Policy, which describes how a registrant's personal data is to be used, which is also incorporated by reference in the Registrant Agreement;
• The Registrar-Registry Agreement, which is the contract between .BIBLE and its ICANN-accredited registrars which sets forth, inter alia, the duties and obligations of the registrar with respect to .BIBLE registrants and the .BIBLE registry; and
• The Naming Policy, which sets out .BIBLE's policies governing prohibited, blocked or reserved domain names.
These agreements and policies are designed to ensure transparent policies for the registration of .BIBLE names; fair and competitive pricing; protection of personal data and privacy; adherence by registrars and registrants to the AUP; protection of trademarks, the names of natural and juristic persons and other property rights; prevention of the registration of illegal terms; and the prevention violations of the law. Moreover, our policies are intended to promote competition among registrars, combat abuse of the DNS, address cybercrime, protect intellectual property rights, and align the .BIBLE top-level domain with applicable regulatory and legislative environments and Internet registry best practices.
These policies will effectively support the key mission, purposes and goals of the .BIBLE top-level domain, which is to allow registrants who want to positively associate themselves with the Bible, while at the same time protecting third-party rights and preventing abuse.
With respect to protecting registrant privacy and confidential information, we will comply with applicable ICANN rules, including Whois policies, and all applicable laws, rules and regulations of appropriate jurisdictions. Registrant privacy and use of confidential information are set forth in our Privacy & Whois Policy. Information concerning updates and changes to the Privacy & Whois Policy will be promptly and prominently displayed on the .BIBLE web site.
.BIBLE's back-end registry services provider will also be required to employ industry standard procedures to prevent the unauthorized or illegal access of registrant privacy or confidential information.
With respect to users, .BIBLE's Registration Agreement will require that all registrants must comply with any and all applicable laws, rules or regulations concerning user privacy and confidential information for applicable jurisdictions, and that failure to do so may result in suspension or loss of their .BIBLE name, and may in addition result in legal actions by appropriate authorities.
Outreach and communications to targeted potential registrants will be important to .BIBLE achieving its projected benefits by allowing it to cost-effectively and quickly market to the most likely potential registrants, and to promote the ways in which .BIBLE will allow them to associate themselves with the Bible, and how their association with .BIBLE helps further their interest and that of the greater Bible community. To achieve this outreach, we intend to leverage our existing relationships by engaging in advertising and other promotional methods of reaching potential registrants. .BIBLE believes that outreach to people and organizations that already identify with the Bible give it the best chance of launching the top-level domain as strongly as possible, giving it the best chance of long-term viability, and thus the best chance of providing its projected benefits to registrants of a positive association with the Bible, while at the same time promoting the Bible.
Targeted communications will help .BIBLE keep in touch with its registrants, to understand how they would like to see .BIBLE develop, and to understand how we can improve our policies, registration rules, or other aspects of our operations or administration.

We plan to minimize social costs primarily through clearly written, widely disseminated, and easy-to-understand policies. Our Acceptable Use Policy clearly delineates unacceptable behavior and prohibited content by registrants using domain names in the .BIBLE zone.
Our rules concerning applications for the same domain name establish clearly delineated rules, and will be published well in advance. They provide adequate safeguards for the rights of all participants as well as expeditious and cost-effective challenge procedures in the event of disputes.
At this time we are contemplating a landrush but have not decided, therefore our financials do not account for any landrush revenue. During the Sunrise period and possible Landrush periods, multiple applications for the same name may be resolved by auction and/or RFP process. If there are disputes as to rights to the name; the Uniform Dispute Resolution Process (UDRP) or Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) is applicable.
After Sunrise and possible Landrush, premium domain names will be allotted by RFP and general names on a first-come, first-served basis. At all times, .BIBLE's Complaint Resolution Service, as well as UDRP and URS will be available to registrants as well as to the public in the case of alleged prohibited use or content.

--PROPOSED MEASURES FOR PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES AT THE SECOND AND OTHER LEVELS IN THE APPLIED-FOR GTLD--

We have accepted the advice of the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) that we should adopt appropriate procedures to block names with national or geographic significance at the second and other levels, and will do so in the manner described below:

The country and territory names contained in the following internationally recognized lists will be initially reserved at the second level, as follows:

The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, as updated from time to time, including the European Union; on the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World; and on the list of United Nations member states in the six official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

Procedurally, the geographical names contained in these lists, as described in Specification 5 of the New gTLD Agreement, will be added to the registry software system "prohibited word" function. This function, part of Espresso, our registry platform, allows strings to be blocked from registration. Upon an attempt via the EPP or web interface, the registration will not be allowed. Any attempt to register a domain containing those geographical names will be automatically denied, as they were similarly blocked in the .INFO TLD. If a Government or public authority decides to register a geographic name which has been blocked by the process describe above, the .INFO procedure for notice, authentication, and registration will be substantially adhered to, as follows:

1. The Government or public authority concerned informs the GAC Secretariat of their request to register the name, and the designated beneficiary.
2. The GAC Secretariat authenticates the request and transfers it to the ICANN staff and to the registry operator.
3. The registry operator verifies the availability of the name and issues an authorization number that is transmitted directly to the designated beneficiary in the country concerned.
4. The designated beneficiary (the Registrant) registers the name, paying the normal fee, with an ICANN-accredited registrar contracted with the registry operator using the authorization number as their authority.

The registry operator may at some point seek agreement with the applicable governments to release these reservations, subject to review by ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee and approval by ICANN.

For protection of geographic names at other levels, we have a complaint mechanism in place and any geographic entity may register a complaint if they feel their national rights have been violated.

We believe that the measures outlined above incorporate GAC's advice and serve as a pledge to block, at no cost to governments, geographically significant names and allow a means of challenging any abuse of the use of a geographically significant name.