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Multiple new gTLD applicant Famous Four Media is having a very good week. "FFM", the name that they now use for the company to be acknowledged, is getting closer to an important period of its development: the General Availability, also known as "GA", for three of its domain name extension. Added to this, another announcement was made to make it known. more
At the start of my term as New TLD Applicant Group (NTAG) Chair, I wrote about the importance of the 50th ICANN meeting for applicants. The meeting is significant, not only as a milestone for ICANN, but also because it marks two years since ICANN began processing new gTLD applications. Two years in, the program is at an inflection point. The final initial evaluation result was published two weeks ago and the first ICANN auction will take place this week. more
Antony Van Couvering, CEO of Minds + Machines, continues his series of in-depth talks with leading figures from the domain name industry with this video interview of Elliot Noss, CEO of Tucows, filmed recently at ICANN 49 in Singapore. more
The talk ranges from new gTLD introductions, the role of ccTLDs in the new landscape, the relationships between registries and registrars, and some predictions for the future. more
The Shimkus Amendment to the $601 billion National Defense Authorization Act (HR 4435) passed the House of Representatives on May 22nd by a mostly partisan vote of 245–177. While all 228 Republicans present and voting supported the amendment only 17 Democrats voted "aye", with 177 in opposition. Final passage on the entire bill was a bipartisan vote of 325–98. The Senate has not yet passed its version of a FY 2015 Pentagon funding bill, and once it does all the differences between the two versions must be reconciled before it can be sent to President Obama for his signature. more
ICANN has a choice: it can promote the arts or destroy their common identity. ".ART " can become an authentic Internet address for the arts and represent its community. We are on the cusp of an extraordinary opportunity with the simple use of a single word: a virtual place within the Internet for the arts and a virtual palace to the arts built site-by-site by millions of artists and art institutions each with an individualized artistic contribution gathered around the simple namespace of ".ART." more
Universal acceptance of top level domains hasn't really meant much to most Internet users up until now. As long as .COM was basically the default TLD, there wasn't much of an issue. No longer. With 263 delegated strings (according to ICANN's May 12, 2014 statistics) adding to the existing 22 gTLDs that were already live on the net after the 2004 round of Internet namespace expansion, the problem of universal acceptance gets very real. more
Love them or hate them, auctions are an unavoidable reality of the new Top-Level Domain (TLD) Program. By their very nature, they create winners and losers. All that is in doubt is where the money goes -- to the losing parties under a private auction model or to ICANN under their auction of last resort. There are pros and cons for both models. But what if there was another way? more
DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA) received an Injunction it requested in its IRP Proceedings in an arbitration process against ICANN ('DCA Trust vs. ICANN') governed by the International Dispute Resolution Procedures of the ICDR based in New York and the Supplementary Procedures for ICANN IRP Process. more
Will .BRAND Top-Level Domains be made available for registration at Registrars like GoDaddy, just like second level domains are? My guess is that it will and here are the reasons why... Applying for a new domain name extension, for a new gTLD, is not so simple because you are required to submit a complete application to ICANN and this does not happen that often, it's happened once only and was called "the First Round" (of the ICANN new gTLD program). more
Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced the start of the first “sunrise” phase of the roll-out of the .nyc web address, beginning a five-month countdown towards the full-scale public launch in October 2014. Through .nyc, the city plans to generate revenue, help residents take advantage of government services, encourage local businesses to thrive, market and promote tourism, and spread the dynamic image of New York City around the world. more
Recent comments on the name collisions issue in the new gTLD program raise a question about the differences between established and new gTLDs with respect to name collisions, and whether they're on an even playing field with one another. Verisign's latest public comments on ICANN's "Mitigating the Risk of DNS Namespace Collisions" Phase One Report, in answering the question, suggest that the playing field the industry should be concerned about is actually in a different place. The following points are excerpted from the comments submitted April 21. more
When it comes to Internet addresses in China, use of digits have been preferred over letters for various reasons including ease of memorization. Christopher Beam from New Republic explains. more
I was pretty much suprised not to see any application for .SCOUT in round 1 of the ICANN new gTLD program. There were two applications for .GUIDE but a guide is a guide and a scout...is a scout. I remember going to meetings and introducing the potential of .SCOUT. Basically, what is say on my personal website: "I look forward to organize a team around one major Community project for round 2. more
Michael Ouma reporting in AllAfrica: Even after ICANN recently moved a step closer to controversially delegate the dotAfrica domain to South Africa's ZA Central Registry NPC - which is supported by the African Union (AU) - last month, another storm has erupted... Sophia Bekele had been invited to Addis Ababa by the ITU's Regional Office for Africa to deliver a speech during this year's "Girls in ICT" day event held on Thursday April 24 at the AU headquarters but later blocked due to disputes with the organization. more