Whois Masking Considered Harmful

Whenever you register a domain name, your contact details are published in a publicly visible database called "Whois", where your contact details are instantly harvested by spambots and marketers who proceed to email and postal mail you marketing offers, deceptive "domain slamming" attempts, ads for dubious products, and perhaps even telemarketing calls. Nobody likes that, so over the years people started resorting to various tactics to protect themselves from the deluge of crap that inevitably comes with simply registering a domain name... more»

Are Domain Names Recession Proof?

We'll only be able to tell whether domain names are recession proof by waiting for the performance of e-commerce sites during the holiday shopping season. Domain name owners and buyers have to remain in suspense a while longer. Some domainers are experiencing drops in sales and prices. However, it is not clear whether those drops are because of changes in valuations by buyers, sellers, or both. more»

Country Based Domains the Latest Sector to Heat Up in $1 Billion Market

"In many parts of the world, dot-com is not the preferred domain suffix. In Germany, for instance, companies advertise their .de Web addresses more prominently than their .com addresses." ...Even with Google and Yahoo's best efforts, the Internet advertising revolution is still in its early stages, especially overseas. But if they're successful at bringing online ads to more countries, overseas domain owners are going to find themselves sitting on prime property. more»

Microsoft Launches New Offensive Against Cybersquatters

Microsoft on Tuesday launched a new offensive against cybersquatters who allegedly gain illegal profits from thousands of Web sites, such as WindowsLiveTutorial.com and HaloChamp.com, that include the company's trademarked names.

Redmond filed three lawsuits in federal court this week claiming that some Web site operators have registered and operate hundreds of domain names with the sole purpose of reaping "bad faith" profits and in violation of federal and state laws. more»

Europeans Rush to Get '.eu' Domain Names

Some 300,000 Europeans rushed to register their new ".eu" domain names in the first hour of being able to sign up for the new Internet addresses, officials said Friday.

By midday, registrations had exceeded 550,000. Until Friday, registration was limited to specific groups, such as registered trademark owners, public bodies and companies. Now, anyone who resides in the 25-nation European Union can buy a name on a first-come, first-served basis. more»

Registrars Say No to Phishers? Watchdog Group Calls Issue 'Complex'

Unfortunately, it is not possible for a registrar to know a-priori whether a site is going to be used for phishing or not, says Dave Jevans, chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group. There are many "squatters" who may have every right to register domain names with other companies' trademarks in them, per ICANN policy... more»

ICANN Settles Feud with UK ccTLD Operator

The company that manages the U.K.'s top-level domain has struck a truce with the U.S.-based organization responsible for overseeing Internet domain names, cooling ongoing disagreements over administrative control of the Internet.

On Friday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced at a conference in Marrakech, Morocco, that it had exchanged letters with Nominet UK, a sign of future cooperation on managing the name and number system that makes Web browsing possible. more»

ICANN Terminates EstDomains, Seeks Bulk Transfer of Customers

In follow up to reports on ICANN's termination of notorious domain name registrar, EstDomains due to fraudulent activities, the Internet oversight agency is now preparing to transfer domain names of its customers to other registrars... However the question asked by experts is whether any other registrar would have an interest in inheriting EstDomains questionable domain names. more»

U.S. Invites Comments on ICANN's Future

A branch of the U.S. Commerce Department is accepting comments on the fate of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that supervises Internet domain names.

The deadline for comments is Friday, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which began soliciting input June 7.  more»

NameMedia Acquires Afternic

Waltham's NameMedia Inc. reports it has acquired Florida domain name reseller Afternic Inc. …Afternic, which already has more than 1.8 million domains, will join with BuyDomains, NameMedia's existing domain name marketplace. more»

Google to Offer Domain Registration Services

Google announced on Thursday evening that a domain name search and registration service will be added to its Google Apps for Your Domain offering.

Google will partner with GoDaddy and eNom, two domain registration companies to offer the service. more»

ICANN Approves .ASIA

Made up of groups that run domain names for China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and other countries, the DotAsia Organization Ltd. plans to explore permitting domain names in Asian languages under ".asia." ICANN also has been exploring allowing suffixes in other languages, too, though that will take time and is unaffected by Wednesday's decision on ".asia." more»

Spamhaus Case Could Test ICANN

ICANN has agreed that only registrars can suspend individual domain names. It believes that there is no way it could enforce the proposed court order. But as the organization responsible for the Internet's top-level domains, ICANN does have the authority to accredit registrars like Tucows, based in Toronto.

Princeton University's Edward Felten believes it is possible that ICANN could be forced to comply with this type of court order.  more»

ICANN Must Address Domain Tasting Ripple Effects

A registrar who also engages in domain tasting can inadvertently create ripple effects throughout the domain name industry. Thus, domain name owners must exert pressure on ICANN to reduce this risk. We are now experiencing ripple effects from the subprime market and its repercussions on related markets. ...there can be a problem when registrar functions and domain tasting are conducted by the same entity. Unmonitored coupling of seemingly unrelated markets can be devastating to our industry. more»

Over Half of the Internet Name Servers Configured Incorrectly

Study finds more than half of the Internet's name servers are configured incorrectly, leaving networks vulnerable to pharming attacks and enabling servers to be used in attacks that can wipe out DNS infrastructure. This is the key finding of a survey of the Internet's domain name servers released Monday.

...The number of DNS servers connected to the Internet rose 20% in the last year to 9 million. Most of that growth was in Europe and Asia, with many new DNS servers embedded in cable modems and phone gateways. more»