Earlier today ICANN announced that they had appointed Baher Esmat as the new Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) office in Istanbul. He'll be replacing Nick Tomasso who was in the role since 2017. Tomasso took on the role in addition to being in charge of ICANN's meetings team. The appointment of Baher Esmat is quite logical. He's been with ICANN for … [Read more...] about ICANN Appoints New Chief to Istanbul Office
UK IGF Schedule Available
In common with most, if not all, events this year the UK Internet Governance Forum (UK IGF) has switched to a virtual format. The UK IGF is one of several national IGF events that will focus on specific topics of interest to the local audience. The purpose of IGFs is to facilitate a common understanding of how to maximise the opportunities of the internet whilst … [Read more...] about UK IGF Schedule Available
How are EU Domains used?
EURid commissioned a study to get data on how .eu domain names are being used. That isn't particularly original, as many of the domain name registries have done that over the years using data from a variety of different sources and services. There are several companies that offer services in this space that can give you quite a bit of information about how domains and other … [Read more...] about How are EU Domains used?
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 while … [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