Category: Domain Name News

U.S. Agency Seizes Domain Names – A unit of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has seized more than 70 domains “in one the broadest actions yet against companies the government suspects of selling counterfeit or pirated products.” .AU Registry Seeks Input On Domain Policies – auDA, the Australian domain name administrator, is seeking public…

Progress Toward New gTLDs Continues – ICANN has published its proposed final Applicant Guidebook describing the process of applying for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). If the guidebook is approved at the next Board meeting in Cartagena, Columbia in December, ICANN could be in a position to begin receiving new TLD applications by the end…

Domain Name Industry Report Published By Nominet – Nominet has published its fourth annual Domain Name Industry Report. Among its findings: the global domain name market has grown by 6%, .uk registrations have grown by 11.5%, 80% of UK consumers prefer to use a .uk website over a .com website, .uk is now the second…

ICANN Aims for Q2 2011 Launch of New gTLD Program – At its meeting on October 28, the ICANN Board resolved (item #8) to direct staff to adopt a plan for the New gTLD Program which would result in a launch during Q2 of 2011. Under the working plan, the first applications for new gTLDs…

Redesigned .CA Registry System Set For Launch – On Tuesday, October 12, CIRA will transition to a redesigned, simplified system for the .CA domain registry, starting with a one-day suspension of requests for new registrations, renewals, and transfers. The new system is based on the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP). Picks To Click ICANN has published…

CIRA Election Continues Until Wednesday, September 29 – Voting in CIRA’s 2010 Board of Directors election continues until noon (ET) on Wednesday, September 29. CIRA members will elect five directors. Worldwide Domain Name Registrations Reach 196 Million – According to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign, the second quarter of 2010 ended…

CIRA Election: Campaign Forum Under Way, Voting Starts This Week – CIRA’s 2010 Board of Directors election is heading into its final stages. The online Campaign Forum, presently under way, continues until Tuesday, September 21. Online voting commences on Wednesday, September 22 and continues until September 29. Picks To Click CIRA’s Annual General Meeting takes…

Redesigned .CA Registry System To Launch On October 12 – CIRA has announced that its new registry system for .ca will launch on October 12. Based on the industry standard Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP), the system will make it easier for Canadians to register and maintain their .ca domain names. The operation of domain names,…

Member Nominees Seek Shows of Support For CIRA Election – CIRA has published the statements of those seeking to be included on the Member’s Slate in the forthcoming CIRA Board of Directors election. To be included on the slate, a nominee must receive the support of at least 20 CIRA Members. Shows of Support may…

.NL and .ORG Reach Milestones – The Netherlands’ .nl domain has reached four million registrations, and the .org domain has achieved 8.5 million registrations. According to SIDN, the .nl registry, “in proportion to its population of 16 million, the Netherlands has the highest local domain name density in the world, with roughly one .nl domain…

Member Nominations For 2010 CIRA Board Election Close Soon – CIRA has issued a call to its membership to submit nominations for the Members’ Slate of the 2010 CIRA Board of Directors election. Nominations are being accepted until Monday, August 16. Each nominee must receive at least 20 shows of support from CIRA Members in…

CIRA Announces Nomination Committee Candidates For Election – CIRA has announced the Nomination Committee slate for the 2010 CIRA Board of Directors election. The candidates selected by the committee are: Paul Andersen, Daniel Blanche, Gary Evans, John King, Martin Kratz, Rowena Liang, Louise Macdonald, and Brian Wentzell. The call for Member nominations commences on Tuesday,…

Root Zone Signed – DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions) has been enabled at the root zone as of July 15. The work was done by VeriSign and ICANN, working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce. DNSSEC supports the digital signing of DNS data, and the signing of the root zone together with the establishment…

Here are notes on a number of topics from the ICANN meetings held in Brussels on June 20-25, 2010: .XXX Domain Application Moves Forward – Following ICANN’s 2007 rejection of ICM Registry’s application for the .xxx TLD, and after an Independent Review Panel issued a finding against ICANN, the ICANN Board resolved to accept the…

Worldwide Domain Name Registrations Surpass 193 Million – According to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign, the first quarter of 2010 ended with more than 193 million domain names worldwide, an annual increase of 11 million registrations, or 6%. Registrations from the ccTLDs stood at 76.3 million, a 2.9% decrease for the…