auDA Domain Name News - May 8
08/May/2008
auDA Domain Name News is compiled by David Goldstein on auDA's behalf. The views expressed in the news items linked from auDA's website (Linked Documents), do not necessarily reflect the views of auDA. auDA does not warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information contained in the Linked Documents, and assumes no liability to any person for any reliance placed upon any information contained in the Linked Documents.
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GOVERNANCE
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How Open Is the International Internet?
We usually take it for granted that we can have complete, unrestricted access to the Internet, wherever we are these days, but a recent study by an international group of researchers illustrates exactly how wrong this notion is.
www.baselinemag.com/c/a/IT-Management/How-Open-Is-the-International-Internet/
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DOMAIN NAMES
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- ICANN
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Public Comment Period Now Open for Domain Tasting Motion
The GNSO Council has approved by super majority vote a motion to discourage use of the current “add grace period” (AGP), during which domains can be returned within five days without cost, for “domain tasting” purposes. The motion, which is pending for Board action, would prohibit any gTLD operator that has implemented an “add grace period” (AGP) from offering a refund for any domain name deleted during the AGP that exceeds 10% of its net new registrations during that month, or fifty domain names, whichever is greater. An exemption could be granted based on extraordinary circumstances, as detailed in the motion.
icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-07may08.htm
ICANN Formalizes Relationship with ccTLD Manager for Iceland
ICANN announced today that it has signed an exchange of letters with the ccTLD manager for .is—Iceland, Internet á Íslandi hf. (ISNIC).
icann.org/announcements/announcement-06may08.htm
Absentee Voting Modification to Bylaws Now Open for Public Comment
The GNSO Council approved a resolution to recommend to the Board a modification of the ICANN bylaws that would permit electronic absentee voting in certain circumstances in order to allow Council members who are absent from Council meetings to vote.
icann.org/announcements/announcement-07may08.htm
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- ccTLD & gTLD NEWS
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Canada Leading the Way with Whois Changes
There have been a number of suggested changes to ICANN’s whois framework. But Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is making changes to its .ca country code on its own. Canada-based domain registrar Tucows is reporting that CIRA will make sweeping changes to its whois policies on June 10:
domainnamewire.com/2008/05/05/canada-leading-the-way-with-whois-changes/
Sun rises for dot-ME domain names
Applications are now being accepted for the new dot-ME domain name extension, but not everyone will be pleased to hear this.
www.enn.ie/article/10124333.html
um: Micronation legally invades U.S. and annexes 11 islands/atolls
The United States Minor Outlying Islands, a statistical designation defined by ISO 3166-1, consisted of eleven insular United States possessions. These islands were grouped together entirely as a statistical convenience. In January 2007, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reportedly dropped the .UM country code top-level domain (ccTLD) from the master list of domain names in response to the domain being unused, and the desire of the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute (ISI) to divest itself of responsibility for the domain.
www.openpr.com/news/43907/Micronation-legally-invades-U-S-and-annexes-11-islands-atolls.html
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- DNS SECURITY
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White House Plans Proactive Cyber-Security Role for Spy Agencies
America's spy agencies for the first time would be tasked with gathering intelligence on threats to the nation's computer networks under a policy that could be detailed by the White House as early as next week, a senior administration official said Wednesday.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050201646.html
CEOs underestimating security risks: Icann president launches new best practice guide for business leaders
Business leaders are grossly underestimating their firms' reliance on the internet and the risks of web-based threats, according to Paul Twomey, president of internet oversight body Icann.
www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/news/2216052/ceos-underestimating-security
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- DOMAIN DISPUTES
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Russian Plan to Foil Cybersquatters Backed
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry to eliminate the link between registration of brands and Internet domain names, making it easier for companies in Russia to defend themselves against cybersquatters.
www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1009/42/362572.htm
Unicaresoft loses MSNLock case against Microsoft
Microsoft has won its case against Dutch 46-year-old mother of three Carola Eppink, who wanted to restrict her children's use of the internet by using a self-made program she'd dubbed MSNLock.
www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/07/dutch_lock_firm_loses_case_against_microsoft/
Microsoft wins legal MSN battle in Netherlands
The court in The Hague ruled on Wednesday that Microsoft is the legal owner of all domain names containing the word MSNLOCK. Two weeks ago Microsoft filed a lawsuit against the Dutch company Unicaresoft. Unicaresoft recently developed a programme called MSNLOCK enabling parents to limit and control their children's usage of Microsoft's popular chat programme MSN.
earthtimes.org/articles/show/203889,microsoft-wins-legal-msn-battle-in-netherlands.html
www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news/article_1404020.php/Microsoft_wins_legal_MSN_battle_in_Netherlands
Domainers Can't Have It Both Ways: Until Blatant Cybersquatters Are Exterminated, All Domainers Will Suffer
It has always amazed me that domainers take such umbrage to the UDRP, ACPA and other cybersquatting provisions, while doing nothing to provide disincentives for these laws to exist. I don’t know what the actual percentages are, but the number of domains registered which are clearly cybersquatting someone else’s famous trademark must be extremely high. We have clients who have literally hundreds of blatant cybersquatters sitting on typos of their various domain names. Virtually any company with significant traffic has typosquatters diverting traffic for their own PPC revenue. The cybersquatting problem continues to grow while, at the same time, legitimate domainers work hard to legitimize domain monetization practices.
tcattorney.typepad.com/anticybersquatting_consum/2008/05/domainers-cant.html
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- MISCELLANEOUS
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IAB Chair Mulls DNS Security
Olaf Kolkman, a Dutch DNS expert, is the new chair of the Internet Architecture Board, a panel of 13 leading network engineers who provide technical oversight to the IETF, the Internet's premier standards-setting body. He's also CEO of NLnet Labs, an Amsterdam research group focused on DNS security.
cio.com.au/index.php/id%3B951571568%3Bfp%3B4%3Bfpid%3B5
VeriSign gets patent for DNS redirect it can't use itself
Domain operator VeriSign has been granted a patent that describes a way to resolve unregistered domains to a parked page for advertising or registration purposes. Ironically, however, VeriSign agreed years ago not to use technology that would do just that, so the patent seems likely to be used as another revenue-generator, as it gives VeriSign the ability to collect licensing fees and pursue legal action against others that have implemented similar "services."
arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080506-verisign-gets-patent-for-dns-redirect-it-cant-use-itself.html
IETF kicks off routing effort for sensor nets
The Internet Engineering Task Force has kicked off a new effort that could deliver a key building bock for wireless sensor networks. The Routing Over Low-power and Lossy Networks (ROLL) group aims to define a standard for Internet Protocol as early as next summer.
www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207600090
A Patent for SiteFinder-Like Resolution
I saw an interesting news item that broke Monday courtesy of DomainNameNews and SlashDot that hasn't been broadly covered yet. I'm surprised no one has posted on this yet on CircleID, so here goes. Apparently VeriSign has been awarded a patent for the resolution of mis-typed domain names. This was at the heart of the controversy back in 2003 around their SiteFinder Service. Amidst a storm of criticism ICANN insisted VeriSign shut down the service, and the company eventually agreed.
www.circleid.com/posts/85760_verisign_patent_sitefinder_resolution/
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- DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET
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Google trademark move sparks outrage
Google has revised its UK trademark protection policy to allow non-trademark owners to bid on trademarked terms within AdWords. Restrictions will still apply to trademarks included within the text of the advertisement.
www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2215968/google-trademark-move-sparks
Sedo Sells Co.nu, MyCanvas.com
A fresh batch of sales data from Sedo shows a number of quality domain sales for the week, including a couple .nu domains. .Nu is the country code domain name for the island state of Niue.
domainnamewire.com/2008/05/05/sedo-sells-conu-mycanvascom/
DBS: Domain Parking Revenue Plummeting
Domain name portfolio holder, registrar, and parking company Dark Blue Sea today reported a massive drop in parking revenue compared to last quarter. The company generated $1,370,000 from parking its own portfolio, down from $1,661,000 last quarter. That’s an 18% drop in just one quarter. A year ago in the same quarter the company pulled in $1,949,000 from parking its own portfolio of domain names.
domainnamewire.com/2008/05/06/dbs-domain-parking-revenue-plummeting/
Thought Convergence Acquires Name Intelligence
Tc NiAcquisition is a major milestone in Thought Convergence’s strategy of developing a self-sustaining, symbiotic Domain Ecosystem that services the global domain community.
blog.domaintools.com/2008/05/thought-convergence-acquires-name-intelligence/
Domize: The Fastest Domain Name Search Ever
Are you the type of person that registers a new domain name every time you think you’ve cooked up the next big thing? If so, you might want to check out Domize, a new site that is essentially a super slick and fast interface for checking the availability of domain names, both on the Web and via iPhone. As developer Anson Parker describes it, “Without exaggeration, it blows away anything before it in terms of speed and allows you to quickly scout out an available name.”
mashable.com/2008/05/07/domize/
