Abstract
In just a few weeks, the Internet could be expanded to include a new .health generic top-level domain name run by a for-profit company with virtually no public health credentials - unless the international community intervenes immediately. This matters to the future of global public health as the “Health Internet” has begun to emerge as the predominant source of health information for consumers and patients. Despite this increasing use and reliance on online health information that may have inadequate quality or reliability, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recently announced it intends to move forward with an auction to award the exclusive, 10 year rights to the .health generic top-level domain name. This decision is being made over the protests of the World Medical Association, World Health Organization, and other stakeholders, who have called for a suspension or delay until key questions can be resolved. However, rather than engage in constructive dialogue with the public health community over its concerns, ICANN chose the International Chamber of Commerce—a business lobbying group for industries to adjudicate the .health concerns. This has resulted in a rejection of challenges filed by ICANN’s own independent watchdog and others, such that ICANN’s Board decided in June 2014 that there are “no noted objections to move forward” in auctioning the .health generic top-level domain name to the highest bidder before the end of the year. This follows ICANN’s award of several other health-related generic top-level domain names that have been unsuccessfully contested. In response, we call for an immediate moratorium/suspension of the ICANN award/auction process in order to provide the international public health community time to ensure the proper management and governance of health information online.
Highlights
An international debate that may very well determine the future of online health information is currently underway, yet prospects for the global public health community and consumer protection advocates appear bleak following recent decisions by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) to proceed forward with the auction of a new .health top-level domain over the objections of numerous public health
ICANN relies on an international Board of Directors consisting of various ICANN constituents, a CEO, staff, and advisory committees consisting of stakeholders from national governments, Internet technical experts, and Internet organizations to inform its decisions [4]
The new ICANN generic top-level domain names” (gTLDs) program resulted in 1,930 applications, the majority of which (74.6%, N = 1440) have passed initial ICANN evaluation [15]
Summary
An international debate that may very well determine the future of online health information is currently underway, yet prospects for the global public health community and consumer protection advocates appear bleak following recent decisions by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) to proceed forward with the auction of a new .health top-level domain over the objections of numerous public health. These moves by the WHO Secretariat – both the backtracking, and the timing just days before the 67th World Health Assembly – suggest that Member States need to be more watchful of the Secretariat in ensuring that it meets its obligations of protecting health-related domains They must require that WHO Secretariat, as a minimum first step, to follow closely WHO’s program of work outlined in recent gTLD Principles that cover a wide variety of important topics regarding eHealth including: governance and management; transparency; privacy and security; developing codes of conduct for gTLD registrars; individual choice and control over health data; establishing a legal and regulatory framework; and ensuring appropriate delivery of health products and services online and only legitimate activity [41]. Author details 1Global Health Policy Institute, 8950 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite #A204, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. 2Department of Anesthesiology and Division of Global Public Health, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 200 W Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103-8770, USA. 3Institute for Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto, 27 King’s College Cir, Toronto, ON M5S, Canada. 4Centre for Global eHealth Innovation and Techna Institute, University Health Network, 190 Elizabeth Street, Toronto M5G 2C4, Canada. 5Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 27 King’s College Cir, Toronto, ON M5S, Canada. 6University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 7Health On the Net Foundation, Chêne-Bourg 1225, Switzerland. 8International Medical Informatics Association, CH-1225 Chêne-Bourg, Geneva, Switzerland. 9Faculties of Law and Medicine, University of Ottawa, One Stewart Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 6 N5, Canada
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