An IDN ccTLD criticized as βuselessβ by locals when it was approved five years ago has fewer domains today than it did at launch, and a portfolio of web sites even a Simpson could count on one hand (twice). The Greek-script .Ξ΅Ο (.xn--qxa6a) is one of two internationalized domain name versions of the European Unionβs [β¦]
The post After five years, βuselessβ TLD has two web sites first appeared on Domain Incite.
Verisign has agreed to take down abusive .com domains under the next version of its registry contract with ICANN. The proposed deal, published for public comment yesterday, could have financial implications for the entire domain industry, but it also contains a range of changes covering the technical management of .com. Key among them is the [β¦]
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Verisign will retain its power to increase .com prices by 7% a year, and prices in other gTLDs could well go up too, under a new proposed registry contract designed to help patch up ICANNβs budget. The proposed .com Registry Agreement was posted for public comment this evening, and the pricing terms within could have [β¦]
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Domain investors may shoulder additional risk when they register domains in the relaunching .ad TLD, judging by the registryβs new cybersquatting policy. Andorra Telecom, which will make .ad names generally available globally October 22, has signed up with WIPO to implement an adapted version of the UDRP that is a lot less friendly to domainers. [β¦]
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Amazonβs Early Access Periods for the new .now and .deal gTLDs have so far netted at least three premium-priced sales. Zone files reveal that so far .now has three new EAP domains but .deal has none. The .now domains are, perhaps predictably, porn.now and news.now, which were both registered via Gandi, and free.now, which was [β¦]
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The Neustar spin-off that once operated the .co TLD reportedly has lost a case against the Colombian government in which it had sought $350 million in damages over the acrimonious renewal of its registry contract. According to local reports, the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, part of the World Bank, last week [β¦]
The post Former .co registry defeated in $350 million contract fix case first appeared on Domain Incite.
It had to happen sooner or later. With a few dozen would-be new gTLD applicants breaking cover over the last year or so, we seem to have our first clash and our first potential 2026-round contention set. The sought-after contested gTLD is .chain, which now has two announced hopefuls after blockchain-based alternative naming system Freename.io [β¦]
The post Is this the first Next Round new gTLD contention battle? first appeared on Domain Incite.
SK-NIC, part of Team Internet, says it plans to auction off all 36 single-character .sk domains over the coming months. The auction plans also include releasing all the 200-odd two-letter domains that match existing ccTLDs, as well as .com.sk and .net.sk, which have all been registry-reserved to date. The registry said it plans to hold [β¦]
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One of the outstanding contested gTLDs from the 2012 application round looks set to be delegated finally, after the winning bidder signed its Registry Agreement with ICANN. Merck Registry Holdings Inc is now the officially contracted registry for .merck, and it appears the intent is to be a dot-brand jointly controlled by two unaffiliated chemical [β¦]
The post Straggler gTLD signs first ICANN contract for years first appeared on Domain Incite.
GoDaddy seems set to get a renewed and relaxed .xxx registry contract, after ICANN dismissed the concerns of critics of the deal. In a much-delayed analysis of submissions to a recent public comment period, Org indicated that it is in favor of GoDaddy, via subsidiary ICM Registry, migrating to a Registry Agreement much more in [β¦]
The post GoDaddy likely to win relaxed .xxx deal first appeared on Domain Incite.
Australian ccTLD overseer auDA has appointed industry veteran Bruce Tonkin to CEO. Itβs an internal promotion; Tonkin has been chief operating officer at auDA since 2018. Heβs replacing Rosemary Sinclair, who intends to leave at the end of the year. Tonkin was formerly chief strategy officer of Melbourne IT, one of the very first batch [β¦]
The post Tonkin promoted to CEO at auDA first appeared on Domain Incite.
Malaysiaβs .my ccTLD has so far failed to attract the hoped-for thousands of new registrations since it relaunched to a global audience a few months ago, according to registry statistics. MYNIC puts the total number of .my domains, including third-levels under the likes of .com.my and .biz.my, at 313,588 at the end of August, barely [β¦]
The post .my global relaunch starts slowly despite cheapo prices first appeared on Domain Incite.
Itβs probably a bad idea to let a critical infrastructure domain expire, even if you donβt use it any more, as Identity Digital seems to be discovering this week. White-hat hackers at WatchTowr today published research showing how they managed to undermine SSL security in the entire .mobi TLD, by registering an expired domain previously [β¦]
The post Hackers break .mobi after Whois domain expires first appeared on Domain Incite.
The Chinese ccTLD .cn shrunk by over half a million domains in the first half of the year, according to the latest semiannual report from the local registry. There were 19,562,007 registered .cn names at the end of June, down from 20,125,764 at the end of 2023, a decline of 563,757 domains, according to the [β¦]
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Microsoft has moved two of its branded gTLDs from GoDaddyβs registry back-end to Nominetβs. Records show that .skype and .office both recently made the switch. Microsoft had already moved six TLDs β .azure, .bing, .hotmail, .microsoft, .windows and .xbox β from Verisign to Nominet about a year ago, and .skype and .office mean its whole [β¦]
The post Microsoft switches two gTLDs from GoDaddy to Nominet first appeared on Domain Incite.
ICANN has narrowed down the expected application fee for the next round of new gTLDs, and while itβs towards the lower end of previous guidelines, itβs still much higher than in 2012. The bog-standard base application fee is now expected to be $220,000, according to a draft document circulated by ICANN. Thatβs up on the [β¦]
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Four dot-brand gTLDs have recently changed their back-end providers, according to the latest records, three moving away from Verisign. US insurance company American Family Insurance has moved its .americanfamily and .amfam from Verisign to GoDaddy, as has AARP, a US interest group representing retired people, with .aarp. Aquarelle.com Group, a French flower delivery company, has [β¦]
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TΓΌrkiyeβs ccTLD has seen a massive spike in registrations, experiencing instant growth of about 8%, at the end of its year-long second-level liberalization process. The .tr space had 1,187,324 domains at the end of yesterday, according to stats published by government-run registry Trabis, up about 91,000 on the previous day. Thatβs more that four timeβs [β¦]
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ICANN is set to terminate the registry contracts for five new gTLDs run by an apparent deadbeat registry. Asia Green IT Systemβs agreements for .pars, .shia, .tci, .nowruz and .ΩΩ Ψ±Ψ§Ω (.xn--mgbt3dhd) have all been βEscalated to Termination Processβ following a July breach notice, according to ICANNβs web site. The first stage of the termination is [β¦]
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