The best and most knowledgeable experts of dot Brand met in the Brands and Domains conference, on October 2 and 3 in the Hague, Netherlands. Brand and project owners were also present, coming from all around the world -- from Australia or Japan to the USA and Canada. The keynote by Georges-Edouard Dias, CEO of Quantstreams and founder of the concept of brand hospitality, explained how customers are not anymore the targets of brands. more
In a joint letter sent to ICANN on Monday, a group of non-profit organizations has opposed the removal of price caps in the .org Registry Agreement. more
Michele Neylon writes: "Earlier this morning ICANN made public the resolutions from the most recent board meeting of November 5th 2010. The meeting was not a "normal" meeting - it was deemed a "special meeting" and its sole topic was vertical integration and cross-ownership between registrars and registries. This topic, often simply referred to as VI, has been a subject of debate - often very heated - for the last 12 months." more
On Monday, June 21, ICANN convenes in Brussels, hosting its "Welcome Ceremony" for attendees. In advance of the session, the agenda for the Board meeting on Friday, June 25 has been released. As is the fashion, it lists significant issues without being too specific or tipping the Board's hand. It also allows for matters that arise organically during the week of the meeting to (possibly) be heard. more
The new gTLDs won't survive unless registries learn simulation techniques, the only way to understand how sales drivers interact. Some of the new gTLDs have done dismally. Registry critics, including insiders, blame high registration prices, limited supply, and restrictions on usage, competition, and marketing messages. But these drivers connect with each other. You can't talk about prices without talking about price-setting mechanisms and the number of registrations. more
According to a new report, the number of domain names increased by 24 million globally in 2008 increasing the total to 177 million domain name registrations across all of the Top Level Domains (TLDs). This represents 16% growth over the previous year, reports the latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign. It is also noted that the last quarter of 2008 saw more than 10.1 million new domain names registered across all TLDs. This reflects a slower growth in new registrations with a decline of 12% from the third quarter 2008 and 17% from the same quarter in the previous year. more
Accurate registration data is essential for the global registry system. To ensure that the RIPE Registry's data is correct, up-to-date and accurate, the RIPE NCC regularly checks the Registry data to fix inconsistencies and outdated information. We recently evaluated and analysed all IP address ranges registered in the RIPE Database and were pleased to find that 96.09% of those records are considered accurate. more
A recent study commissioned by ICANN reveals despite introduction and growth of new gTLDs, .COM and other legacy TLDs have remained steady and rising. more
I recently learned about a meeting that took place between ICANN staff and Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) members Kathy Kleiman and Konstantinos Komaitis regarding the Implementation Recommendations Team (IRT) recommendations for the protection of intellectual property rights in new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). My comment relates to the White Paper published by Ms. Kleiman and Mr. Komaitis with respect to the notion of having multiple Regional Trademark clearinghouses (TMCs). For the reasons stated in this comment, the KK Proposal fails a number of the benchmarking checklists used by the IRT in evaluating proposals. more
I've been incredibly lucky in my time at Neustar to lead both the exceptional Registry and Security teams. While these divisions handle their own unique product and service offerings, it's clear that they have some obvious crossovers in their risks, opportunities and challenges. Having been closely involved in the strategy of both these teams, it strikes me that there is more we as Registry Operators and service providers can and should be doing to align the world of cybersecurity with that of domain names. more
Earlier this month, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) held its 51st public meeting in Los Angeles. Once again, MarkMonitor joined stakeholders from across the globe to discuss issues ranging from government control over the Internet, to key lessons learned thus far from the new gTLD rollout. This coming year promises to be a big one for ICANN, and for the business and brand community as a result. more
The Registration Operations Workshop (ROW) was conceived as an informal industry conference that would provide a forum for discussion of the technical aspects of registration operations in the domain name system and IP addressing. The 11th ROW will be held online on Tuesday, June 21st, 2022 at 13h00 -- 16h00 UTC. The discussion topics will be... more
In a post today, Public Interest Registry (PIR), the not-for-profit operator of the .org, .ngo and .ong domains, has announced a Request for Information for the management of its back-end registry services. Afilias which has been the technical provider for PIR since it was established by ISOC following the successful ISOC/Afilias strategic partnership in the bid for .ORG in 2002, says it has been expecting an RFP since the last contract was signed and that it remains committed to its continued work with the organization. more
Eight years ago, we made the decision to apply for ".gay" with encouragement from Clyde, my gay brother-in-law, among other passionate members of my family. Although we lost him recently, his memory has only increased our determination to see it through. I know Clyde would be proud of our vision for .gay, and all of the planning and community engagement that has gone into making sure we get this right. more
It was with great interest that I read a recent announcement about a plan by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to publish template answers on a wiki for the 22 questions relating to registry technical operations contained within ICANN's new Top-Level Domain Applicant Guidebook. As someone who has spent the best part of six years following the development of the program (witnessing first-hand each evolution of the Applicant Guidebook) my first thought was one of bemusement... more
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