Web-Name Expansion Should Respond to Company Concerns, U.S. Says
businessweek.com -  January 04, 2012

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) — The nonprofit group that manages the Internet’s address system should take steps to ease industry concerns about a program that may add hundreds of top-level domains beyond .com and .net, the U.S. Commerce Department said.

Once the application period for new Web suffixes closes, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers should “assess whether there is a need to phase in the introduction” of new domains, Lawrence Strickling, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, wrote in a letter yesterday to Icann Chairman Stephen Crocker.

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New .XXX Domain Name Rightly Isolates Adult Content on the Internet
policymic.com – January 02, 2012

Vatican representatives were pleased recently to learn that the domain name Vatican.xxx was banned from public purchase and incapable of being fashioned into a porn site when the internet domain extension .xxx, became available for public purchase in early December. While rumors circulated that Vatican.xxx was purchased, and not by the Vatican, the domain name is permanently blocked from sale. Once this scandal subsided, a more positive buzz emerged, highlighting the benefits of the .xxx extension.

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2011 Domain Dunce award: elephant hunting and domain names
domainnamewire.com – January 2nd, 2012

Let’s keep our Domain Dunce awards going with Bob Parsons’ elephant shooting video and the aftermath. In March, GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons posted a video of him shooting a “problem elephant” in Zimbabwe. The video went viral after someone posted it to Change.org and asked people to boycott GoDaddy.

PETA joined the party, too, transferring its domains away from GoDaddy and admonishing Parsons. There are a few things that make this whole incident interesting. First, it shows that online content can be published but needs a little kickstart to truly go viral. The year before this incident Parsons posted an elephant shooting video but it didn’t catch on. It wasn’t until a year later, a new video, and the Change.org posting that people got up in arms. A similar thing happened later in the year when GoDaddy was called out for supporting SOPA. It had been a vocal supporter of SOPA since the beginning, but it wasn’t until a poster on Reddit got involved that people started paying attention. (GoDaddy later changed its position on SOPA.)

Second, although Parsons defended his actions, he quietly made some changes to his hunting video to make it less controversial. The updated video lost the AC/DC soundtrack, deleted pictures of Parsons standing next to the dead elephant holding his gun, omitted a picture of a bunch of villagers surrounding him with Go Daddy hats, changed subtitles to emphasize their target was a bull elephant, changed subtitles to no longer reflect that Parsons was the one who did the shooting, and included added video of happy villagers butchering the elephant.

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Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter considering “nuclear option” to protest SOPA
January 3, 2012

The battle against SOPA reached fever pitch just before Christmas when a Reddit-led boycott of Go Daddy over the domain registrar’s support for the controversial legislation led to some 37,000 domains leaving the company for greener, freedom-loving pastures. Go Daddy, meanwhile, is now buried in complaints that it’s improperly blocking domain transfer requests to rival Namecheap.

With debate over SOPA’s future tabled until Congress reconvenes, you might think the issue would have entered a similar lull, but that’s not happened. According to Markham Erickson, head of the NetCoalition trade association, there’s been talk of a so-called “nuclear option,” in which the likes of Google, Amazon, eBay, and Yahoo! would go simultaneously dark to protest the legislation to highlight the fundamental danger the legislation poses to the function of the internet.

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1st Strange UDRP Decision Of The Year Holds Against TM Holder On The Domain IntercontinentalKabul.com
thedomains.com – January 3, 2012

It didn’t take long into the new year for a strange UDRP decision to be published and this time its the Trademark Holder that can complain. Inter-Continental Hotels lost a  UDRP on the domain name intercontinentalkabul.com. Even more interesting is the domain name holder didn’t even respond to the UDRP

The decision doesn’t make much sense to me but I did find the following comment by the one member panelist to be most interesting:

“”Whatever else the Respondent may be it is not a typosquatter; nor is it using the Domain Name for a portal site; nor, in the view of the Panel, is it a typical cybersquatter.”

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This Just In: CommTouch Says Internet Threats On The Rise

forbes.com – January 3, 2012

According to Commtouch‘s Internet Threats Trend January 2012 Report covering web threats, phishing, malware and spam there were a lot of malicious Facebook activities during the past year. The report investigates the three stages of Facebook attacks: Social engineering tricks, how attacks spread between friends, and how cybercriminals benefit from the attacks as seen in this infographic.

Here are some key stats from the report just to mull over that morning cup of coffee:

- Average daily phishing/spam emails sent in November and December 2011: 101 billion.

- Most popular spam topic: Pharmacy ads (31%) which is up 2% over Q3 2011.

- Country with the most zombies (also known as a bot): India (27.5%).

- Website category most likely to be compromised with malware: Parked domains

- Four ways Facebook users are tricked into liking, following or downloading an app: 1) free goods 2) sensational headlines on current news 3) must see/amazing events with call to action 4) must-have Facebook app download.

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Hello folks,
heres the weeks domaining news. Starting with a 450,00$ sale of meet.me, ICANN’s top level domain expansion program opposed and a Nominet’s annual study reveals a record number of domain name UK registrations in 2011 etc. etc..

Have a great week,

Mr B

Is It Too Late to Make Money in the Domain Business? Ask the Guys Who Just Sold Meet.me for $450,000
Nov. 10, 2011 | Ron Jackson – DNJournal

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is whether or not it is too late to make money in the domain business? Obviously, I thought the answer was “no, it’s not too late” when I entered the field in 2002 (a time when a lot of others were getting out).  Over the past decade my answer has always remained the same. Despite the amazing number of twists and turns we’ve see in this industry over the years there is no business I would rather be in than this one right now.

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Eighty-Seven Major National and International Business Associations and Companies Join with ANA, Forming the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO), to Oppose ICANN’s Top-level Domain Expansion Program
November 10, 2011 | PR Newswire Association LLC

NEW YORK, Nov. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Eighty-seven major national and international business associations and companies have joined forces with the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), forming the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO) to oppose the rollout of ICANN’s top-level domain expansion program. Among the many influential members of CRIDO are the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Society of Association Executives, the National Restaurant Association, the Intellectual Property Owners Association, the American Council of Life Insurers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).  The WFA represents a global network of 51 advertiser associations representing some 90 percent of global marketing communications spending, equivalent to $700 billion annually.

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Domain name industry study reveals record number of registrations
10 November 2011 | sourcewire.com

Nominet’s annual research shows .uk register growth outpaces gTLDs while consumer preference for .uk sites is at its highest ever

10th November 2011 – Nominet, the not-for-profit organisation responsible for .uk Internet infrastructure, will today release figures showing that .uk registrations grew by 10.5% over the past 12 months, bringing the total number of domains to 9.7 million by the end of September 2011. .uk also maintains its position as the world’s second largest country code registry after Germany’s .de. The figures are published in the latest edition of Nominet’s annual study of the domain name industry, which is formally launched at a conference of Internet professionals in London today.

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Domain Companies Show Off Their Wares at Ad-Tech
10 November 2011 | domainnamewire.com

Giant Ad-Tech conference continues today in New York City.

There are 277 exhibitors at this year’s Ad-Tech conference in New York City, and that includes some domain name companies.

The conference started Tuesday with the exhibit hall opening Wednesday morning. Afilias and its dotMobi brand will be showing off the mobile internet and .mobi domain names at booth 1950.

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QuoteBaby.com wins weekly sales chart at $89,965
10 November 2011 | domainnews.com

QuoteBaby.com domain name sold for$89,965 through Snapnames ,topped Domain Name Journal weekly sales list of reported domain names in the week to November 6,2011 .This week,there were no six-figure domain name sales. Sedo hasn’t had a great week in the sales chart,taking only five of the top 20 positions

Correspondingly,Snapnames took five of the top ten positions and eight of the top twenty positions.

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Yahoo wins MyYahooNews.com domain name in arbitration
11 November 2011 | domainnews.com

An arbitrator with the National Arbitration Forum awarded the domain name MyYahooNews.com to Yahoo .The company submitted a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum on September 26, 2011,asserting legal rights over the disputed domain name .

Yahoo owns many trademark registrations for the “Yahoo” mark.Therefore,it is more than obvious that the domain name is confusingly similar to its trademark.Moreover,Yahoo contended that the respondent registered and used the disputed domain name in bad faith :

“Complainant contends that Respondent’s website attempts to pass itself off as the WorldSID website and purports to provide a log-in page in an effort to collect Internet users’ information. “

“Complainant also contends that Respondent registered the domain name in bad faith with actual knowledge of Complainant’s rights in the YAHOO! mark because the mark is internationally famous and registered in the U.S. and elsewhere.”

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Hey folks,
here we are again a few of the stories doing the rounds on the domaining scene. Apple stamping down on the use of Iphone related domain names used for porn sites, Domaining.com blocked by firefox etc, launch of the dot-Bharat name in Hindi for the large numbers of non English speaking indians and more.

Hope you guys all have a great weekend!

Cheers,
Mr B

Apple Files Complaint Against iPhone Porn Sites for Domain Name

The leading tech corporation filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization on Thursday after discovering that several porn operators were using their iPhone brand as their domain names, Domain Name Wire reported.

Following the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the Cupertino-based company listed seven iPhone-related domains that it hopes to gain control of, which currently forwarded to x-rated sites.

Those include: iphonecamforce.com, iphonecam4s.com, iphoneporn4s.com, iphonesex4s.com, iphonexxxforce.com, iphone4s.com, porn4iphones.com.

Apple has purportedly fallen behind on registering domain names before the release of their products. They did not gain control of their iPhone4.com domain until July 2011, nearly one year after the release of the phone on June 24, 2010. The domain name now forwards to the company’s actual iPhone pages.

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Would Domaining.com Have Been Seized Or Cancelled Today By VeriSign If The Proposed Policy Was In Effect

Ever since Kevin Murphy broke the news on TheRegister.co.uk, that VeriSign is asking for take down powers without court orders, the domain blog world has been a buzz with posts about the proposed policy. Verisign wants the power to “be able to enforce the “denial, cancellation or transfer of any registration” where a domain is deemed to be “abusive”.

Included in the laundry list of reasons for taking down a domain or even cancelling the registration is: “(e) to respond to or protect against any form of malware (defined to include, without limitation, malicious code or software that might affect the operation of the Internet).”

At the same time this story broke, most domainers are aware that the blog aggregator domaining.com was been reported as a “bad actor” by all of the browsers and blocked.According to Francois who owns and operates domaining.com, it has been a victim of an attack “of an SQL injection attack originating from multiple Chineses IPs”.

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Domain start-up Winged Media gets $3 million Carnegie Innovation ...‎

“Domaining has increased its momentum throughout 2011, with activity levels outperforming the NASDAQ during key periods.”

Winged Media, a domain name trading start-up, has pulled off a $3 million investment deal with the Carnegie Innovation Fund, for a minority stake in the business, said to be “less than 10%.”

The deal, which values the business at more than $30 million, is the first of its kind in a tech company by the Carnegie venture capital firm, which was founded by Mark Carnegie last year. It manages around $200 million in committed capital across various funds.

Winged Media, which was launched in December 2009, will use the investment to expand its presence in the US. Currently, it has 23 members of staff in Australia, with a further two in a new office in Santa Monica, California. The business focuses on a range of services in the digital media, online advertising and online publishing. Its core business, however, is a professional domain trading service. It buys domain names, builds websites and then sells them on for a profit.

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Hindi domain name to bridge digital divide

India is preparing to launch the dot-Bharat domain name in Hindi in May with the aim of bridging the digital divide in the country

New Delhi: India is preparing to launch the dot-Bharat domain name in Hindi in May with the aim of bridging the digital divide in the country. The move will enable organizations and individuals to register their website addresses in Hindi—and later more local languages—making them more accessible to a large proportion of Indians who aren’t familiar with English.

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but guess what… MOST OF THESE ARE NOW PARKED!!!

Cheers,

Mr B

This week; EU domains registrations surprise,  Rock’n’ Roll Tea Party, gTLDs wider implications for brand owners and PETA to Launch Porn Site with .XXX . Read on for all this and more of this weeks stories on the net.

84% of .eu domains are registered by registrars based in the EU,says report
Sep 21 2011 – Domain News

“An overwhelming 84% of .eu domain names are registered by registrars based in the European Union, according to analysis done by the .eu registry, EURid.

66% of holders register their .eu domain names with a registrar based in the same EU country, while 18% register their .eu domain names with a registrar based in another EU country. This trend is seen for the second year running and is consistent with EURid’s 2010 research.

“We believe most people prefer to use a local .eu accredited registrar because if they ever need support they can get it in their language,” says Marc Van Wesemael, EURid’s General Manager. “A local registrar will also operate in the same time zone, which is another advantage.”
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No politics… just rock & roll
By Morgan Campbell – Published On Tue Sep 20 2011

The Tea Party, a Toronto-based rock band whose web site occupies the domain ( www.teaparty.com) hotly coveted by the ultra conservative wing of the Republican party that has been making the Tea Party name famous in the U.S. since shortly after president Barack Obama was elected in 2008.

As the run-up to the 2012 U.S. election begins in earnest the value of that domain name figures to skyrocket, with some estimates pegging its value at $1 million or more.

Stewart says that’s great money if the Tea Party can get it, though he’s still not convinced the rock band can.

“There are a lot of large numbers (rumoured) because they see a domain name someone might be interested in,” he said. “I wonder if it’s much ado about nothing.”
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Are the new Top Level Domains really any use to travel brands?
By Special Nodes – September 21, 2011

The proposed .brand domains are the most controversial of a glut of new gTLDs (global Top Level Domains),being released by ICANN, the international body that in 2004 allowed us to register .eu, .asia, .mobi and .travel domains.

The latest plan for .brand gTLDs has wider implications for brand owners than anything previously considered. In practice they will allow brands to ‘own’ and manage private internets. The unintended consequences of this approach are simply mind-boggling; some say it marks the beginning of the privitisation of the internet.

With a few exceptions brand owners are not keen. The US Association of National Advertisers (ANA) claims the plan “is likely to cause irreparable harm and damage” and has not ruled out legal action to force ICANN to abandon its plans.

ANA’s stance is backed by many more trade bodies representing the majority of the largest brands on the planet.

Speak to a domain name registrar and you’ll find that some of the same brands are talking to them about their gTLD strategies. This should not be taken as affirmation, just that some brand owners are prudently preparing to defend their intellectual property rights, if they must.

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PETA to Launch Porn Site with .XXX Domain
By Damon Poeter – September 19, 2011 09:20pm EST

At least they wouldn’t have to change the acronym, right? But animal-rights activist group PETA is apparently willing to run the risk of being dubbed “Pornographers for the Ethical Treatment of Animals” with a plan to launch a porn website “in the name of animal rights.”

PETA has filed paperwork to register the site under the new .xxx domain. Limited registration for .xxx domains began earlier this month and the domain itself is scheduled to go live in December.

Registration for a .xxx domain runs through Oct. 28 and comes in two tracks, Sunrise A for those in the adult entertainment business; and Sunrise B is for those outside the industry who might not want to have their businesses associated with a porn-focused domain.

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Investing In Quality Brandable Domain Names
By Mark Fulton / dotsauce.com

I’m usually touting the benefits of keyword domain names in many articles. In this post I’d like to analyze another common domain name type, brandables. A brandable domain is often thought of as a short, made-up word such as Google or Twitter, however this isn’t always the norm. There are different types of brandable domains, even those that do use keywords, so let’s dive in and see what they are all about.

First, a quick word on why a quality brand is important. A recent study shared by eConsultancy found that just 3% of traffic to eCommerce websites comes from social media, while a staggering 46% comes from brand familiarity. Your domain is your brand.

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