Domain Names

Vertical Integration: A View from the Bottom Up

An interesting thing happened on the way to ICANN's new Affirmation of Commitments. ICANN staff has consistently recommended a reversal of its longstanding policy that prohibits a registry from acting as a registrar in its own top level domain ("TLD"). We see two good reasons why this anti-consumer proposal is unacceptable.

.ORG, The Public Interest Registry Releases Its First Ever Domain Name Report, “The Dashboard”

.ORG, The Public Interest Registry announces today the release of their first bi-annual domain name report, "The Dashboard." Among other industry data, report reveals registrations for .ORG grew 11%, up to 7.69 million total registrations in the first half of 2009, compared to a year ago.

Registry/Registrar Vertical Integration: The Registrant Pays the Check

In a joint document, Afilias, NeuStar, and PIR discuss the salient issues facing the ICANN Board regarding a proposal for registry/registrar vertical integration in the newTLD round. The paper identifies some of the risks associated with the ICANN Staff proposal while at the same time proposing a path forward that does not jeopardize any further delay in the new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) launch process.

AusRegistry International Selected as Registry Services Provider for .qa - Qatar’s Top Level Domain

AusRegistry International, a leading provider of Domain Name Registry Solutions for Top Level Domains (TLDs), has entered into a contract with the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) to provide Domain Name Registry Software and consulting services for establishing a new administrative body to manage the .qa country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD).

Neustar Opens .BIZ to Rare Two-Character Domain Names

Going forward, Neustar is opening its global .BIZ registry to two-character domain names (e.g., NY.biz, MY.biz, I.biz). Because of the highly coveted, unique status of these domain names, Neustar has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) inviting potential .BIZ registrants to submit proposals explaining how they would use and promote a particular two-character domain name.

Afilias Seeks New TLD Partners

Afilias, a global provider of Internet infrastructure services and domain name registry technology, today announced that it is seeking to partner with a select number of organizations that wish to apply to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for a new top-level domain (TLD).

Afilias Joins Chinese Domain Name Consortium Highlighting Importance of Chinese Domain Market, IDN

Afilias, a global provider of Internet infrastructure services, today announced that it has joined the Chinese Domain Name Consortium (CDNC). Afilias will work with the CDNC to coordinate and collaborate with other registries to reach Chinese language Internet users with Internationalized Domain Name technology.

Afilias to Provide Technology Powering the .eco New TLD

Today Afilias, a leading provider of Internet infrastructure services, announced that is has been selected by Big Room Inc. as the registry services provider for its application to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for a new .eco domain during the upcoming new top-level domain (new TLD) application process.

AusRegistry International Announces Implementation of Industry-Leading IDN Registry System

The introduction of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) represents one of the most significant advancements in the history of the internet. A majority of internet users today have a first language other than English and many languages utilise characters not currently available within the DNS. IDNs provide these users with the capability to navigate the internet using their native language scripts.

.ORG First Open Top-Level Domain to be Signed with DNSSEC

Today, .ORG, The Public Interest Registry, the company behind the .ORG domain name, is the first open generic Top-Level Domain to successfully sign the .ORG zone file with Domain Name Security Extensions (DNSSEC). To date, the .ORG zone is the largest domain registry to implement the security measure.