ICANN announces delay of gTLDs, expediates IDNs

For more than a month now rumors have been rampant that ICANN’s new gTLD program would be delayed. Today, the agency made the news official, stating that the new extension approval policy will be delayed beyond Q2 2010. ICANN cited controversy and varying opinions about gTLDs as the main reasons for the push back.

Not be solely a bearer of bad news, ICANN also announced that it will be moving full steam ahead to introduce internationalized domain names. Better known as IDNs, these non-Latin character domains will make accessing the Internet easier for billions around the world.

As far as I’m concerned, ICANN is doing the right thing here. Instead of worrying about monetary interests with its gTLD program, the organization is working on getting the IDN system going. Granted, there’s no reason why this couldn’t have been done a decade ago, but hey, whoever said ICANN was Speedy Gonzales?

Photo | Flickr

INTA testifies against gTLDs and ICANN

At a congressional hearing last month regarding ICANN’s new gTLD system, International Trademark Association (INTA) President Richard Heath testified against the new program.

Using the current 21 gTLDs as examples, Heath argued that allowing unlimited generic extensions would increase consumer confusion, decrease Internet security and safety, tarnish brands, and increase business costs. To counter ICANN’s oft-made claim that new gTLDs will increase competition and benefit the economy, he made it clear that no empirical research has been done to back up this claim.

He also blasted ICANN for its inability to regulate a web full of ever-increasing abuses, stating:

Despite the hard work of the ICANN Board and staff, Mr. Chairman, we see significant increases in abuses of the domain name system and inadequate management by ICANN to address the problems, including their inability to enforce contracts.

TLDs slow to adopt IPv6

It seems as though data center operators and ISPs aren’t the only ones lagging behind in IPv6 adoption. Recent data provided by ICANN shows that 41% of the existing 280 Top-Level Domains have no IPv6 support whatsoever.

With IPv4 addresses still slated to run out some time in 2011, this finding is alarming. While it would be wise for these TLD operators to invest in the new technology before it’s too late, ICANN can do very little to make them do so. No doubt the problem will be exasperated even further when new gTLDs are introduced next year.

ICANN should not allow new TLDs to be created unless the owners invest in IPv6. While the organization itself cannot be held responsible for every Internet mishap, as a regulatory agency it has a duty to make sure a pragmatic policy is followed within the domain industry.

Source | CircleID

Photo | clix

Not-for-profits push for .ngo domain

Citing the rampant abuse of the .org TLD, London charity Article 25 is putting together a consortium of like-minded organisations to create a new extension, .ngo.

Victoria Harris, Chief Executive of Article 25, talked about the problems of .org:

Lack of regulation has meant that commercial entities, individuals and even professional criminals have been able to register websites with .org suffixes quite legally, with no check on their identities or intentions.

The consortium will submit an application to ICANN next year for rights to the extension. If approved, only genuine charitable organisations would be allowed to register a .ngo name.

When it was created in 1985, .org was meant for non-profit entities. Since then, it seems to have forgotten its original intended purpose. Anyone- individuals and companies included- can register a .org domain. As a result, only a very small minority of the TLD’s registrations are owned not-for-profits. Many charitable organisations also register.coms.

Via | Third Sector

New ICANN CEO releases address

New ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom has been in his post for more than three weeks now, but just released his first public address yesterday. In the message, Paul Twomey’s replacement talks about how excited he is to be working at ICANN and details his plans for the future.

While it’s great to see that the new CEO is alive and kickin’ (I thought he was living under a rock), the message doesn’t reveal anything new about ICANN. Rather, it’s the same old pitter-patter I’ve come to expect from Marina Del Rey, the organization’s home city.

First, Beckstrom addressed the new IDN system, stating that this effort would be the to-do at his new workplace.
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Man to Sell 2,600 Real Estate Domains

In what is probably the biggest real estate domain auction in history, a bloke from Colorado, Craig Harrison, is going to sell 2,600 geographic domains.

Most of the names feature the name of a U.S. city with a population of over 35,000 followed by “RealEstateListings.com,” though there are international cities, too. The auction will be divvied up into 61 lots, with 54 lots for states (Florida and California have two), one for Washington D.C., one of just state names, and more.

Victor Lund, a partner in a real estate consulting firm, estimates the names are worth $100 to $5,000 USD each. Going by this, the auction could fetch up to £8 million ($13 million USD).
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According to Survey, Most Businesses Unaware of Upcoming Domain Changes

In a not-so-surprising turn of events, a recent survey conducted in the UK found that 2/3 of businesses do not know about ICANN’s plan to allow businesses to create new domain extensions next year.

The study, conducted by The Future Laboratory, was in no way scientific, and tells us nothing new. It merely surveyed 100 UK e-commerce managers about the changes. The company concluded that since the news hasn’t hit mainstream media, no one knows about it. Go figure.

ICANN hasn’t done a good job about making the upcoming changes known to the public. Considering what a huge change this will be for the Internet, people have a right to know about it. But it seems as though the decision was made by a few businessmen behind closed doors in California…

Source: Reuters