Author: John Demco

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has issued a call for new members for its Nomination Committee. CIRA is looking for individuals from public, private, not-for-profit, and academic sector organizations with a wide range of technical and professional experience. The committee’s critical role is to identify a roster of candidates for CIRA’s Board of Directors…

The comment period has closed for ICANN’s draft gTLD Applicant Guidebook. The comments have been posted, and ICANN has indicated that its staff will “review all comments and provide a summary/analysis of comments to help production of the final Applicant Guidebook, to be released early 2009.” Many organizations sent in thoughtful and comprehensive responses. Here…

The Scottish Government has set up a working group with the aim of creating a top-level domain .scot or .sco for the worldwide family of Scots. ICANN is holding two open meetings to explore the recent report on gTLD registries and registrars, which discusses the possibility of relaxing the requirement for the separation of gTLD…

VeriSign has released its quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief. There were 174 million domain name registrations at the end of the third quarter of 2008, a 19% annual increase. Last quarter the annual increase was 22%, and the quarter before that it was 26%. Registrations from the ccTLDs totaled almost 69 million, a 26% annual…

Bowring & Co. has won a dispute over bowring.ca. The decision is interesting because it is the second complaint concerning the same Complainant, Registrant, and domain name. The Panel decided that it was entitled to rule on the complaint in spite of the first CIRA proceeding because there is nothing under the dispute policy or…

ICANN has reported on the significant effect of a short term measure to reduce domain tasting by charging a per-transaction fee on all names deleted during the five-day Add Grace Period (AGP) if they exceed a defined threshhold. Names added and then deleted during the AGP declined by 84% from 17.6M in June 2008 to…

The ICANN meetings in Cairo are under way and will continue through November 7. One of the main topics to be covered is the planned introduction of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Other topics include: internationalized domain names (IDNs), single-character second-level domain names, improving institutional confidence, and the recent independent reviewer’s report on the ICANN…

ICANN has released for review and comment a draft version of the Applicant Guidebook for applying for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). The guidebook comprises six modules on these topics: introduction to the new gTLDs application process, evaluation procedures, dispute resolution procedures, string contention procedures, transition to delegation, and application terms and conditions. A per…

ICANN will soon release a draft applicant guidebook for new gTLDs. A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit by the State of Kentucky seeking control of 141 domain names related to online gambling sites. Arguments will be heard on November 17. The judge indicated that online casinos that don’t geographically block access to their…

CIRA has announced that Lynne Mackan-Roy, Ross Rader, Kerry Brown, Tom Williams, and Barry Shell have been elected to its Board of Directors. The Domain Owners Association of Canada (DOAC) has been announced. Vint Cerf remembers Jon Postel. ICANN is attempting to forecast the number of IDN ccTLDs which will be sought via its “fast…

The State of Kentucky has filed a lawsuit against a number of online gambling sites. On September 26 a judge declined to order 141 domain names forfeited to the state, and scheduled a hearing for October 7. Norway’s .no domain has surpassed 400,000 registrations. ICANN has posted the schedule for its meetings to be held…

Worldwide Domain Registrations Reach 168 Million – According to VeriSign’s quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief, there were 168 million domain name registrations at the end of the second quarter of 2008, a 22% annual increase. (Last quarter, VeriSign reported a 26% annual increase.) The ccTLD registrations totaled 65 million, a 27% annual increase. The largest…

September 2 Last Day For CIRA Members To Show Support for Member Nominees – Members of CIRA have until 6:00 pm Eastern time on Tuesday, September 2 to show support for Member Nominees in the upcoming Board of Directors election. In order to be listed on the ballot, each Member Nominee must obtain formal support…

Pre-Registration Begins For CIRA Annual General Meeting – Pre-registration is now available for the CIRA Annual General Meeting to be held in Vancouver on September 10. Amber MacArthur, new media journalist and web strategist, will be the keynote speaker. ICANN Releases Paper on Auctions in New gTLD Applications – ICANN has released a paper on…

CIRA Member Nominations For Board Elections Close on Tuesday, August 5 – Until Tuesday, August 5, CIRA Members are invited to nominate individuals for the upcoming Board Elections. Each nominee must receive at least 20 shows of support from CIRA Members in order to be added to the final list of candidates.  US Government To…