ICANN

The TLD Fight Is On: 1,615 Applications, and One Question Nobody Is Asking

ICANN's 2026 new gTLD round attracted 1,615 applications, with competition concentrated on contested extensions. Strong registration growth contrasts with weak renewal rates, raising questions about long-term demand and commercial viability.

From Apps to Agents: How the 2026 New gTLD Strings Mirror a Changed Internet

ICANN's 2026 new gTLD applications reveal a shift toward AI agents, developer infrastructure and digital trust, with .agent replacing .app as the most contested string amid growing competition and persistent geographic disparities.

Big Brands, Bold Moves: The 2026 dotBrand Wave

ICANN's 2026 new gTLD round attracted 333 dotBrand applications, representing 20.6% of submissions. Participation across major industries reflects growing interest in controlling branded namespaces and strengthening enterprise digital identity.

The Case for Longitudinal DNSSEC Data

Repeated DNSSEC failures show the limits of snapshot diagnostics. A longitudinal record of signed delegations could reveal persistent misconfigurations, rollover problems and correlated failures, helping operators identify recurring patterns and their likely sources.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Caribbean-Born Niel Harper Joins ICANN Board, Sets Out Priorities in Q&A

Barbados-born cybersecurity specialist Niel Harper joins ICANN's board in October, aiming to strengthen Latin American and Caribbean participation, improve DNS security and abuse mitigation, and expand developing-economy access to the next gTLD round.

ICANN Accountability Without gTLD Remedies Is Just Documentation

Past gTLD disputes show applicants can win ICANN accountability rulings without obtaining the contested string, raising a critical question for 2026 applicants about whether expanded review mechanisms can deliver meaningful remedies.