ICANN

ICANN Approves At-Large Framework for Latin America

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recently launched organizing of the individual Internet user community (At-Large) for increasing global participation and representation in ICANN. Under a framework approved by ICANN's Board of Directors, local and regional groups may now form in Latin America to involve their members in critical issues that effect their use of the Internet's domain name system. more

Pool.com Launches ICANN Lawsuit Against WLS

Pool.com has launched a lawsuit challenging the right of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to proceed with a monopolistic new Wait List Service (WLS) this fall.

In a Statement of Claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Pool.com states that the new "WLS proposed by ICANN and Verisign Inc. will have the immediate and total effect of ending all competition among Registrars for dropped or deleted domain names" in the rapidly developing backordering industry. Pool.com seeks a court injunction preventing ICANN from proceeding with the WLS, a declaration that ICANN's actions constitute intentional and wrongful interference with Pool.com's trade and commercial prospects, as well as significant damages.  more

ICANN Submits Seventh Annual Report

ICANN has just submitted its seventh status report under ICANN/US Government Memorandum of Understanding to United States Department of Commerce (DoC) titled: "Report by ICANN to United States Department of Commerce Re: Progress Toward Objectives of Memorandum of Understanding". The report provides a review of recent ICANN developments including... more

National Academy of Science and the Domain Name System Controversy

The National Academy of Science (NAS) has been brought into the controversy over the future development of the Internet and its domain name system, a controversy recently fueled by the creation of ICANN. The US Congress under Public Law 105-305 mandated that the NAS undertake a study of the domain name system, which is to include options for its development, and the potential impact of the various alternatives. The $800,000 expenses for the study are to be funded by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Commerce. more

Do We Need The New Top-level Domains?

After a long and exhaustive process it was finally decided by ICANN to introduce seven new top level domains in December. Well, they are not really introduced yet because the United States Government has the final word and they have not approved of them yet. Did you understand what I just wrote - the United States Government decides what names you can have on the Internet? more

DNSSEC Validation Climbs Across Africa Ahead of Root Key Rollover

ICANN reports African DNSSEC validation has reached 53%, with Ghana near 98% and Nigeria around 60%, as independent APNIC measurements broadly support the country figures ahead of October's root key rollover. more

ICANN Reports Persistent Acceptance Gaps for Internationalized Domains

ICANN reports 151 internationalized top-level domains and 4.3 million second-level registrations, but persistent Universal Acceptance gaps still prevent some applications, websites and email systems from reliably handling internationalized names. more

ICANN Confirms 1,616 Applications Will Proceed in 2026 New gTLD Round

ICANN says 1,616 applications will proceed in the 2026 new gTLD round, with Reveal Day expected by October 14 to disclose applicants, requested strings and initial contention sets. more

ICANN Commenters Urge Limits on Proposed Domain Abuse Checks

ICANN commenters broadly support proposed registrar checks of domains associated with known DNS abuse but urge evidentiary safeguards to prevent weak associations from triggering action against legitimate domains. more

ICANN Comment Period Closes on Linking gTLDs With Alternative Naming Systems

ICANN is closing consultation on technical rules for linking gTLDs with matching alternative naming systems, as commenters debate controller requirements, security safeguards, policy boundaries and protections for existing registrations. 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

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

ICANN Taps Analysys Mason for Key 2026 New gTLD Reviews

Analysys Mason will run geographic and reserved-name reviews for ICANN's 2026 new-gTLD round, applying rules that can determine whether proposed strings advance, require government support, qualify for exceptions, or face further evaluation. 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