According to a report released today by Nominet, UK's domain name registry, 77% of British consumers prefer to use a .uk rather than a .com when searching for information on the Internet. The report also indicates that despite the current economic climate, the global domain name industry has seen an 8% growth with 187.6 million domain names registered worldwide. "Generic top level domains (gTLDs), such as .org and .com, have grown on average by 6% whilst the country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) including .uk and .de (the German registry) fared slightly better and together generated a 10% average growth in registrations," says Nominet. more
Yahoo recently become the latest company to join Twitter, Facebook and Google for promising to alert users suspected of being spied on by state-sponsored actors. However UK ministers want to make it a criminal offence for tech firms to warn users of requests for access to their communication data made by security organizations. more
Efforts to combat online piracy are pushing courts to weaponise the Internet's naming system. Turning DNS operators into enforcement agents may deliver quick takedowns, but risks collateral damage, jurisdictional conflict and long-term fragmentation of the Internet. more
ICANN is seeking a global background screening service provider in order to conduct a "thorough and timely" background check on all new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) applicants. The Request for Proposal recently issued by ICANN aims at background screening focused on general business diligence, criminal history, and cybersquatting behavior. more
Kieren McCarthy reporting in the Register: "Plans to create a new internet governance body have grown increasingly desperate... and confusing. A conference call between the organizers of the 'NetMundial Initiative' and business organization the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) earlier this week saw ICANN's CEO Fadi Chehade pleading with the group to withdraw their rejection of the program and join its 'coordination council'" more
Development of Firefox OS will soon cease completely and by the end of May, company has announced, it will pull all staff and resources completely away from Firefox OS. "The circumstances of multiple established operating systems and app ecosystems meant that we were playing catch-up, and the conditions were not there for Mozilla to win on commercial smartphones," according to a statement from Mozilla developer George Roter. more
A story published today in the Guardian warns that the US government's plan to give up control of ICANN may create the web's answer to Fifa. more
The Internet Society is seeking nominations for its 2026 Board of Trustees. Four seats are open across its global stakeholder communities, offering an opportunity to help steer the future of a trusted, open Internet. more
Our hope for an intuitive and trusted .nyc TLD took a hit today when 20 domain names were sold to 10 bidders in city's first high-bid auction. While the city refers to these as "premium" names, we think of them as heritage names. With our city-TLD's success predicated on its utility and predictability, this first of perhaps 25 auctions bodes poorly on its chances. More on that in a bit, but first some details on the auction. more
A Chinese official on Friday called on the United Nations to impose an international code of conduct on the Internet. "It is highly necessary and pressing for the international community to jointly bring about an international code of conduct on cyberspace at an early date," said Wang Qun.. more
It's been a busy week for the Internet. More famous for its golden beaches, Bali recently hosted the eighth Internet Governance Forum which delivered waves of constructive discussion and debate. Over the past few days, the Internet governance community has exchanged best practices and debated a wide range of key topics that will continue to pose questions for policy as the Internet evolves... more
A study was recently conducted by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) to find out where the potential answers to the cybersecurity skills shortage amongst technology-savvy millennials and post-millennials in the US. more
ICANN conducted Phase 2 of its Global Consumer Research Survey to determine consumer response to domain names, both legacy and new gTLDs. The ICANN commissioned survey conducted by Nielsen included 5,452 consumers ages 18+ in 24 countries and was conducted in 18 languages. This research was aimed at measuring several variables like TLD awareness, consumers' interaction with sites on classic and new TLDs and their trust in them. more
Four of the top ten registrars in the world are not part of the nTLD, says AFNIC in a report released this month. More agile challengers are taking advantage of this situation. "Over and above these methodological considerations, one certain conclusion is that the cards are being reshuffled between the stakeholders. 'Challengers' are arriving thanks to nTLDs, while some incumbents seem slower in taking advantage of these new, still-emerging markets with their 2 million registered domain names compared with a world total of 276 million." more
ICANN has launched a micro-site to serve as the online source for New Generic Top-Level Domain (New gTLDs) Program. From ICANN's announcement: "ICANN is in the midst of a major campaign to raise awareness around the world about the impact and possibilities of new gTLDs. The new site represents a foundational expression of the campaign. Many more new articles, tools, and materials will be made available in the coming days and weeks." more