Diplomacy Needed for .amazon Request, Says Ex-State Department Official

Amazon’s bid for .amazon won’t be a smooth road, said Daniel Sepulveda, a former deputy assistant secretary of state, in a Council on Foreign Relations blog post. After several years of wrangling at ICANN, Amazon won a favorable ruling in July to move forward. But Brazil, Peru and their allies are again objecting to the .amazon application. “Amazon behaved in accordance with the rules, has a strong interest in acquiring .amazon, and is within its rights to pursue it,” Sepulveda said. Brazil and Peru have strong political and cultural reasons to object to awarding the company .amazon, but the challenge for ICANN leadership is whether this dispute is resolvable without governments feeling disrespected, he said, saying the U.S. “is likely” to support Amazon on procedural grounds but needs "vocal support" from other governments.