A call for a moratorium on the .health generic top-level domain: preventing the commercialization and exclusive control of online health information

Globalization and Health

Amir Attaran³  Antoine Geissbuhler¹  Jillian C Kohler⁵  Bryan A Liang⁴  Gunther Eysenbach²  Tim K Mackey⁴ 

[1] International Medical Informatics Association, CH-1225 Chêne-Bourg, Geneva, Switzerland;Centre for Global eHealth Innovation and Techna Institute, University Health Network, 190 Elizabeth Street, Toronto M5G 2C4, Canada;Faculties of Law and Medicine, University of Ottawa, One Stewart Street, Ottawa K1N 6 N5, ON, Canada;Department of Anesthesiology and Division of Global Public Health, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 200 W Arbor Drive, San Diego 92103-8770, CA, USA;Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, 27 King’s College Cir, Toronto M5S, ON, Canada

关键词: Health Internet;    Domain names;    Internet;    Information technology;    Global health governance;    eHealth;   

Others  :  1133889
DOI  :  10.1186/s12992-014-0062-z

 received in 2014-05-06, accepted in 2014-07-24,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Mackey et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

【 参考文献 】

• [1][https:/ / www.icann.org/ resources/ board-material/ prelim-report-new-gtld-2014-06-06-e n] webcite Preliminary report meeting of the New gTLD program committee..
• [2][http://www.who.int/ehealth/programmes/governance/en/] webcite The health internet..
• [3][http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/health-fact-sheet/] webcite Health fact sheet..
• [4]Lenard TM, White LJ: Improving ICANN’s governance and accountability: a policy proposal. Inf Econ Policy 2011, 23:189-199.
• [5]van Eeten M, Mueller M: Where is the governance in Internet governance? New Media Soc 2012, 15:720-736.
• [6][https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/udrp-2012-02-25-en] webcite Uniform domain-name dispute-resolution policy..
• [7][http://www.legitscript.com/download/Rogues-and-Registrars-Report.pdf] webcite Rogues and registrars: Are some domain name registrars safe havens for internet drug rings?.
• [8]Liang BA, Mackey T: Searching for safety: addressing search engine, website, and provider accountability for illicit online drug sales. Am J Law Med 2009, 35:125-184.
• [9]Mackey TK, Liang BA, Strathdee SA: Digital social media, youth, and nonmedical use of prescription drugs: the need for reform.J Med Internet Res 2013, 15:e143.
• [10]Mackey TK, Liang BA: Global reach of direct-to-consumer advertising using social media for illicit online drug sales.J Med Internet Res 2013, 15:e105.
• [11]Mackey TK, Liang BA: Pharmaceutical digital marketing and governance: illicit actors and challenges to global patient safety and public health.Global Health 2013, 9:45.
• [12]Mackey TK, Liang BA: The global counterfeit drug trade: patient safety and public health risks. J Pharm Sci 2011, 100:4571-4579.
• [13]Mackey TK, Liang BA, Attaran A, Kohler JC: Health domains for sale: the need for global health internet governance.J Med Internet Res 2014, 16:e62.
• [14][http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/customer-service/faqs/faqs-en] webcite Frequently asked questions - ICANN New gTLDs..
• [15][http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/statistics] webcite Program statistics..
• [16]Mackey TK, Liang BA, Attaran A, Kohler JC: Ensuring the future of health information online.Lancet 2013, 382:1404.
• [17]Eysenbach G: The new health-related top-level domains are coming: will cureforcancer.health go to the highest bidder?J Med Internet Res 2014, 16:e73.
• [18]Mackey T, Liang B: Off label promotion reform: a legislative proposal addressing vulnerable patient drug access and limiting inappropriate pharmaceutical marketing. Univ Mich J Law Reform 2011, 45:1-54.
• [19][http:/ / blogs.wsj.com/ venturecapital/ 2012/ 06/ 05/ donuts-raises-100m-plus-to-deliver- dot-anything-you-want-domain-names/ ] webcite Donuts raises $100M-plus to deliver “Dot-anything-You-want” domain names..
• [20][http:/ / www.washingtonpost.com/ business/ technology/ donuts-incs-major-play-for-new-web- domain-names-raises-eyebrows/ 2012/ 09/ 24/ c8745362-f782-11e1-8398-0327ab83ab9 1_story.html] webcite Donuts Inc.’s major play for new Web domain names raises fears of fraud..
• [21][http:/ / www.icann.org/ en/ news/ correspondence/ crocker-to-dryden-3-29oct13-en.pdf] webcite Re: NGPC consideration of GAC category 1 and category 2 safeguard advice..
• [22][http://domainnamewire.com/wp-content/health-objection.pdf] webcite CASE No. EXP/409/ICANN/26..
• [23][http://domainincite.com/15383-applicants-spank-io-in-health-objections] webcite Applicants spank IO in .health objections..
• [24][http://tobaccotactics.org/index.php/International_Chamber_of_Commerce] webcite International Chamber of Commerce - TobaccoTactics..
• [25][https:/ / treaties.un.org/ pages/ viewdetails.aspx?chapter=4&lang=en& mtdsg_no=iv-3&src=treaty] webcite International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights..
• [26][http://www.haiweb.org/10112010/DPM_ENG_Final_SEP10.pdf] webcite Understanding and responding to pharmaceutical promotion: a practical guide..
• [27][http://www.who.int/goe/publications/goe_security_web.pdf] webcite Safety and security on the internet: challenges and advances in member states..
• [28]Boyer C, Baujard V, Geissbuhler A: Evolution of health web certification through the HONcode experience. Stud Health Technol Inform 2011, 169:53-57.
• [29]Boyer C, Selby M, Scherrer JR, Appel RD: The health on the net code of conduct for medical and health websites. Comput Biol Med 1998, 28:603-610.
• [30]Eysenbach G, Yihune G, Lampe K, Cross P, Brickley D: 32. Boyer C, Selby M, Scherrer JR, Appel RD: the health on the Net code of conduct for medical and health websites.J Med Internet Res 2000, 2(suppl2):e1.
• [31]Eysenbach G, Kohler C, Yihune G, Lampe K, Cross P, Brickley D: A metadata vocabulary for self- and third-party labeling of health web-sites: Health Information Disclosure, Description and Evaluation Language (HIDDEL). Proc AMIA Symp 2001, ᅟ:169-173.
• [32]Eysenbach G, Yihune G, Lampe K, Cross P, Brickley D: MedCERTAIN: quality management, certification and rating of health information on the Net.Proc AMIA Symp 2000, 230–234.
• [33]Mackey TK, Liang BA: Combating healthcare corruption and fraud with improved global health governance.BMC Int Health Hum Rights 2012, 12:23.
• [34]Liang BA, Mackey T: Direct-to-consumer advertising with interactive internet media: global regulation and public health issues. JAMA 2011, 305:824-825.
• [35]Liang BA, Mackey T: Reforming direct-to-consumer advertising. Nat Biotechnol 2011, 29:397-400.
• [36]Liang BA, Mackey TK: Prevalence and global health implications of social media in direct-to-consumer drug advertising.J Med Internet Res 2011, 13:e64.
• [37]Liang BA, Mackey T: Confronting conflict: addressing institutional conflicts of interest in academic medical centers. Am J Law Med 2010, 36:136-187.
• [38]Brown PB: WHO calls for a health domain name to help consumers. BMJ 2002, 324:566a-566.
• [39][https:/ / www.icann.org/ en/ system/ files/ correspondence/ kieny-to-beckstrom-et-al-11apr12-en .pdf] webcite Re: comments of the World Health Organization to the Internet Corporation for assigned names and numbers (ICANN) on the top level domain names for health..
• [40][http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA66/A66_R24-en.pdf] webcite WHA66.24: eHealth standardization and interoperability..
• [41][http://www.who.int/ehealth/programmes/governance/en/index3.html] webcite The health internet: governing principles for a .health top-level domain..
• [42][http:/ / www.article19.org/ data/ files/ medialibrary/ 3452/ 12-09-12-POLICY-right-to-health-WEB .pdf] webcite A healthy knowledge: right to information and the right to health..
• [43][https:/ / www.icann.org/ en/ system/ files/ correspondence/ kloiber-to-chehade-et-al-11mar14-en .pdf] webcite SUBJECT: public interest concerns regarding .health..
• [44][https:/ / www.icann.org/ en/ system/ files/ correspondence/ kwankam-to-crocker-et-al-11mar14-en .pdf] webcite SUBJECT: Public interest concerns regarding .health..
• [45][http://icannwiki.com/index.php/STLD] webcite STLD..
• [46]Lindsay D: What do the.XXX disputes tell us about Internet governance? ICANN’s legitimacy deficit in context. Telecommunications J Aust 2013, 63:33.1-33.15.
• [47]Mac Síthigh D: More than words: the introduction of internationalised domain names and the reform of generic top-level domains at ICANN. Int J Law Info Tech 2010, 18:274-300.
• [48][http:/ / domainincite.com/ 17207-straat-backed-bidder-beats-do nuts-and-afilias-to-health] webcite Murphy K: Stratt-backed bidder beats Donuts and Afilias to .health..