The controversy over the competing .africa TLD applications has been going on for some time. A recent decision by the International Centre For Dispute Resolution (ICDR) said that ICANN had breached its own by-laws and has questioned why ICANN won't allow a current board member and the former GAC Chair to speak to them and provide evidence. A letter that was published on the … [Read more...] about ICANN Board Member and Former GAC Chair To Give Evidence in .Africa Case
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Which Domains Are The Campaigners Using In the Marriage Equality Referendum?
I'm obviously fascinated by domain names, hosting and related topics, so I thought I'd do some digging into the current marriage equality referendum in Ireland. The country goes to the polls on May 22nd and a yes vote is being supported by all the Irish political parties. (Disclosure - I've also made it pretty clear where I stand on this and where my company stands) With … [Read more...] about Which Domains Are The Campaigners Using In the Marriage Equality Referendum?
Governments Send Yet Another Salvo Across ICANN’s Bows
The relationship between ICANN and the governments of the world could be best described as "interesting". Or one could be slightly more explicit and call it "tense". While at an individual level many governments hold different views of how ICANN should be managing the roll out of the new top level domains (new TLDs), when the group as a whole speaks there is often both a … [Read more...] about Governments Send Yet Another Salvo Across ICANN’s Bows
USTLD Stakeholder Council Organise “Town Hall”
The .us ccTLD, which is run by Neustar under contract to the US government recently established a Stakeholder Council. The Council's role is to help provide guidance and input to the registry on how to run the namespace. (Disclosure: I'm one of the members) As one of the council's activities is to garner input from the broader stakeholder community it has been decided … [Read more...] about USTLD Stakeholder Council Organise “Town Hall”
CENTR Members Pass 70 Million Domains Milestone
CENTR, which is the association for European ccTLDs, has announced that its members, which are all country code top level domain registries, have surpassed the 70 million domains mark. The number of registrations comes from 57 ccTLDs and IDN ccTLDs in 49 countries. They've produced a graphic to illustrate the milestone: More details on the CENTR site. … [Read more...] about CENTR Members Pass 70 Million Domains Milestone
Gene Kearon Joins .Irish
Domain industry veteran, Gene Kearon, has joined .irish. Kearon, who was most recently with Dominion Enterprises, announced last night that he was joining .irish. He will be helping promote the new TLD for the global Irish community at the upcoming ICANN meeting in Singapore. Kearon previously worked at Neustar where he was heavily involved in their new TLD business as … [Read more...] about Gene Kearon Joins .Irish
Community Application For DotGay Wins Reconsideration Request
While there were four applicants for the new TLD string .gay only one of them did so as a "community" application. Under ICANN's established processes for new TLD applications a "community" application is treated differently to a "standard" one and follows a different set of rules. As has been covered in depth elsewhere, the community application for .gay failed to pass the … [Read more...] about Community Application For DotGay Wins Reconsideration Request
IANA Explained [Video]
Unless you've been hiding under for the last few months you'll know that the IANA transition is a hot topic in internet governance circles Of course while there has been numerous meetings, thousands of emails, more meetings, media coverage and plenty of conversations about the topic, there are probably still quite a few people who don't fully understand what IANA is and, … [Read more...] about IANA Explained [Video]
Mauritius Government Gets Into Dispute Over Key Domain Name
Domain names expire, drop and get re-registered all the time. It's normal. However, governments are usually very conservative about how they handle domain names. A government department is more likely to hold on to a domain name for several years after they've stopped using it rather than "release" it too early. According to this article, however, the government of … [Read more...] about Mauritius Government Gets Into Dispute Over Key Domain Name
DNS Belgium Alerts Registrars and Registrants to Invoice Scam
DNS Belgium, the registry operator for .be, has sent out a notice to their registrars to raise awareness of an invoice scam. Here's a sample of the dodgy invoices being sent: According to the registry "BE Domein Host" is not one of their accredited registrars, so apart from the pricing being more than a little "over the top" they aren't even a valid … [Read more...] about DNS Belgium Alerts Registrars and Registrants to Invoice Scam