Some folks have already asked me if DNSSEC could have prevented Twitter.com traffic from being hijacked. In this case, the answer is, "No".
It now seems more certain than ever that potentially hundreds of new gTLDs will be introduced over the next few years, possibly changing the way the Internet is navigated forever.
The fact that lack of e-mail support could inhibit the adoption of IDNs is a problem Afilias has addressed with a newly developed IDN E-Mail software.
This month, France Telecom's Lower Indian Ocean Network 2 "LION2" fiber optic cable has been put in service, bringing the total number of cables in East Africa to four. In South Africa it is expecting West Africa Cable System to go live next month. This huge growth in fiber optic cables connecting Africa means that bandwidth costs can go further down but there are many questions for internet service providers, regulators and policy makers... more»
Traditionally, top-level domains (TLDs) have been almost exclusively marketed by registries through their registrar channel. In a never-ending cycle of driving and sustaining sales, registries often resort to discounting and "promotional pricing." The competition for prime shelf space for a TLD is fierce, with sales and distribution largely controlled by the channel... In this chaotic and cluttered channel, it's not surprising that TLDs have traditionally been less than successful in defining their brand and delivering a unique value story for their product. more»
Since the establishment of the RIPE NCC, 5,000 Local Internet Registries (LIRs) have closed. We wanted to find out why. Many of them were probably victims of the burst of the dotcom bubble. But how many? And which countries were mostly affected? How many closures were the results of mergers? We've got answers. more»
ICANN 43 in Costa Rica was in the heart of IPv6 implementation with everybody touching on how much it was needed as part of the internet ecosystem to fully utilize the ICANN expansion of the new gTLD namespace from 21 to the maximum number that will manage to get delegated at the beginning of 2013. more»
This may or may not come as a shock to some of you, but ICANN's contract with the Domain Name Registrars, in terms of WHOIS inaccuracy is not enforceable. Bear with me. The ability of ICANN to enforce against a Registrar who fails to correct or delete a domain with false WHOIS does not exist. more»
On February 16, 2012 ICANN took the new step of suspending the Registrar Alantron's ability to register new names or accept inbound domain transfers. This new compliance tool was used following Alantron's apparently inadequate response to a breach notice issued November 7, 2011. The issue in part concerns Alantron's perpetual problems with Port 43 WHOIS access which is required by the Registrar Accreditation Agreement. more»
As the WHOIS debate rages and the Top-Level Domain (TLD) space prepares to scale up the problem of rogue domain registration persists. These are set to be topics of discussion in Costa Rica. While the ICANN contract requires verification, in practice this has been dismissed as impossible. However, in reviewing nearly one million spammed domain registrations from 2011 KnujOn has found upwards of 90% of the purely abusive registrations could have been blocked. more»
Google revealed on its official blog today that it is handling an average of more than 70 billion requests per day on its free Public DNS service. According to VeriSign's latest public statistics, it is handling only an average of 59 billion DNS requests per day, less than that handled by Google. more»
Tomorrow, January 12th 2012 ICANN will open the application window for new TLDs. This post includes answers to some of the based frequently asked questions. If you have any other questions/queries, or if something is unclear please let me know via the comment at the end of the post. more»
The Dutch Internet registry SIDN has launched a unique program in partnership with CleanBits to identify what proportion of .nl domain names were hosted on a green or CO2-neutral basis. The results show a strong trend towards the 'greening' of the .nl internet zone. Nearly 30 per cent of .nl names were found to have green hosts. more»
Who would have ever believed that .XXX would finally be approved AND launched, total domains registrations would continue to grow at 10% year over year, ICANN would be in the process of preparing for the launch of new gTLDs in the face of harsh criticism, and that both Go Daddy and Group NBT would be acquired by private equity firms. As we look back over the past year, here are the top 10 biggest domain stories of 2011. more»
For email usage, abuse reporting requires cooperation between senders and receivers. That's why RFC 5965 specified a standard format for it. However, Wikipedia lists only 18 feedback providers today. It is often said that the number of legitimate mailbox providers in the world is rather small, possibly some hundreds of thousands, but certainly more than that. more»
"Breaking the Internet" is really hard to do. The network of networks is decentralized, resilient and has no Single Point Of Failure. That was the paradigm of the first few decades of Internet history, and most people involved in Internet Governance still carry that model around in their heads. Unfortunately, that is changing and changing rapidly due to misguided government intervention. more»
You should not worry too much if some of the new generic Top-Level Domain names (gTLDs) become monopolies. ICANN and the registries won't charge monopoly prices as long as they have to worry about the government stepping in. Monopolies normally present two problems for consumers: restricted output and higher prices. In the case of the new gTLDs, restricted output is caused only by ICANN's monopoly over approving gTLD applications. more»
Proposals to enhance online property protection have received a lot of attention lately. Brand managers, goods manufacturers, and content distributors strenuously argue that current law enforcement mechanisms are inadequate to meet the challenges of today's fast-paced marketplace. They specifically note that foreign-based "rogue websites" continue to distribute unlicensed products and content despite existing rules; they maintain that new legislation is needed to empower intellectual rights holders to counter such cyber-criminals more effectively. more»
Leading registry services provider Afilias today announced the results of a USA / UK survey, conducted by Vanson Bourne, on dot Brand top-level domains (TLDs). The survey found that 82 percent of major brands are aware of the opportunity to apply for a dotBrand TLD, and 54 percent of those "aware" companies intend to apply for a dot Brand TLD; that is a total of 44 percent of all companies surveyed who plan to apply. ›››
We're excited to bring a new top-level domain into the Afilias family and help grow the use of it. I also think it shows that the top-level domain business is a unique one -- and it's not one to be entered into lightly. ›››
This brings to 17 the number of top-level domains that Afilias supports, including seven generic TLDs (gTLD) operating under ICANN contracts and seven new TLDs launched since 2001. ›››
Following the application window opening today for businesses to manage and run their own top-level domain (TLD), global registry services provider Afilias is advising companies to make an informed decision as soon as possible about whether to apply for their own dot Brand domain from ICANN. ›››
Afilias, the domain name registry operations company behind .info, .mobi and 14 other Top Level Domains (TLDs), is urging brands to ensure they fully understand what the new "dot Brand" Web extensions mean for their business. dot Brands are unique TLDs that are tied to a single business. Think "drink.pepsi" instead of "pepsi.com/drink." ›››
In just 40 days -- January 12, 2012 -- a 92-day application window will open where businesses, for the first time, will be able to acquire and manage their own "dot Brand" Web extension. For example, "news.pepsi" instead of "pepsi.com/news." ›››
Afilias Limited today announced that it has launched the second phase of its education campaign to help companies, organizations and cities better understand the pros and cons of the ICANN New gTLD Program, which opens January 12, 2012. ›››
Lauren Price Sr. Product Marketing Manager, .ORG, The Public Interest Registry 10 Blogs / 5 Comments
