According to the .fr registry's latest report .fr domain names are popular with private individuals. One in two new .fr domain names is registered to a private individual. Currently over about 40% of .fr domains are registered to individuals, compared to approximately 20% 6 years ago. AFNIC's latest report is available here. … [Read more...] about French Domains Popular With Individuals
Google Does The Right Thing Opening Several Closed Generic Applications
Over the last few months one of the areas of attention in the new TLD project has been "closed generics". I've written about this several times in the past and I've also raised the issue in as many fora as possible. Yesterday ICANN published a letter they'd received from Google with respect to several of their new TLD applications. Whereas Google had made it clear … [Read more...] about Google Does The Right Thing Opening Several Closed Generic Applications
Latin American Countries Reject .Amazon & .Patagonia
While the ICANN 46 meeting in Beijing was warming up on the other side of the globe the "Cuarta Conferencia Ministerial sobre la Sociedad de la Información de América Latina y el Caribe" (4th ministerial conference on information society of Latin America and Caribbean) was taking place in Montevideo. The "Montevideo Declaration" (PDF) runs to 4 pages, but there's an … [Read more...] about Latin American Countries Reject .Amazon & .Patagonia
European Hotel Association Files Objections Against .Hotel Applications
HOTREC, the European association of hotels, restaurants and cafes has filed four community objections with the ICC. They're concerned about several of the "closed generic" applications for .hotel and derivatives of the string. With that in mind they've filed against the following: Application # 1-1016-75482 for HOTELS by Booking.com B.V. Application # 1-1249-36568 for … [Read more...] about European Hotel Association Files Objections Against .Hotel Applications
A New Domain For Canada
CIRA's CEO, Byron Holland, made an important announcement today aimed at all Canadian internet users. CIRA currently runs .ca, but feels that maybe it's not quite Canadian enough... At present the .eh ccTLD is not assigned, though I'm not sure what the process would be for getting it assigned to Canada Meanwhile ICANN's CEO has found a cure for herpes You'd never … [Read more...] about A New Domain For Canada
ICANN Launch New WHOIS Inaccuracy System
ICANN's Compliance team put the new WHOIS inaccuracy reporting system live earlier today. (Oddly enough Google alerts picked up on the new page!). The new system should make reporting issues easier for all parties involved ie. reporters, ICANN and the affected registrars. They're also including generic information on how registrants may update their own domain … [Read more...] about ICANN Launch New WHOIS Inaccuracy System
More DotConnectAfrica Fun And Games
If you've been following the ICANN new TLD program over the last couple of years you'll probably be aware of some of the applications and the applicants. However in the case of the competing bids for the .africa string the competitors, or at least one of them, has brought more "colour" to the proceedings than most of the other applicants combined. DotConnectAfrica (DCA) … [Read more...] about More DotConnectAfrica Fun And Games
Domain Guardians Confirm 7 Figure Offer On Australian City Domains
A couple of weeks back Domain Guardians announced they were brokering the sale of several Australian city domains. These weren't the domains associated with small little towns that nobody would have heard of, but a set of high value premium domains including Sydney.com.au, Brisbane.com.au and Melbourne.com.au. Australian media is now reporting that they've received an offer … [Read more...] about Domain Guardians Confirm 7 Figure Offer On Australian City Domains
ICANN Beijing Schedule Published
The full schedule for the 46th ICANN public meeting in Beijing has been published. The schedule starts on the Thursday with GAC meetings and runs until Thursday's Public Forum. As is common with ICANN meetings the days are long, with many meetings scheduled to start before 8am local time. If you're not attending in person you'll be able to follow the meeting online, as … [Read more...] about ICANN Beijing Schedule Published
Nominet Launch Bullying and Trolling Education Campaign
Nominet, the UK domain name registry, has launched an educational campaign on the impact of cyber-bullying and trolling via its educational site "Know the 'net". According to research conducted on their behalf 2 out of 3 teenagers have been affected, but most would not go to their parents or teachers for advice or help. Full details of the survey as well as advice for … [Read more...] about Nominet Launch Bullying and Trolling Education Campaign