Nominet, the .uk domain registry, has been running RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) for over a year in public beta. They're now moving to it out of beta and adding it to the IANA bootstrap which will mean that it'll be readily accessible by anyone using an RDAP client. RDAP is the new, technical protocol that replaces whois. As it's XML JSON based it's 100% machine … [Read more...] about Nominet Taking RDAP Out of Beta
ccTLDs
IE Domains Subject of Another Dáil Question
As I mentioned previously, talk about domain names of any kind in the Irish national parliament (Dáil) is not common. But it's happened again. Last time round was back in May of last year but an almost identical question was raised in the chamber by Fine Gael's Neale Richmond recently. The question he asked: Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Tánaiste and Minister for … [Read more...] about IE Domains Subject of Another Dáil Question
EURid Signs New Contract for EU
EURid operates the .eu registry under contract to the European Commission. It's a contract that they need to tender for every few years. Back in October of last year the EC awarded the contract to EURid again and they recently signed it. Under the terms of the new contract they'll be running .eu for 5 years and there is a possibility of the contract being extended by a further … [Read more...] about EURid Signs New Contract for EU
Nominet NED Nominations Open
Nominations for this year's Nominet non-executive director (NED) elections have opened. This year there is one position to be filled. As usual the nomination and voting is only open to Nominet members, however non-members can be nominated and elected. Over the past year or so there's been quite a few changes at Nominet including the creation of several new ways that … [Read more...] about Nominet NED Nominations Open
Registering Domains in South Africa Could Become a Headache
The *.za namespace is going to be impacted by upcoming changes to policies and regulations. The .za ccTLD is run by ZADNA who in turn outsource the day to day operations to a registry operator, who is currently ZACR. However a few months ago the contract for running the registry was put out to tender. For now ZACR is still performing the functions, but it's not 100% clear … [Read more...] about Registering Domains in South Africa Could Become a Headache
EURid Announce New Head Honcho
EURid has announced who the new General Manager will be. Peter Janssen will be taking over as General Manager, replacing Marc Van Wesemael who is retiring later this year. Janssen is currently EURid's CTO and has been with the company since its formation to run the .eu ccTLD. Sandra Hoferichter, Chair of the Board says: “We are convinced that Peter’s long-standing … [Read more...] about EURid Announce New Head Honcho
Nominet Suspends Russian Registrars
Nominet has unilaterally decided to suspend all its Russian registrars. As far as I can tell there's no legal obligation on Nominet to take action against registrars based in Russia, but they've decided to suspend them. However they're also claiming that they don't want to impact existing registrations. With the Russian registrars suspended there's no way for them … [Read more...] about Nominet Suspends Russian Registrars
Greek Mixed Script .eu to be Removed in November
The .eu registry is phasing out Greek mixed script registrations, as there's now a specific domain extension for Greek script. If you want to register a domain using Greek then there's the .ευ which is specifically designed to serve Greek.greek domains. They reminded registrars of this phase out recently: From 14 November 2022, only Greek domain names with the Greek .ευ … [Read more...] about Greek Mixed Script .eu to be Removed in November
The .in Domain Registry Shoots Itself in the Foot
Country code domain name registries have a very broad set of rules and regulations. For people who are used to the more predictable world of .com and other gTLDs the way ccTLDs are run can seem a little like the wild west! Personally I enjoy working with ccTLDs, but I do find that some of them are their own worst enemy. The most recent one to shoot themselves in the foot? … [Read more...] about The .in Domain Registry Shoots Itself in the Foot
Israel ccTLD to Launch Hebrew IDN
Israel's ccTLD manager has announced that they'll be launching a Hebrew IDN country code domain extension in 2022 - “.ישראל” The .il country code currently has around 275 thousand domains under management, with the bulk of them in co.il. The existing Latin ccTLD previously allowed for IDN registrations in Hebrew on the left of the dot, though they are no longer … [Read more...] about Israel ccTLD to Launch Hebrew IDN