In early June, we reported about the Public Interest Registry (PIR) and their plans to introduce new security to .org top-level domains (TLD). After a month of preparing, PIR is ready to move some 18 live domains to the security extensions for testing. The official launch of the new system, called DNSSEC, will take place next year.

DNSSEC, which stands for Domain Name System Security Extensions, allows DNS queries and responses to be digitally signed, making them more difficult to exploit and falsify. PIR, a non-profit organization, is responsible for the management of all .org infrastructure, and took over operations of the .org TLD in 2003.

Alexa Raad, chief executive officer of PIR, said implementation of DNSSEC is an essential part of the process of upgrading the Internet infrastructure to provide the security that users of this critical utility require.
“There is a responsibility for the current generation to ensure that the infrastructure is upgraded,” Raad said.

The U.S. government has implemented DNSSEC security with its .gov TLDs, but the .org implementation will be much larger and more involved. The .org TLD is the third largest behind .com and .net, boasting more than 7.5 million domains, compared to 3,700 .gov domains.

Source: Government Computer News

Continue reading: PIR to test new security implementation

Experts are warning that the country domains for the Republic of Cameroon are easy targets for cybersquatters wishing to cash in on typos. This form of cybersquatting, which is developing its own name: typosquatting, takes place when someone registers a domain spelled similarly to another popular domain so that people who mistype it are sent to the wrong site, often laced with ads or, even worse, malware.

With the .CM top-level domains, it is easier than ever. Someone who intends to type Amazon.com need only miss one letter, the “o” in .com. According to the experts, “google.cm” receives up to 20,000 his per day, which means a good amount of traffic is being diverted to the incorrect site. This can be damaging for businesses and even dangerous for users.

“It’s a trick-to-click model. They’re trying to trick people into thinking they’re at a legitimate site,” said Enrico Schaefer, founding attorney of Traverse Legal, based in Traverse City, Mich., which specializes in Internet law and online brand protection. “Most companies do not have a clue that this cybersquatting or typosquatting is going on. But they are becoming more aware of it all the time.”

Source: Legal Technology
Photo: Wikipedia

Continue reading: .CM domain is a hot target for cybersquatters

In an effort to encourage greater adoption of the .eu top-level domain (TLD), the European Commission will start allowing non-latin characters to be used in domain registration. In the past, only “a to z” and “0 to 9″ characters were allowed. European states that will benefit greatly from this move include Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania.

Some of the countries, such as Slovenia, rely on a modified version of the latin alphabet, containing non-latin characters with diacritical marks that were previously not allowed in .eu domain registration. Characters such as “à” and “ä” will now be allowed, as well as Cyrillic characters such as “ψ” and “д”. In the past, these countries could only use some of the characters in their alphabets that matched latin characters.

.eu is the fourth most popular country code, after .de (Germany), .uk (United Kingdom), and .nl (Netherlands). The top-level domain was first made available to EU nation states and citizens in 2006. This move is seen by many as a precursor to a larger ICANN adoption of non-latin alphabets, including Chinese, Arabic and many others.

Source: Euroalert
Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: .eu domains to be available in Cyrillic and Greek

Domain name transfers can be a hassle, but they do no have to be. Whether your are unsatisfied with your current domain registrar or simply found a better deal, there are clear benefits to transferring a domain to a registrar you have researched and have grown to trust. A good registrar will provide a user control panel, email reminders about pending expiration dates, DNS management, and perhaps most importantly, good technical support.

While transferring should be easy, it should not be too easy. You should be weary of a registrar that is willing to transfer your domain without checking your identity. They should also not expect you to pay additional costs outside of the basic registration. Actually in many cases, they will provide incentives in addition to their low cost.

After you have signed up, the company will send you an authorization code. Usually, the code will either be sent to the owner listed in the Whois information or to your current registrar. Either way, you need to make sure that your information is current with both. Also, unless you are changing hosting providers, you need to make sure that the name servers in your new registrar’s control panel point to your current web host. Once the code is processed, you will be on your way to a new registrar.

Photo: SXC

Continue reading: Transferring your domain name

The Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit organization responsible for the management of .ORG top-level domains (TLD), is raising its voice to advocate registry-registrar separation. The organization is concerned that ICANN is moving toward removing restrictions that prevent a registry, responsible for maintaining the infrastructure and management of a Top-level domain, from simultaneously owning registrars, the companies that sell domains.

Among the problems such cross-ownership could cause are that registries that are also registrars could provide domains at lower prices and thereby give themselves an unfair advantage over competing registrars. Another possible negative outcome is that information that a registrar gives to the domain registry could be used for their own registrar’s business, thereby once again giving them an unfair advantage.

PIR believes that these safeguards must stay in place and be more thoroughly defined when the new gTLDs are implemented. ICANN will be presenting information about cross ownership to a panel in Sydney on June 22. This will also undoubtedly raise questions about ICANN’s future. While the U.S. government believes it should maintain oversight over the organization, the E.U. wants oversight to be handed over to a collective committee of nations. ICANN itself, however, has expressed wishes to become an independent organization.

Source: CircleID

Continue reading: PIR advocates to keep registries and registrars separate

EuroDNS, the domain registrar specializing in .eu, .de, and many other Top-Level Domains has announced the “Sunrise” phase of .cm registration. The company hopes that this limited registration phase will give trademark holders a chance to register and protect their brands before the names are released to the public.

The .cm domain is the official country domain for the Republic of Cameroon in Central Africa. In addition to providing African individuals and companies with a uniquely African ownership stake in the Internet, they will also donat ea percentage of the proceeds to “Flowers in the Desert”, a program that is design to combat poverty in Africa.

The minimum registration term for the “Sunirse” phase is two years. All applicants are required to submit prove of their registered trademark in their application. If one registrant has an older trademark similar to another, the older one will be awarded the domain. The “Landrush” period will follow the “Sunrise” allowing potential registrants to pay a premim fee and participate in an auction. The final phase is the “Go Live” phase, where registration will become open to all.

Source: EuroDNS
Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: .CM domains to enter "Sunrise" phase

ICANN has announced that it will start hosting gatherings at various high-profile locations to encourage more discussion and education about their plants to introduce a new gTLD (generic Top-Level Domain) program. The events will include on-site consultation to answer many of the concerns people have about regulations, trademark policies and online criminal activity.

Starting June 24 in Sydney, the organization will circle the globe, stopping in New York (July 13), London (July 15), Hong Kong (July 24), and Abu-Dhabi (TBD). The last two will mainly focus on the internationalization issues, including plans to allow non-latin characters from various languages, referred to as Internationalized Domain Names (IDN).

The new gTLD program will allow applicants to setup their own custom Top-Level Domains. Many cities and corporations have expressed interest in it, while some have expressed their concerns. The global events will all be free of charge, requiring only pre-registration to attend. The last date for New York and London registration is July 10.

Source: ICANN

Continue reading: ICANN to host gTLD events around the world

In anticipation that ICANN will soon allow domain names in languages other than English and characters outside of the Latin alphabet, Bulgaria has submitted an application to allow the registration of domains using the Cyrillic alphabet. Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin stated that this move was highly anticipating by Bulgarian residents, and that the country managed to submit the application before Russia had the chance to do it themselves.

“Bulgaria will be visited by the world’s top experts in this field on May 26. The Russians are also working very hard as well,” the minister pointed out.

The occasion of the announcement fell on May 24th, known as Bulgarian Education, Culture and Slav Letters day, which remembers Sts Cyril and Methodius, who were responsible for creating the Cyrillic alphabet.

Source: Sofia News Agency
Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: Bulgarian residents look forward to Cyrillic domain names

We previously reported that U.S. government oversight of ICANN will soon come to an end on September 30, and arguments have spewed from all sides within and outside of the U.S. Many countries, including those that make up the European Union, called for the formation of an international oversight coalition of nations. Next, the CEO of ICANN chimed in and gave his opinion: that the organization had surpassed the need of any formal government oversight and should essentially become an independent international entity.

Now, U.S. officials have added their view of the situation, and a group of senators are urging Commerce Secretary Locke and Assistant Secreatry-Designate Larry Strickling to monitor the ICANN-U.S. government relationship. The senators are concerned that ICANN’s reach and the efficacy of its activities would diminish if the link with the U.S. Deparment of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is completely severed.

In a letter to Locke, Senators Olympia Snowe, R-Maine and Bill Nelson, D-Fla, urged Locke to monitor the situation and suggested that they extend the Joint Project Agreement (JPA). Strickling did not specify whether the Obama administration had decided to extend the agreement but did say that they would continue to be involved with ICANN in some capacity.

“Regardless of whether the JPA is terminated, modified or extended, it is my belief that NTIA will continue to be an active participant in ICANN by representing the United States government in ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee as well as filing comments, as needed, in ICANN’s various public consultation processes,” Strickling said.

Source: nextgov

Continue reading: Senators urge NTIA to monitor ICANN-government relationship

Citing “community concerns on particular aspects of the program,” ICANN has announced that it will not take applications for its new gTLD program until next year.

The program, which was supposed to start accepting applications later this year, would let organizations and businesses create their own generic top-level-domains (gTLDs).

Guidelines about the application process and new systems will be available at the ICANN International Meeting in Seoul in October.

There is debate in the Internet world as to whether or not the new TLD system is needed. On one hand, there seems to be some good TLDs in the works, such as New York’s .nyc. However, each businesses does not need its own TLD. The new system would let all sorts of new TLDs on the market. There could be a .dent for dentistry, a .lock for locksmiths, or even a .google for Google.

The web is already flooded with dozens of barely used domain extensions. Creating new TLDs for small niches or businesses would just break the web up into too many pieces. It would be frustrating to consumers, too. Imagine having to remember a piece of information for each website name- like the dentist’s .dent address and the locksmith’s .lock address plus your pizza guy’s .nyc website. With most sites using .com or .co.uk, there’s less to remember.

By saturating the market with new names, the system could also reduce the value of already registered domains, most notably .coms. According to John Machenzie, a technology lawyer at Pinsent Masons, “Most companies simply don’t need and don’t want the new names.”

Creating a new TLD would cost $200,000 in fees plus millions in operational costs.

Source: Out-Law.com

Continue reading: ICANN's New gTLD Program Delayed

Whether you are interested in buying a domain name, initiating a trademark dispute, offering a business deal to the owners, or simple good old fashioned spying, there are plenty of online tools available to help make your job a little easier. One of the most commonly used domain information gathering tools is called Whois. This search feature allows you to enter a domain name and retrieve ownership and hosting information about the web site.

Most hosting companies and registrars include Whois features on their websites. InterNIC also has free Whois services for top-level domains. Using this tool, you can find out the following information: the domain registrar (the company used to register the domain), name servers (servers on which the domain is hosted), creation date (when the domain was registered), and expiration date (when the domain will expire and require renewal).

In many cases, Whois will also return ownership information, including the name, phone number, and address of the domain’s owners, although some services allow domain owners to mask this information. It will also include an administrative contact and a technical contact. In the case of private individual owners, all three contacts might be the same. Some Whois sites will provide the IP address of the site, IP location, registrar history, IP history, site visitors, Alexa ranking, SEO score, related sites, and even a screenshot of the site as it currently appears. All of these features can be invaluable when performing research on a domain.

Photo Source: SXC

Continue reading: Finding out more about a domain with Whois

In Determining Domain Name Value: Part I, two important aspects of domain name value were discussed. Not only is it necessary to take a name’s extension into consideration when doing an evaluation, but keyword popularity is very important, too.

These two factors are just the tip of the iceberg. There are a variety of other indicators domain experts look at to determine the potential worth of a name.

How long is the name? Is it easy to spell?
The shorter a domain is and the fewer keywords it contains, the more valuable it is in general. Spelling, pronunciation, and brandability are also important. A domain like AttorneyAlley.com is much easier to remember, spell, and pronounce than AmazingAffidavitLawCentral.com, for instance.

A substantial market exists for very short domains, mainly .coms four characters and under as well as other TLDs with only three letters. These domains are not only short and easy to remember, but have great potential because of the large number of businesses and organizations using multi-letter acronyms. And if the three or four-letter name forms something pronounceable, it’s worth even more.

Continue reading: Determining Domain Name Value: Part II