Abstract
Purpose – To analyze the controversy about the allocation of critical Internet resources generated by ICANN's new gTLD program with a particular focus on the .AMAZON TLD.
 Methodology/approach/design – This article presents an exploratory case study about the .AMAZON controversy. The initial analysis of this ongoing research is based on data collected from various reports and media coverage on ICANN's new gTLD policy. The article draws from political economy theory to analyze disputes about critical Internet resources.
 Findings – This article discusses preliminary findings of the .AMAZON case, a contested prime example in ICANN's efforts to extend the Internet's domain name space.
 Practical implications – The findings may inform related controversies in the gTLD program and contribute to a differentiated understanding of CIR allocation in Internet governance, and respective policy-making.
 Originality/value – The value of this article is the specific discussion of the .AMAZON case in the larger context of ICANN's new gTLD program, and its analysis that describes the controversy from a property rights perspective.
Highlights
Contentions about critical Internet resources (CIR) have been major forces in the formation and institutionalization of Internet governance
It is important to remember the provisions of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)'s Applicant Guidebook which states that the “beneficiary to whom the new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) is reserved is the only one permitted to exploit, or to authorize others to exploit, worldwide the domain names associated with the applicants suffix consisting of this gTLD” (Passa, 2014, p.1)
The gTLD program, conceptualized as an extension of the existing namespace within the Domain Name System, can be analyzed from a property rights perspective, including the conflicts that arose from competing applications for a particular gTLD
Summary
Contentions about critical Internet resources (CIR) have been major forces in the formation and institutionalization of Internet governance. This article addresses the political economy of critical Internet resources, in regard to the creation of new gTLDs and the controversy that followed. For this purpose, we focus on the .AMAZON case, which received considerable attention. The article draws from earlier work in Internet governance that applied political economy theory to examine the Internet's domain name space It examines the .AMAZON case with regard to the implications of assigning a TLD to a private corporation with a particular focus on geographical names, and draws insights from this controversy on dispute mechanisms and dynamics.
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