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Arlington, VA – The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) has partnered with Corporation Service Company (CSC) to apply for a .bbb top level Internet domain. A new .bbb domain would create an online community of trusted businesses and charities that would be required to adhere to the highest levels of customer service, security, privacy and transparency. The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today announced the applications it has received.
“For 100 years, BBB has encouraged businesses to foster trust with their customers through integrity and performance,” said Carrie A. Hurt, CEO of CBBB. “Today, the marketplace isn’t just down the street; it’s across the globe, as well. And BBB wants to be there to support trustworthy businesses and give consumers the information they need to identify these businesses. This is the perfect extension of what we have already been doing for a century.”
In its application, CBBB noted that the 116 BBBs across the U.S. and Canada share a mission to be leaders in advancing marketplace trust by:
creating a community of trustworthy businesses and charities;
setting standards for marketplace trust;
encouraging and supporting best practices;
celebrating marketplace role models; and
denouncing substandard marketplace behavior.
All of these factors made the TLD application a high priority for BBB during its Centennial year. Due to the unregulated nature of the Internet, fraud and criminal activity have proliferated online in recent years, with social media adding to the already successful scams perpetrated via email and phony websites.
“BBB wants to offer a first line of defense for businesses to protect themselves and for consumers to find trustworthy merchants,” added Hurt. “Only BBB Accredited Businesses and Accredited Charities would be eligible to apply for a .bbb domain. We will create a community where trust, standards and accountability are the norm, and where consumers can confidently transact online business with organizations that have been vetted against BBB’s high standards.”
CBBB filed a Community Application with ICANN, which means the applicant represents a segment of society and not a single entity. The BBB system currently consists of 116 independent, local, non-profit BBBs across the U.S. and Canada; 370,000 Accredited Businesses (everything from Fortune 500 companies to “mom and pop” shops and even solo entrepreneurs); and thousands of local and national Accredited Charities. Only those entities would be eligible to apply for a .bbb domain name.
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ABOUT BBB:
For 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping consumers find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2011, consumers turned to BBB more than 100 million times for Business Reviews on more than 4 million companies and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at www.bbb.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for 116 local, independent BBBs across the United States and Canada, as well as home to its national programs on dispute resolution and industry self-regulation.
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