auDA Domain Name News - 18 February
18/Feb/2010
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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Wolfgang Kleinwachter: Don't move backwards on Internet governance
IGP note: This is a comment Professor Wolfgang Kleinwachter made regarding the future of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). At the recent Geneva consultations of the IGF, there was a disagreement over whether the UN Secretary-General's recommendations on the continuation of the IGF should be delivered through the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) or the Committee onScience and Technology for Development (CSTD) prior to the UN General Assembly receiving it to make a final decision. This seemingly obscure bureaucratic disagreement reflects a larger debate over how open and "multistakeholder" the IGF should be.
blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2010/2/14/4455885.html
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DOMAIN NAMES
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- ICANN
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ICANN Update On Nairobi Meeting Security Issues
ICANN has given an update on the situation with their planning to deal with the security issues at the upcoming meeting in Nairobi in March. While they continue to monitor the situation, there will also be increased access to remote participation and there is a board meeting scheduled for 19 February to “give the Board a final opportunity to review the situation and plans.”
goldsteinreport.com/article.php?article=10405
www.domainpulse.com/2010/02/18/icann-update-on-nairobi-meeting-security-issues/
ICANN Increases Nairobi Meeting Security and Investigates Enhanced Remote Participation
There has been an enhanced, on the ground commitment for additional security by local members of the Kenyan security committee in preparation for the upcoming ICANN meeting to be held in the country’s capital, with the group working closely with the on-site security experts that ICANN has under contract, ICANN has announced in a security update on the upcoming meeting.
goldsteinreport.com/article.php?article=10389
www.domainnews.com/en/icann-increases-nairobi-meeting-security-investigates-enhanced-remote-participation.html
www.domainpulse.com/2010/02/16/icann-increases-nairobi-meeting-security-and-to-investigate-enhanced-remote-participation/
Pre-Nairobi ICANN Policy Update Briefing Meeting Details and How to Participate
Whether you plan to participate in the upcoming Nairobi meeting remotely or in person, you're invited to a quick reminder of the background and current status of each major policy issue currently under discussion in ICANN.
icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-17feb10-en.htm
15 February 2010 Nairobi Update
ICANN's internal team – including staff from the US (California, Texas, New Jersey), France and Niger - continued to meet daily over the weekend to discuss and share information regarding the ICANN Nairobi meeting. Today and last night, we had direct contact with the local Kenyan members of the security planning committee, and there has been an enhanced, on the ground commitment for additional security and this group will work closely with the on-site security experts that ICANN has under contract. ICANN's security team thinks these are strong, positive steps.
nbo.icann.org/meetings/security-information-15feb10-en.htm
Remote Participation for Nairobi: Details Available
As some of you will have already noticed, remote participation details are in the process of being posted on the ICANN Nairobi site. Work on the remote participation for Nairobi began for me on the first day of December when I took up the post of Senior Director for Participation and Engagement, as the Board’s Public Participation Committee asked me to propose the suite of remote participation options for Nairobi. They, and the staff, clearly understood that we would likely see a considerable increase in the use of remote participation in Nairobi.
blog.icann.org/2010/02/remote-participation-for-nairobi-details-available/
Security Scare Hits City Meeting Plan
Kenya's security forces have stepped up anti-terrorism surveillance ahead of a landmark Internet conference scheduled for next month in Nairobi that has been hit by delegates' withdrawal over security fears.
www.businessdailyafrica.com/Company Industry/-/539550/864086/-/t3e86kz/-/index.html
allafrica.com/stories/201002171076.html
Public Comment: Draft Report on WHOIS Accuracy
The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) recently completed a study commissioned by ICANN to determine the percentage of domain names registered under the top 5 gTLDs (i.e., .com, .net, .org, .biz, and .info) that contain accurate WHOIS data. Today, the draft report is being posted for review and comment through 15 April 2010.
icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-3-15feb10-en.htm
77% of domain registrations stuffed with rubbish
An incredible 77 per cent of internet domains - nearly 90 million internet addresses - are registered with false, incomplete, or unverifiable information.
www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/17/domain_name_problems/
ICANN Study Finds Three-Quarters of Whois Data Inaccurate
More than three-quarters (77%) of all Whois records for five of the generic Top Level Domains (.COM, .ORG, .NET, .INFO and .BIZ) are filled with at least partially inaccurate information, according to a survey by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) for ICANN.
goldsteinreport.com/article.php?article=10400
www.domainpulse.com/2010/02/17/three-quarters-of-whois-data-inaccurate-finds-icann-study/
www.domainnews.com/en/three-quarters-of-whois-data-inaccurate-icann-study.html
ICANN fails to control Internet, 77% of domains have no valid information
A recent report revealed that 77% of Internet domains, which is about 90 million Internet addresses, are registered with false, incomplete, or unverifiable information.
www.ecommerce-journal.com/node/26970
ICANN admits domain holders impossible to find
More than three-quarters of Internet domain registrants have incomplete, invalid or false names. And 22 percent of website owners proved to be impossible to trace.
news.techworld.com/networking/3212964/icann-admits-domain-holders-impossible-to-find/
ICANN: Most web domain registrations are faulty
A new report on the accuracy of domain registrations has found 77 per cent of records have information that is missing, incorrect or deliberately falsified.
www.itpro.co.uk/620599/icann-most-web-domain-registrations-are-faulty
Non-Lawyers' Guide to the 2009 RAA
ICANN has produced a Non-Lawyers' Guide to the May 2009 Registrar Accreditation in response to the At-Large Advisory Committee's (ALAC) request for such a guide.
icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-15feb10-en.htm
New gTLD Program Makes Available New Documents for Community Discussion
ICANN is publishing today several materials related to the New gTLD Program. These materials have been grouped below in categories to facilitate understanding.
icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-4-15feb10-en.htm
Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Plan and Budget Framework Posted for Community Review
The release of ICANN's Proposed Framework for the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) Operating Plan and Budget kicks off the operational planning process for ICANN, providing the community the first look at the planned work and financial resources required for FY11. The framework will be discussed with members of the ICANN community at the Nairobi meeting in March, through online public comment areas, and through conference calls with ICANN constituencies. A more detailed draft FY11 Operating Plan and Budget will be posted by 17 May 2010. After more public comment and feedback, the budget is expected to be adopted by the ICANN Board at its Brussels meeting in June 2010.
icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-15feb10-en.htm
Experts Predict 100-1500 New TLDs by 2011-2012
Last Friday I had the opportunity to moderate a panel on new top level domain names during Domainer Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
domainnamewire.com/2010/02/16/experts-predict-100-1500-new-tlds-by-2011-2012/
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- ccTLD & gTLD NEWS
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Drop in number of .az domains
Azerbaijan had 9,228 domains in the national .az Internet domain zone as of 17 February, a fall of 50 since 11 January.
www.news.az/articles/9365
1,000,000th .be domain name registered
This weekend, DNS BE registered the 1 millionth .be domain name for an end-user. The domain name in question is boekee.be, registered by Erwin Boekee. By way of gift the domain name registration with his present registrar will be paid by DNS BE for the next 25 years.
www.dns.be/en/home.php?n=441
DNS.BE Passes One Million Domain Name Registrations After Another Record Year in 2009
A record number of domain name registrations in 2009 have led to the registration of the one millionth .BE domain name last weekend.
goldsteinreport.com/article.php?article=10393
www.domainpulse.com/2010/02/17/dnsbe-one-million-registrations-record-2009/
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- DNS SECURITY
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In a doomsday cyber attack scenario, answers are unsettling
What if a crippling attack struck the country's digital infrastructure? Experts including current and former officials tackle the question. The results show that the peril is real and growing.
www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-cyber-attack17-2010feb17,0,305928.story
Simulation shows government lacks policies needed to respond to cyberattack
A simulation of a widespread cyberattack against the nation's critical infrastructure on Tuesday demonstrated the cascading effects an attack can have on networks and the difficulty the government would have in quickly responding, including dealing with civil liberties and how to work with corporations.
www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100216_5378.php
Group Simulates Cyber Attack
Intelligence experts playing a cyber war game Tuesday to test America's readiness for a nationwide hack faced a simulated crisis that crippled America's power grid - trouble that started with a cell phone virus.
techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2010/02/group-simulates-cyber-attack.php
War game reveals U.S. lacks cyber-crisis skills
Scene: The White House Situation Room. Event: A massive cyber attack has turned the cellphones and computers of tens of millions of Americans into weapons to shut down the Internet. A cascading series of events then knocks out power for most of the East Coast amid hurricanes and a heat wave.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/16/AR2010021605762.html
U.S. Fails Test In Simulated Cyberattack
A large-scale simulated cyberattack on the U.S. yesterday proved one thing, according to organizers: The country isn't prepared for a real attack.
www.darkreading.com/security/cybercrime/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222900775
Malicious Software Infects Corporate Computers
A malicious software program has infected the computers of more than 2,500 corporations around the world, according to NetWitness, a computer network security firm.
www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/technology/19cyber.html
Broad New Hacking Attack Detected: Global Offensive Snagged Corporate, Personal Data at nearly 2,500 Companies; Operation Is Still Running
Hackers in Europe and China successfully broke into computers at nearly 2,500 companies and government agencies over the last 18 months in a coordinated global attack that exposed vast amounts of personal and corporate secrets to theft, according to a computer-security company that discovered the breach.
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704398804575071103834150536.html
More than 75,000 computer systems hacked in one of largest cyber attacks, security firm says
More than 75,000 computer systems at nearly 2,500 companies in the United States and around the world have been hacked in what appears to be one of the largest and most sophisticated attacks by cyber criminals discovered to date, according to a northern Virginia security firm.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/17/AR2010021705816.html
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- DOMAIN DISPUTES
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BofA wins judgment over cybersquatter on Web names
Bank of America Corp has won a court judgment barring a self-described cybersquatter from using the "bofaml.com" and "mlbofa.com" Internet domain names following the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.
www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61F3Y420100216
Measuring Typosquatting Perpetrators and Funders by Tyler Moore and Benjamin Edelman
For more than a decade, aggressive website registrants have been engaged in 'typosquatting' -- the intentional registration of misspellings of popular website addresses. Uses for the diverted traffic have evolved over time, ranging from hosting sexually-explicit content to phishing. Several countermeasures have been implemented, including developing policies for resolving disputes. Despite these efforts, typosquatting remains rife. But just how prevalent is typosquatting today, and why is it so pervasive?
www.circleid.com/posts/20100217_measuring_typosquatting_perpetrators_and_funders/
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- MISCELLANEOUS
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Dengate-Thrush appointed to Copyright Tribunal
Commerce Minister Simon Power has announced the appointment of lawyer Peter Dengate-Thrush to the Copyright Tribunal for a five year term.
www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10626303
nz: Top tech lawyer joins Copyright Tribunal
Commerce Minister Simon Power has appointed Peter Dengate-Thrush to the Copyright Tribunal for a term of five years.
www.sharechat.co.nz/article/a1691d7b/top-tech-lawyer-joins-copyright-tribunal.html
Registration of Generic Names: Advocate General's Opinion Before the Court of Justice of the EU
One of the most debated questions at the time of the opening of the .eu Top-Level Domain (TLD) was whether or not it was possible to register names on the basis of prior rights on signs which include special characters, such as an ampersand. The Advocate General of the Court of Justice of European Union has just published his opinion (4 years later...).
www.circleid.com/posts/registration_of_generic_names_advocate_generals_opinion_court_eu/
Domain Registry Locking Program: It Is There for a Reason, So Why Not Use It? by Elisa Cooper
At the beginning of last year, MarkMonitor participated in VeriSign's beta program to test server-level protections which were designed to mitigate the potential for unintended domain name changes, deletions and transfers. When VeriSign finally released their Registry Locking Program to all registrars, I expected to see the owners of highly trafficked sites flocking to this new offering. However, after a review of the top 300 most highly trafficked sites, I was shocked to uncover that less than 10% of these valuable domains were protected using these newly available security measures.
www.circleid.com/posts/domain_registry_locking_why_not_use_it/
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- DOMAINING & AFTERMARKET
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Poker.org sold for $1 Million, Most Ever For .org Domain
Sedo, a domain marketplace, has brokered the largest sale of a .org domain to date. Brokered on behalf of National A-1 Advertising, the domain poker.org was sold to PokerCompany.com for the sum of $1 million.
techcrunch.com/2010/02/17/poker-org-sold-for-1-million-most-ever-for-org-domain/
‘Halvarez’ Caused $2M Loss to SnapNames Customers
A document filed today in a lawsuit against Oversee.net and Snapnames shows that the total loss to U.S. customers from the bidding scandal was about $1 million, including interest. The total damages for all customers can be extrapolated to be about $2.0 million.
domainnamewire.com/2010/02/16/halvarez-caused-2m-loss-to-snapnames-customers/
Report: Google May Earn $497 Million a Year from Typosquatting
A new study suggests that Google may earn $497 million a year from typosquatters targeting the 100,000 most popular .com sites on the web.
domainnamewire.com/2010/02/17/report-google-may-earn-497-million-a-year-from-typosquatting/
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