First IDN domains launched

After decades of an Internet ruled by the Latin alphabet, the first IDNs are now available after passing a stringent evaluation by ICANN. The three new extension are مصر for Egypt, السعودية for Saudi Arabia, and امارات for the UAE.

These new domains will make the web more accessible to millions of Arabic speakers in the Middle East. At the same time, some are worried they will be split the Internet into pieces. Since they require a non-Latin keyboard to type, Western users will be unable to type these new addresses into their web browsers.

Regardless of this, I think IDNs are a good thing. The more people who can access the web, the better.

Register .BO domain

If you’ve been pining to register a .bo ccTLD, now is a great time to do so as NIC Bolivia has cut the registration fee by 35%. The normal price without discount is around $40 USD.

Unfortunately, the discount does not apply to third-level domains like .com.bo and .net.bo. NIC Bolivia hasn’t given a reason for its discount, but it obviously is trying to encourage people to register .bo names.

Even with the 35% discount, most Bolivians will still be unable to afford a .bo name, however. It’s a shame that developing countries price their domains higher than most developed nations.

Rod Beckstrom draws criticism over DNS security comment

While speaking at an ICANN international meeting in Nairobi this week, Rod Beckstrom criticized the security of DNS, saying it “can stop any time.” Furthermore, he went on to state:

The domain name system is under attack today as it has never been before. I have personally consulted with over 20 CEOs of the top registries and the top registrars globally, all of whom are seeing increasing attacks and complexity of attacks and who are extremely concerned,

While Beckstrom is perfectly accurate in his statement, to those with a vested in interest in certain start-up extensions and developing ccTLDs, them is fightin’ words. Specifically, Chris Disspain, chairman of the Country Code Name Supporting Organization (ccNSO) council, called the ICANN CEO out on the comment.

As a representative of the various companies that run ccTLDs for many governments, Disspain is worried that Beckstrom “could cause great concern among governments regarding how elements of critical Internet resources are operated and managed in their countries.” In other words, the ccNSO chairman is worried about how this could affect his associate’s for-profit operations running ccTLDs.

Source | Computer World
Photo | Flickr

More restrictions placed on .cn registration

China, which has seen rapid growth on its .cn domain, has made news lately for its attempts to cut down on illicit .cn websites. Recently, new rules were instituted requiring prospective domain owners to submit paper application. Now the People’s Republic has gone even further. Domain applicants will now be required to submit a photo ID and possibly meet in-person with the government.

This is all an attempt to regulate content on the .cn extension, which recently saw rapid growth and virtually became the top ccTLD overnight. The new requirements should cut down on the number of new registrations heavily, however, and it is unlikely that China will keep its #1 spot.

Source | Domain Name Wire

.Be hits 1 million registrations

After ending last year with 978,000 registrations, Belgium’s .be ccTLD has finally reached 1 million registrations. Despite a sluggish economy, .be has experienced solid growth. Earlier this week, we reported that every year for the last six years it has broken the previous growth record.

Jo Van Gorp, general manager of DNS BE, bragged:

The 1 millionth domain name is the result of the excellent reputation the .be domain has built up over the years, the enthusiasm and dedication of our employees providing DNS BE’s high-quality and innovative services, and our registrars’ strong campaigns.

Out of all the registrations, 70% have an established presence in Belgium. The country should be very proud of its accomplishments.

Source | DNS BE

Registration record for .be ccTLD broken for sixth year in a row

For the sixth year in a row, the Belgian .be domain has broken the registration record set the previous year. Last year, 232,746 .be names were registered– a 4.4% increase from 2008.

Given the huge popularity of ccTLDs lately, this news isn’t surprising at all. DNS BE, the operator of the extension, credits the growth with domain registrars. Jo Van Gorp, the agency’s general manager, said:

The Belgian population is perfectly aware of the value and the importance of a .be domain name; the record growth achieved in times of economic crisis is the best proof of it. We have not only all .be domain name holders to thank for their confidence in DNS BE, but also and in the first place, our network of over 450 registrars
It’s thanks to their efforts, day after day, that we’ve achieved these excellent results.

Interestingly, a large number of Belgians seem to be registering names for personal use. In 2008, 30% of names made up this demographic while in 2009, the number grew to 34%.

Domain sale revenue falls by 12.5%

A recent report reveals that although $102 million worth of domain sales were reported last year, this revenue has dropped 12.5% from 2008, when $116.7 million worth of sales occurred. What does this mean for the domain industry?

Keep in mind that this number only represents the gross revenue from reported sales, not the actual number of sales. So it’s not possible to tell if the number of sales went down, the average sale price decreased, or both. It’s also possible that sales increased by average price decreased. In addition, the number does not include private sales.

On a side note, revenue from ccTLD sales jumped 28%. The market is definitely headed away from generic extensions to regional names.

Source | DN Journal

.HT domain still operational after earthquake

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti earlier this week has killed 50,000 people and destroyed much of the capital. Currently, access to the nation is mainly limited to the few relief planes that can get in. Amid this tragedy there is at least some hope for Haiti, as its DNS seems to have made it through the disaster in one piece.

Here is what we know, according to ICANN:

• The administrators of the .HT ccTLD survived unharmed.
• Haiti’s IT infrastructure is heavily damaged, but the domain system is still working for most.
• Work is underway to reroute the country’s Internet traffic through the Dominican Republic.

A working telecommunications system is vital to relief crews in a natural disaster. If the domain system and other important communication links had been destroyed, thousands of additional lives would probably have been lost.

Photo | Flickr

Credit.fr sells for $851,875

Topping all other domain sales this week is credit.fr, which has sold for €587,500 ($851,875 USD). It is the highest sale ever recorded on the .fr ccTLD. The previous domain to hold this spot, mutelle.com, sold for $116,221 in October of 2009.

Other recent ccTLD sales include Südtirol.eu for $14,355 and Möbel.eu for $13,195. The names mean “Tyrol” and “furniture” in German respectively. Tyrol is a state in Austria.

Introducing IDNs was a great move for the .eu registry. A lot of the top sales on that extension as of late have been IDNs. Expect to see many more domain sales as other extensions adopt the new system.

How many domain extensions are there?

From generic domain extensions like .com and .aero to ccTLDs like .fr, there are a lot of domain extensions out there. Making things even more complicated, new ones are introduced every year. But just how many are there right now?

According to ICANN, the answer is 280. Of these, 248 are country-code names, 11 are in testing, and 20 are generic TLDs. Finally, there’s one extension, .arpa, that is used exclusively to run the Internet’s DNS system.

With the introduction of the new gTLD system next year, expect to see a large increase in the number of extensions.

Photo | ICANN