HSTLD Seal of Approval Concept

Writing in an 'amicus curae' manner to ICANN's Reconsideration Committee, Jothan Frakes comments on the notion of an HSTLD Seal of Approval; he states:

One of the things that the group had some agreement on was that the registrant and
consumer would have immense benefit from a TLD being somehow certified as one that is a High Security TLD (HSTLD).  Now, today, there is a seal for ICANN Accredited Registrars, an accreditation process, agreement, a website listing these registrars, and even a process for requesting permission to display the ICANN Accredited Registrar logo if you are an accredited registrar.

But the key point I would like to make is that through the laudible efforts of ICANN, that "ICANN Accredited Registrar" seal plays an important role in the registrant's confidence in the overall system of registration. It positively impacts the psychology of the applicant, elevating their trust in their process of selecting from a now daunting number of registrars in a number of countries on a number of continents. That seal and the ongoing efforts of ICANN and the community to expose rougue registrars have contributed to reducing the taint and increasing the institutional trust.

A very valuable point was raised, in the HSTLD group conference call immediately following the board vote that reconsideration is requested on, discussions that such a program of certification would best have some logo or similar 'ICANN approved' seal similar to that which registrars who are accredited enjoy.  Perhaps a healthy compromise to a lengthy reconsideration process might be to request of staff if there is a way that an HSTLD seal could be provided to passing applicants who had their HSTLD checklist certified by an approved firm.