Microsoft has managed to win back a full 18 domain names it managed to prove were abusive. All the domain names were centred around Microsoft’s Xbox 360 product. The company requested the transferral of the domain names to its own management from the National Arbitration Forum, which ruled in its favour. The domain names were:

wirelessxbox.com, xbox2accessory.com, xbox-360-accessories.com, xbox360-accessories.com, xbox-360-accessory.com, xbox360-accessory.com, xbox360gamerentals.com, xbox360gamesreviews.com, xboxwirelessheadset.com, x-box-accessories.com, xboxaccessories.net, xboxaccessory.com, xboxadapters.com, xboxmemory.com, xboxwirelessadapters.com, xboxwirelesscontrollers.com, xboxwirelessheadsets.com e xbox360wirelesscontrollers.com.

The forum ruled that the domain names contravened the Xbox trademark and were registered in bad faith – not to mention that they were also platforms to advertise and sell competitor products via pay-per-click advertising. Microsoft is now the owner of these domains so one battle down, many more to go…

Photo | Flickr

NIC Mexico, the registery which administers the ccTLD of .mx has launched a new promotional campaign called “Let’s Be More .MX”. The campaign aims to promote more registrations of .mx domains to grow Mexico’s domain market. The idea is to use the projects and ideas of .mx users to reach a greater internet public in Mexico.

Via the site www.seamosmas.mx a community of .mx users is being formed where experiences can be shared and more promotion can take place. It’s a way of making sure that not only users of .mx domains get the full benefit from this ccTLD but that those very users can form the part of promotion for more .mx registrations.

The move prevents countries investing directly in domain names and comes after many African nations in particular, seemed interested in registering these kinds of TLDs. Background checks on nations wanting to invest in domains will be conducted, and the checks will aim to prevent any registration of domains by parties involved in the following:

– Corruption
– Terrorism
– Organised crime
– Money laundering
– Fraudulent bankruptcy
– Arms trafficking and war crimes
– Intellectual property violations

The same goes for gTLDs with continent names, with even more stringent application procedures. ICANN states:

In the case of an application for a string which represents a continent or UN region, documentation of support will be required from at least 60% of the respective national governments in the region, and there may be no more than one written objection to the application from relevant governments in the region and/or public authorities associated with the continent or the UN region.

Go to the ICANN site for more details on the gTLD application guidebook V4.

Bahrain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is looking for information from the Arab League on the possibility of managing the gTLD .arab and “عرب.”. After the Emirates set up its .emarat domain it looks like Bahrain will follow suit and create its own IDN.

The head of the Bahrain TRA, Ahmed Aldoseri has said that the Arad League is gathering information to finalise its plans for the .arab and عرب. domains, and will also establish the registery which will manage them.

According to Aldoseri, the “.arab” and “عرب.” will encourage internet use among those who don’t use latin scipt and can’t access the vast resources on the internet. The next step is to gather various proposals which will help to make the extensions work in the most efficient way possible. With many institutions involved in the project, it shows that in 2010 it’s time for Arab countries and their populations to enjoy the benefits of internet use.

Photo | Flickr

The .XXX domain mooted for pornographic sites looks like it will never be launched with the list of detractors getting longer. This time it’s New Zealand porn guru Steve Crow who has entered the fray, saying that .XXX gTLDs would be a waste of time. According to Crow, until such time as porn sites are made to adopt .XXX domains, there will be no filters and just a whole lot of confusion.

The main idea behind the .XXX gTLD would be to make porn filters more efficient, but so far it’s been proposed as a voluntary measure; meaning most sites would stay as they are, or would simply move their content onto .XXX domains and not apply filters. A great move of porn material is not exactly what that industry wants, either, but a decision from ICANN is expected some time this month.

Photo | Flickr

Verisign has informed its registrars that the wholesale prices of .com and .net domains will be going up as of July 1st, so if you’re in the market to be purchasing a domain name, get ready to pay more. Verisign has stated that .com domains will increase by 7% and .net domains will increase by 10%.

We can only expect the registrars to pass these costs on to the market, possibly at higher rates again. Verisign can now increase domain prices by a rate of 7% each year, meaning it just added an extra $27 million to its takings.

Source | Gawkwire.com

Photo | Flickr

The two other African registrars are Internet Solutions of South Africa and Kheweul of Senegal. The Ghana registrar will now be authorized to register .com, .org, .net, and .info domains. The hope is that this will bring more business to Ghana and surrounding African nations. Ghana Dot Com also aims to encourage more locally-produced websites by people of the Ghana community.

“We hope that this venture will present a platform for hosting more localized content and in local languages to develop the African information resource market,” said Professor Nii Qaynor, Chairman of Ghana Dot Com.

In addition to registering domains, Ghana Dot Com will also host websites. One of their future goals is to become the registrar for country code top level domains (ccTLD) in Africa.

Source: Ghana News Agency
Photo: Flickr

What this means is that users in Russia will be able to register domains that end in .рф. It also opens the door for entrepreneurs and domainers to capitalize on the new Russian market. Presumably, there will be thousands of new high-priced domain names available in Russian. Other European countries that use cyrillic characters are expected to join in on the fun, and other languages will soon follow.

Latin had long dominated the domain market, while countries with non-Latin characters were largely excluded. Last week, Arabic characters were introduced into the domain pool, with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates leading the charge. Supporters of the change believe the Internet will be more accessible to Russians and other non-Latin language countries. Opponents believe it will create separation barriers between the nations.

Source: CircleID
Photo: Flickr

But if you are an individual or someone running a controversial website, having your name out there for everyone to see, might make you uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Internet rules govern that the contact information on your domain be current (i.e. your present address, reachable phone number, etc.).

There are some companies, including many registrars that offer domain privacy for an additional fee. It is, however, unclear how much privacy they actually provide. Some of these companies have been known to hand over contact information of registrants with little persuasion from law enforcement or other government entities in various countries. If you absolutely need privacy and have no other options, the best thing you can do is not use your home address, phone number, or your primary email address.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

“This birthday is really significant because what we are celebrating here is the internet and dotcom is a good, well known placeholder for the rest of the internet,” said Mark Mclaughlin, chief executive officer of Verisign the company that is responsible for looking after the dotcom domain.

There are now 668,000 .com websites registered every month and over 80 million total. It has become the default choice for most web users. Even new users who do not even know how to perform basic searches often type whatever they want followed by “.com” hoping to score a hit. It is a huge information space and also a huge market for domain registrars and web hosting providers. Even with numerous other top-level domain options (such as .net and .org), it is .com that still reigns supreme and may continue to do so for years to come.

Source: BBC News
Photo: Flickr