With the COVID-19 pandemic an ongoing crisis across the globe many businesses are currently closed. Some of them may never open again. While some governments are offering packages of financial assistance the current situation is going to hit many sectors really hard. Against the backdrop of the current pandemic companies in the internet infrastructure have become even more … [Read more...] about COVID 19: What Registrars and Registries are Doing to Help
Neustar Registry is now GoDaddy Registry
Back in April, at the height of the pandemic, GoDaddy announced its acquisition of Neustar's registry business. Any acquisition takes time to finalise and this was no different and in the middle of a pandemic I suspect the entire process may have had extra complications (it's not exactly easy to physically go onsite anywhere and travel restrictions would have added an extra … [Read more...] about Neustar Registry is now GoDaddy Registry
New Zealand Registry Conducting Major Policy Review
The .nz registry (New Zealand) is currently conducting a very important comprehensive review of its policies. One of the things that I've always liked, personally, about the .nz registry is that they're very good at communicating in fairly plain language what they're up to and this time is no different. The policy review that they're currently conducting is very broad … [Read more...] about New Zealand Registry Conducting Major Policy Review
Atari First Global Brand to Activate .gay
While the launch of the .gay top level domain may have been delayed due to COVID-19 the team over there has been working away behind the scenes. Several household names have either activated or are in the process of launching sites and other services using some of the first .gay domain names. But the one that caught my eye was Atari. They're a global brand, so it'll be … [Read more...] about Atari First Global Brand to Activate .gay
One.com Acquires GratisDNS / Larsen Data
It looks like the merger and acquisition activity in the hosting and domain market isn't slowing down. Multiple European and international hosting and domain name groups have been quietly, and not so quietly, expanding via acquisitions in the last few months. While announcements of mergers and acquisitions in the middle of a global pandemic might sound a little strange you need … [Read more...] about One.com Acquires GratisDNS / Larsen Data
IE Domain Registration Volumes Up Dramatically
While the economy might be suffering many of the domain name registries have been reporting their statistics for the second quarter of 2020 and most have seen increases in registrations. The move to online, as has been noted just about everywhere, has been much bigger than anyone could have predicted. Domain name registrations are always going to be a mixed bag, so … [Read more...] about IE Domain Registration Volumes Up Dramatically
Me Domains to Hike up Prices 10%
The .me domain registry will be hiking up their wholesale prices in 2021. From February 2021 .me domain names will increase in price by 10% with the wholesale price increasing from €10 to €11 per domain year for creates, renews and transfers. While many domain registries have and will continue to update their pricing any price increase at the moment is not going to be … [Read more...] about Me Domains to Hike up Prices 10%
RIPE Appoints New Chair and Vice Chair
RIPE has announced the appointment of both a new Chair and a Vice Chair. It's the first time that the selection of Chair has been carried out by the RIPE Community, as explained by RIPE in today's announcement: This is the first time that the RIPE Chair has been selected by the community according to an established procedure. For the first 25 years, RIPE was chaired by Rob … [Read more...] about RIPE Appoints New Chair and Vice Chair
Africa DNS Forum Goes Virtual
In common with most events this year's Africa DNS Forum will not be taking place "face to face". They've decided instead to adopt a virtual format. This year's event will be centred around the theme "DNS as a Catalyst for Social and Economic Resilience in the Face of Calamities". The event, which is organised by ICANN, AFTLD and AfRegistrar will take place 27-28 … [Read more...] about Africa DNS Forum Goes Virtual
PIR Launches ORG Impact Awards
PIR, the .org domain name registry, has launched the 2020 ORG Impact Awards. The awards are open to organisations and individuals worldwide (with a couple of exceptions due to US government sanctions) and covers activities between June 1st 2019 and June 1st 2020. The categories are as follows: Combatting Coronavirus: Recognizes an organization or individual whose … [Read more...] about PIR Launches ORG Impact Awards
All US Government Websites to Start Using HTTPS
From September 1st this year all US government websites that use the .gov top level domain name will be obliged to use SSL and be available over HTTPS only. Eventually they plan to add the .gov zone to the HSTS which would make it technically obligatory to have an SSL in order for a site to load in any modern browser. When an entire domain extension is added to the HSTS … [Read more...] about All US Government Websites to Start Using HTTPS