John DemcoCIRA 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 with more than 196 million domain names worldwide, an annual increase of 12.3 million registrations, or 7%. Registrations from the ccTLDs stood at 76.3 million, a 0.1% increase for the quarter and a 2.5% increase annually. The ten largest domains are: .com, .de, .net, .uk, .org, .cn, .info, .nl, .eu, and .ru, with .cn (China) dropping from fourth to sixth place.
Work On New gTLDs Continues – At its recent retreat and Board meeting, the ICANN Board has provided guidance to staff for the next version of the gTLD Applicant Guidebook. Guidance was provided on these topics: geographic names, applicant support, root zone scaling, string similarity, variant management, trademark protection, the role of the Board, mitigating malicious conduct, objection process, registry agreement, and vertical integration.
Also, the interim chair of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee, Heather Dryden of Canada, has sent a letter to ICANN providing comments on a number of new gTLD topics including: root scaling, market and economic impacts, registry-registrar separation, protection of rights owners, post-delegation disputes with governments, use of geographical names, legal recourse for applicants, and addressing the needs of developing countries.
Picks To Click
- After denying recertification to one of its registrars, CIRA is being sued for $10 million by that registrar.
- CIRA has announced the .CA Impact Awards. CIRA will be “looking for people and organizations that use their .CA sites to truly make a difference in the lives of their users and those around them”.
- Nominet has announced the members of the .uk Policy Stakeholder Committee. The committee will participate in the new annual .uk Policy Forum and will offer an independent view of the .uk policy process.
- auDA, the Australian domain name administrator, has launched its new blog.
Timeline
- Tue, Sep 14 – Tue, Sep 21: online forum for CIRA Board of Directors election
- Tue, Sep 21: CIRA Annual General Meeting
- Wed, Sep 22 – Wed, Sep 29: CIRA Board of Directors election
- Thu, Sep 23: last day for comments on draft .xxx registry agreement
- Tue, Oct 12: redesigned .CA registry to launch
- Sun, Dec 5 – Fri, Dec 10: ICANN meetings in Cartagena, Columbia
- Sun, Mar 13 – Fri, Mar 18: ICANN meetings in San Francisco, USA
- Fri, Apr 1: .org registry fees increase