Domain Names

What’s My Name Got to Do With It?

For about 3 years I had been studying graphic design and finally after much searching decided to use bmw-design.com for my domain name. I chose bmw for my initials Bernadette Maria Walker. I searched for availability on Network Solutions and was happy to see that it had not been taken, so I registered my new domain name. This all seemed very innocent to me and I even designed my logo around this name. Then 5 days later I got this letter via FedEx from BMW Motor Company in Germany... more

Governance Theater: Why the gTLD Expansion Program Is a Lose-Lose Proposition

ICANN's gTLD expansion program is structured to collect fees regardless of outcomes, leaving brand, portfolio and single-string applicants bearing financial risk while accountability mechanisms offer little meaningful remedy when the process fails. more

A Domain Is Registered. But Is It Really Unavailable?

RFC 10023 standardizes a DNS TXT record that lets domain holders signal a registered name is for sale, giving registrars, marketplaces, brokers and search tools a machine-readable way to distinguish registration from purchase availability. more

How CZDS Zone Data Helps Detect Domain Abuse

Daily CZDS zone data can help brand owners and investigators detect suspicious domain registrations earlier, trace related infrastructure, monitor expired names, and shift enforcement from reactive disputes toward faster, evidence-based intervention. more

Two Years After His Arrest, Pavel Durov Wants to Run His Own Registry

Telegram says it has applied for .gram, potentially giving a billion users DNS addresses while putting its governance, abuse controls, legal exposure and infrastructure under scrutiny as ICANN prepares to reveal applications. more

auDA Moves to Tighten .com.au and .net.au Eligibility: What the Coming Changes Mean for Registrants

auDA has approved in principle tighter .com.au and .net.au eligibility rules that would limit registrations to domains matching a registrant's business name or Australian trademark, with implementation details and timing still pending. more

Project Jake: A New Model for Domain Registration Data Disclosure

Project Jake proposes a voluntary, group-based framework for domain registration data disclosure, giving registrars and registries control over access while establishing standardized agreements, requester validation and sensitivity levels to balance privacy with legitimate data needs. more

How Domain Abuse, Social Media, and AI Fuel Brand Attacks

CISOs expect social media impersonation to become their leading cybersecurity threat as attackers increasingly combine AI-enabled deception, executive impersonation, and domain abuse across multiple channels to conduct fraud and steal sensitive information. more

The Reporting Gap: What Happens Between a DNS Abuse Complaint and a Takedown

DNS abuse enforcement can stop abusive domains and drive systemic registrar reforms, but reporting barriers, inconsistent response times, and poorly documented complaints leave many phishing sites active before actionable cases ever reach enforcement. more

ICANN Sets Guidelines to Advance Universal Acceptance of Internationalized Domains and Email

ICANN's new Universal Acceptance guidelines target persistent interoperability gaps that prevent internationalized domain names and email addresses from working reliably across browsers, identity systems, applications and other Internet infrastructure. more

15th Registration Operations Workshop, September 29, 2026, 13:00 - 17:00 UTC

The 15th Registration Operations Workshop convenes domain name and DNS professionals September 29 for technical sessions on mTLS, RPKI, DNS resilience, delegations, DNSSEC, registrar concentration, dispute proceedings and alternative naming systems. more

Thirty-Five Years Later, Moscow Comes Looking for the Soviet Union’s Domain

Russia is imposing state identity verification on .su, the Soviet Union's surviving domain, as researchers uncover criminal infrastructure across the namespace and ICANN pursues a retirement process that could eventually remove it from the global root. more

ICANN Terminates Two Registrars as DNS Abuse and Compliance Failures Escalate

ICANN has terminated two registrar accreditation agreements after unresolved compliance failures, citing Trustname's handling of DNS abuse and IPIP's failures involving RDAP, registration data escrow, accreditation fees, and access to non-public registration data. more

ICANN to Shut Down Open Data Platform and API September 1

ICANN will retire its Open Data Platform and API on September 1, shifting datasets to downloadable CSV files and forcing researchers, registries and domain-industry organizations to update automated workflows that rely on programmatic data access. more

After the Close: What the 2026 gTLD Round Has Already Revealed

ICANN's 2026 gTLD round drew more than 1,600 applications, led by ambitious portfolio investors. But scant brand disclosures and new rules banning private settlements could make contention costlier and reshape the economics of domain ownership. more