********************************************************** Sponsored by the Singapore Internet Research Centre Nanyang Technological University, Singapore http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci/sirc/
********************************************************** Don't forget to check out http://www.auda.org.au/domain-news/ for today's edition of the complete domain news, already online! Headlines from the edition of the news include: EU regulatory proposals for the internet may damage economic recovery | Logical Deduction on Why New TLDs Will Not Increase Costs for Trademark Holders by Bhavin Turakhia | German Domain Names Are in .de-mand | Report: Most Spam Sites Tied to Just 10 Registrars | Sedo's Secondary Domain Market Study 2008 | DOLLARS.COM Makes Plenty of Euros - 302,500 of Them And see my website - http://technewsreview.com.au/ - for daily updates in between postings. *************************************************** The domain name news is supported by auDA *************************************************** ********************** GOVERNANCE ********************** Conference on Internet governance An international conference with the title Internet Governance at the Crossroads is in progress in Oslo on 29 and 30 January. Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law, University of Oslo, and UNINETT Norid AS, both important actors within research and knowledge dissemination on Internet issues in Norway. www.norid.no/nytt/pressemelding20090129.en.html ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** ********************** - ICANN ********************** ICANN tries to tackle botnet-friendly fast flux hosting Big botnets like Storm use fast flux hosting to hide its origins and stay active for longer. ICANN is trying to tackle the problem, but registrars are pushing back and arguing that ICANN has no right to determine which domain names are being used for illegal purposes. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/01/icanns-fast-flux-report-open-for-comments-short-on-data.ars Congressional Internet Caucus Event Focuses on ICANN’s Future On Wednesday, January 13, 2009 the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus held its annual “State of the Net Conference”. This event, attended by hundreds, brings together members of Congress and their staff, regulatory agency personnel, lawyers and lobbyists, public interest groups and think tanks, and others interested in technology policy – and often serves as a jumping off point for Congressional inquiries and legislative activities for the remainder of the year. ICA has been an Advisory Committee member since 2007. www.internetcommerce.org/Congressional+Internet+Caucus+Event+Focuses+on+ICANN%E2%80%99s+Future New gTLDs to be delayed by third DAG? The first version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook published by ICANN late last year has generated such a large volume of comments that ICANN may slow the new gTLD program down by introducing a third DAG. domainesinfo.fr/english/248/new-gtlds-to-be-delayed-by-third-dag.php Namesmash Interview: Nick Wood of Com Laude, Part 2 We sat down with Nick Wood of Cum Laude for another round of discussions on the future of the new gTLD roll out and the inspirational quality of resilience amid global economic crisis. www.namesmash.com/?p=215 The Dreaded Flux? A lot of my time this week has been taken up by ICANN, the non-profit group that oversees the Internet's addressing system. I've been reviewing and commenting on an initial report from their Fast Flux Hosting Working Group. It's a comprehensive piece of work that has had considerable input from a wide range of stakeholders. www.computerweekly.com/blogs/stuart_king/2009/02/the-dreaded-flux.html ********************** - ccTLD & gTLD NEWS ********************** be: Beware of false overdue payment reminders DNS BE has recently been contacted by several .be domain name holders who received a payment reminder from the company NMG (Network Mediagroup) from London. www.dns.be/en/home.php?n=430 ch: New terms and new payment options for domain names A new Domain Name Registration Contract is coming into force on 1 March 2009. The most important change: it will only be possible to use new domain names (for a website or e-mail, for example) after payment has been received. Existing domain names are not affected by this change. switch.ch/about/news/2009/neue-bedingungen010309.html New letters sent by the "Registro italiano in internet per le imprese": the ccTLD .it and the IIT-CNR have absolutely no involvement Once again a great deal of users notices are arriving at the Registry: the users have received some letters from another entity, the so-called “Registro italiano in Internet per le imprese”, which, through surface-mail mailings, (seemingly to ask the verifications of the data dealing with user activities) proposes a contract to adhere to in order to receive a service after payment. The Institute of informatics and Telematics of the CNR and the ccTLD .it Registry are not in the least involved with this initiative and will prepare again the necessary actions to protect any rights that might have been infringed. www.nic.it/en/novita/comunicazioni.html KENIC “Dashes” Cybersquatting Activities In Kenya KENIC, Kenya’s domain name registry, has implemented a precautionary measure that prohibits the registration of a domain name with a dash or hyphen if a version of the domain name has already been registered without a hyphen. The same applies if a domain name is first registered with a hyphen, the unhyphenated version will be blocked. www.namesmash.com/?p=213 Campaign launched for a dotKER Cornish domain name A campaign has been launched to secure a TLD for the Cornish linguistic and cultural community, in an attempt to emulate the successes of the other TLD name campaigns currently being undertaken elsewhere in the United Kingdom. eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3137&Itemid=33〈=en DotMobi giving away 1 and 2 character domains! A look at DotMobi's method for releasing its 1 and 2 character domain names without charging for them. domainesinfo.fr/english/249/dotmobi-giving-away-1-and-2-character-domains.php ng: Domain name: Exploiting opportunities beyond limits With the Nigeria Internet Registration Association commencing automated and commercial services at the beginning of this year, many Nigerians still do not know their strategic roles in the framework. STANLEY OPARA examines the .ng domain name initiative and associated opportunities www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20090201043875 NIC Mexico Announces the Re-Opening of .MX Registrations Network Information Center (NIC) Mexico announced they are planning to re-open top-level .mx registrations after 20 years of restrictions. www.domainnamenews.com/cctlds/nic-mexico-announces-the-re-opening-of-mx-registrations/3873 Holland's innovative take on local presence Holland's SIDN, the registry for .NL, has a new system for balancing their local presence requirement with the desire of non-Dutch registrants to get a .NL domain name. domainesinfo.fr/english/250/holland-s-innovative-take-on-local-presence.php Dublin.tel Grabbed by Lantec During the sunrise period for .eu domains there was quite a bit of controversy, as a number of high profile names were grabbed by companies that had no legitimate right to them. www.circleid.com/posts/20090201_dublintel_grabbed_by_lantec/ Profiles now available in VIP.tel domains Telnic Limited announced that all free trial VIP.tel test domains have now been updated to support Profiles and now contain all of the major elements of the personal functionality available when .tel domains go live. telnic.com/downloads/Profiles_in_vip_tel.pdf Online Directories buy Into .tel Domain Opportunity Telnic Limited welcomed strong interest from online directory service providers for .tel domains. news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?sc=30300015&cm=%EA%B5%AD%EC%A0%9C%EC%82%B0%EC%97%85&year=2009&no=59250 Landrush starts for .Tel registrations Companies that want to register their contact details on the .Tel internet domain, a specialist domain just for such information, have just six weeks left before it is open season, says Hostway, one of the 104 firms handling registrations. www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/01/29/234488/landrush-starts-for-.tel-registrations.htm Virtual phone book First came .com. Next were .net, .org, .biz and .mobi. The number of top level domain names (tld), the letters that follow the final dot of any domain name, is likely to grow at a fast pace this year. www.financialexpress.com/news/Virtual-phone-book/417918/ Update on the Nominet Board fight One day after the first announcement that angrily refused claims made in a resignation letter by former Nominet director Jim Davies, the .uk registry operator put out a second announcement covering in some detail why it believes Davies’ accusations are false and without merit. kierenmccarthy.com/2009/01/26/update-on-the-nominet-board-fight/ uk: Independent governance review questionnaire - have your say If you have an interest in the .uk domain name space, then how we are governed is important to you. You could be an Internet Service provider, UK Business trading online, a .uk domain name holder or an Internet user - all of these groups and many more are important stakeholders in the .uk domain name space. It is therefore important that your views on governance are heard. www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=6042 uk: PAB elections - call for nominations We are currently calling for nominations for the election of four candidates to our Policy Advisory Body (PAB). Elected candidates will serve from May 2009 for two years. www.nominet.org.uk/news/latest/?contentId=5984 ********************** - DNS SECURITY ********************** Cyber-security for people? Or nations? by Milton Mueller The Internet is organized around “autonomous systems” -- independently managed networks most of which are privately owned or, if public, managed at the agency or department level. The current institutional structure for public governance, on the other hand, is organized around nation-states. blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2009/1/31/4076192.html Troubled Ukrainian Host Sidelined A Ukrainian Web hosting provider that, according to published reports, has long served as home base to a prolific and invasive family of malicious software has been taken offline following abuse reports from Security Fix to the company's Internet provider. voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/01/troubled_ukrainian_host_sideli.html ********************** - DOMAIN DISPUTES ********************** Kentucky suit has Web world in tizzy What if China seized the domain names of U.S. Web sites promoting religions that China bans? Or what if (horrors of horrors!) Nebraska seized and shut down the domain name law.com because its cutting-edge legal content, that state believed, encourages frivolous litigation in violation of state law? www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202427898647 ICA Update / Victory (for now) in Kentucky Michael Collins has moved on from his position as Executive Director of the Internet Commerce Association. ICA counsel Phil Corwin has assumed Michael's position as the ICA's liaison/representative on ICANN's Business Constituency. The ICA's involvement with the Business Constituency has been yielding results for members. Recent efforts have ensured, amongst other things, that an ICANN draft memo critical of Domain monetizationImonetize.com - Make as much as you can was rewritten to express the legitimate benefits of such uses of domains and that concerns about the seemingly fast-tracked gTLD roll-out were discussed and scrutinized among the BC. https://www.internetcommerce.org/Congressional+Internet+Caucus+Event+Focuses+on+ICANN%E2%80%99s+Future us: Philbrick plans appeal over Internet name ruling Dan Philbrick may have lost the first round in his legal battle against Internet giant eNom over using a domain name similar to that of his Dover store, but he's ready to come out swinging in round two. www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090201/GJBUSINESS_01/702019926/-1/FOSBUSINESS in: MNC arms take on cyber squatters The battle against cyber squatters, who illegally register web addresses of known brands, has spilled over into India. The Indian arms of a host of global brands like Mercedes-Benz, Tesco, AT&T and Louis Vuitton have now taken legal recourse against these squatters. Squatters typically hijack domain names with a view to blackmailing well-known corporations or simply to make a fast buck by masquerading as the company’s official web presence. economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/MNC_arms_take_on_cyber_squatters/articleshow/4049856.cms ********************** - MISCELLANEOUS ********************** Masters of Their Domains? To guard its brand, Verizon Communications built a gargantuan portfolio of 10,000 domain names (such as verizoncentral.com and many other permutations). Last summer, though, company executives began "thinking like cybersquatters," says Sarah Deutsch, associate general counsel for the company. It dropped some names, sold others, and renegotiated renewal fees for the keepers. The company has saved about $1 million to date even as it has unearthed valuable unused domains (verison.com, for example) that it uses to redirect hundreds of thousands of customers to its actual Website. www.cfo.com/article.cfm/13012957/c_13015052 New Zealand to work on ENUM policy [sub req'd] However, in consultation with internet advocacy group InternetNZ, it was agreed that the project be temporarily suspended due to pressures from other ... www.telecompaper.com/ Domain Pigeon helps you find unclaimed URLs There are far too many domain search and purchasing tools, but I haven't found one that does it like Domain Pigeon. The service tracks domains that are still available and puts them in an index that can be searched and sorted in all manner of ways. news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10153299-2.html ARIN XXIV In Dearborn, Michigan Mark your calendars for 21-24 October 2009 and join us in Dearborn, Michigan for ARIN XXIV, sponsored by Merit Network, Inc. and Arbor Networks. www.arin.net/announcements/20090126.html Canadian Internet Registration Authority President Appointed to the Country Code Names Supporting Organisation Council for 2009 - 2012 Byron Holland, President and CEO, Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has been appointed to the ccNSO of ICANN as the North American representative for 2009 - 2012. cira.ca/en/media-room/news/238.html Netcraft January 2009 Web Server Survey In the January 2009 survey we received responses from 185,497,213 sites, reflecting an uncharacteristic monthly loss of 1.23 million sites. news.netcraft.com/archives/2009/01/16/january_2009_web_server_survey.html vn: Why registering domain names is crucial Unique internet domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis. Besides being used to locate an address on the internet, in place of a hard-to-remember numeric serial chain, domain names are a superb marketing tool, a method to telegraph information about the business or service being offered. As a consequence, a domain name is a highly valuable resource for any company. english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2009/02/826538/ ********************** - DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET ********************** DOMAINfest auction a wash-out We first learned that the domain name market was far from stable around eight years ago when the dotcom crash turned a booming market into dust in just a few months. kierenmccarthy.com/2009/01/30/domainfest-auction-a-wash-out/ Google gets rough ride at Domainfest - Dangerous degree of arrogance backfires You know it’s bad when you start to feel sorry for the person on stage. Hal Bailey must have wondered what the hell happened. Coming to DOMAINfest Hollywood as the man in charge of AdSense for Domains, Hal was here to tell the assembled masses that Google was going to allow them to make money while sitting on their arses. kierenmccarthy.com/2009/01/31/google-gets-rough-ride-at-domainfest/ 203 domains; four worth more than $1 million The big event at domaining conferences is the auction - almost like an online cattle show - where proud owners get to show off their biggest beasts and wait in silent anticipation for the huge pay-off. kierenmccarthy.com/2009/01/29/203-domains-four-worth-more-than-1-million/ Here at DOMAINfest, Hollywood Today I’m at DOMAINfest in Hollywood. It’s the last day of a two-day conference all about the domaining side of the domain name industry - the sale and resale of domain names and associated websites. kierenmccarthy.com/2009/01/29/here-at-domainfest-hollywood/ Light Action in the First Full Week of Domain Sales for 2009 After two consecutive weeks that were shortened by major holidays (Christmas and New Year's) the domain aftermarket has logged its first full week of 2009. Ironically, while sales held up surprisingly well over the holiday season, a lot of buyers seem to have gone on vacation this past week while everyone else was returning to work. dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2009/01-20-09.htm The Lowdown on DOMAINfest Global Conference The 2009 DOMAINfest Global Conference in Hollywood, California closed last night with a spectacular party at the world famous Playboy Mansion that helped draw hundreds of people to a fundraising charity auction to benefit Autism Speaks. While people representing several organizations attended the star-studded private event, the DOMAINfest contingent was by far the largest. Show organizer Oversee.net's DomainSponsor unit has long been famous for unforgettable conference parties and last night they delivered a one-of-a-kind experience that set an entirely new standard that will be difficult if not impossible to top. dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2009/dailyposts/01-30-09.htm DOMAINfest Global Premium Live Auction Results We have just finished liveblogging the DOMAINfest Global Premium Live Auction where over $600,000 worth of domains were sold with sales ranging in value from IncredibleBargains.com for $500 to Wife.com for $100,000. www.domainnamenews.com/domain-auction/domainfest-global-premium-live-auction-results/3864 DOLLARS.COM Auction Bringing in the Euros in Sedo Auction Dollars.com is currently the domain name on the Sedo auction list that is poised to be a big sale with there currently being only being one bid of €302,500. www.technewsreview.com.au/article.php?article=7191 www.domainpulse.com/2009/01/31/dollarscom-auction-bringing-in-the-euros-in-sedo-auction/ www.domainnews.com/en/general/dollars.com-auction-bringing-in-the-euros-in-sedo-auction.html Fly.com Appreciates 20% in 10 Years The big domain name news today is the sale of Fly.com for $1.8 million to Travelzoo. That’s a big number, especially in today’s economy. But it’s not a great return for the seller. domainnamewire.com/2009/01/30/flycom-appreciates-20-in-10-years/ Why the Live Domain Auction Bombed (and Why I’m Not Surprised) Yesterday’s DOMAINfest Global live domain name auction wasn’t pretty. With under $700,000 in domains sold, it may have set a low point for a general Moniker live domain auction. The mood in the room was somber as domain after domain was passed. domainnamewire.com/2009/01/30/why-the-live-domain-auction-bombed-and-why-im-not-surprised/ FIVE PREMIUM .TRAVEL DOMAIN NAMES SOLD AT LIVE AUCTION AT DOMAINFEST GLOBAL Five premium .travel names sold yesterday at DOMAINfest in Los Angeles. Names such as Europe.travel, city.travel, free.travel, fly.travel, and information.travel brought in thousands of dollars each. www.travel.travel/index.php/2009/01/30/13009-five-premium-travel-domain-names-sold-at-live-auction-at-domainfest-global/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The domain name news is supported by auDA For information on subscriptions to the domain name and/or general internet news please contact me. For archives of postings to the list, see http://lists.technewsreview.com.au/pipermail/technewsreview/. Also see http://technewsreview.com.au/ for recent updates. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (c) David Goldstein 2008 --------- David Goldstein address: 4/3 Abbott Street COOGEE NSW 2034 AUSTRALIA email: Goldstein_David @yahoo.com.au phone: +61 418 228 605 (mobile); +61 2 9665 5773 (home) "Every time you use fossil fuels, you're adding to the problem. Every time you forgo fossil fuels, you're being part of the solution" - Dr Tim Flannery Make Yahoo!7 your homepage and win a trip to the Quiksilver Pro. Find out more _______________________________________________ APPLe mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/apple
