By : Mike Nardine
Mexico is finally allowing unlimited registration of its TLD (Top Level Domain) extension, .Mx. While registration of third level domains like .Com.Mx had been allowed, registration of the primary (second level) domain extension had been severely limited to certain Mexican entities. And the third level domains, priced at $250.00 for a minimum of two years, must have been beyond the reach of most Mexicans.
This has brought about some interesting results: for example, registration of .De, the official TLD of Germany is about Ten million; on the other hand, Nic Mexico, the administrator for Mexico’s .Mx had allowed the registration of less than 300,000 domains since its inception twenty years ago; Germany has 82 million people, while Mexico’s population approaches 110 million, 27 million of whom reputedly use the Internet. If the desire of Mexicans for their own extension is anything like Germany’s it looks like there could be some explosive growth coming in .MX. The registrar giant Godaddy appears to think so: they recently announced an expansion of their services to Mexico and Spanish speaking customers on a scale not seen for any other ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain).
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HEXONET: Introducing the ccTLD of Austria dot AT
08/25/2009 11:21 pm by rbirkner
Allow HEXONET to provide you with some more detailed information on our ccTLDs offerings through a series of ccTLD Postings.
Some basic facts about NIC.AT:
•Anyone worldwide can register an .AT domain, there are no restrictions
•Official registry behind .AT is NIC.AT
•Extensions that are open for registration: .AT, .co.AT & .or.AT
•Min. / Max. length of a .AT Domain: 3 – 63 characters
•IDN Capable: YES
Some stats on .AT Registrations:
•Total .AT registrations from last count were 868,480 .AT Domains
•833,545 registered .AT Domains
•28,227 registered .co.AT Domains
•6,708 registered .or.AT Domains
Distribution of Registrants by country:
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More@ HEXONET
Allow HEXONET to provide you with some more detailed information on our ccTLDs offerings through a series of ccTLD Postings.
Some basic facts about NIC.AT:
•Anyone worldwide can register an .AT domain, there are no restrictions
•Official registry behind .AT is NIC.AT
•Extensions that are open for registration: .AT, .co.AT & .or.AT
•Min. / Max. length of a .AT Domain: 3 – 63 characters
•IDN Capable: YES
Some stats on .AT Registrations:
•Total .AT registrations from last count were 868,480 .AT Domains
•833,545 registered .AT Domains
•28,227 registered .co.AT Domains
•6,708 registered .or.AT Domains
Distribution of Registrants by country:
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More@ HEXONET
The Domains: Registration for MeetDomainers 2009 in Poland is now open! Partial Auction List Announced
by MHB
.The Second annual “MeetDomainers” show, a “Truly European Meeting of Domain Investors”, will be held at Warsaw Marriott Hotel, September 25-27.
MeetDomainers is an international meeting of people who love to do business and love domain names. It is dedicated to entrepreneurs and domain investors who want to share their knowledge and experience with each other.
English-Polish & Polish-English simultaneous translation will be provided at the Meeting.
“This meeting will be a great networking opportunity and a chance to learn from the best authorities in the field of domain name law, domain name monetization, advertising, affiliation, web development, SEO and more! You will be able to meet lots of Polish domainers and company owners as well as specialists and entrepreneurs from other European countries” - says Daniel Dryzek - organizer of MeetDomainers.
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More@ The Domains
.The Second annual “MeetDomainers” show, a “Truly European Meeting of Domain Investors”, will be held at Warsaw Marriott Hotel, September 25-27.
MeetDomainers is an international meeting of people who love to do business and love domain names. It is dedicated to entrepreneurs and domain investors who want to share their knowledge and experience with each other.
English-Polish & Polish-English simultaneous translation will be provided at the Meeting.
“This meeting will be a great networking opportunity and a chance to learn from the best authorities in the field of domain name law, domain name monetization, advertising, affiliation, web development, SEO and more! You will be able to meet lots of Polish domainers and company owners as well as specialists and entrepreneurs from other European countries” - says Daniel Dryzek - organizer of MeetDomainers.
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More@ The Domains
DomainNews.com: .EU Registrations Continue to Grow, Although Financial Crisis Impacts
Friday, 28 August 2009
Latest statistics from EURid, the .EU registry, show the total number of .EU domain names registered briefly passed, and then slipped below the three million mark. .EU is the ninth largest TLD and fifth largest ccTLD.
The three-millionth .EU domain name was registered on 11 January, 2009 while at the end of the first quarter 2009 there were 7.3 per cent, or 206,884 more .EU domain names registered when compared with the total at the end of the first quarter of 2008.
However today there were 2,976,134 .EU domain names registered, which follows a bumper month for registrations in July when 66,129 new .EU names were registered. This is a 12-month high in new registrations and a rise of 15 per cent when compared to July 2008.
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Latest statistics from EURid, the .EU registry, show the total number of .EU domain names registered briefly passed, and then slipped below the three million mark. .EU is the ninth largest TLD and fifth largest ccTLD.
The three-millionth .EU domain name was registered on 11 January, 2009 while at the end of the first quarter 2009 there were 7.3 per cent, or 206,884 more .EU domain names registered when compared with the total at the end of the first quarter of 2008.
However today there were 2,976,134 .EU domain names registered, which follows a bumper month for registrations in July when 66,129 new .EU names were registered. This is a 12-month high in new registrations and a rise of 15 per cent when compared to July 2008.
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ITWorld Canada: Chinese domain names to flood Internet
By: Owen Fletcher - IDG News Service (Beijing Bureau)(NA) (26 Aug 2009)
China expects domain names that end in Chinese characters to be mainstream in two years. The government recently deployed Internet domain names written in Chinese
China has pushed ahead with deploying Internet domain names written in Chinese as it urges action to standardize their use globally.
More than 300 million people in China now use the Internet, which puts it on pace to have the largest number of Internet users in the world this year.
Earlier statistics released by industry groups show an increase in global disputes over Web domain names.
China has solved most of the technical problems raised by Chinese-language domain names and is in the process of deploying them, said Zhang Jian, director of the international business department at the country's domain registration agency, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), in an interview Wednesday.
Within two years, the agency expects all mainstream Web sites in the country will have domain names that end in the two Chinese characters for "China," rather than the .cn top-level domain. It also expects those domain names to become the most widely visited by Chinese Internet users.
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More@ ITWorld Canada
China expects domain names that end in Chinese characters to be mainstream in two years. The government recently deployed Internet domain names written in Chinese
China has pushed ahead with deploying Internet domain names written in Chinese as it urges action to standardize their use globally.
More than 300 million people in China now use the Internet, which puts it on pace to have the largest number of Internet users in the world this year.
Earlier statistics released by industry groups show an increase in global disputes over Web domain names.
China has solved most of the technical problems raised by Chinese-language domain names and is in the process of deploying them, said Zhang Jian, director of the international business department at the country's domain registration agency, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), in an interview Wednesday.
Within two years, the agency expects all mainstream Web sites in the country will have domain names that end in the two Chinese characters for "China," rather than the .cn top-level domain. It also expects those domain names to become the most widely visited by Chinese Internet users.
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More@ ITWorld Canada
Ecommerce Journal: Internet and e-commerce in Austria
August 19, 2009 - 12:00pm | author: kara deniz
Today, we are to talk about one of the Central European countries Austria, bordering Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The country’s capital, Vienna, is one of the most wonderful cities in the world. The country has developed a high standard of living, and in 2008 was ranked 14th in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the EU in 1995, and is a founder of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the European currency in 1999. We are to consider the Internet and e-commerce infrastructure in Austria to find what stage of development the country is currently on.
As for the broadband market, Internet access is typically represented by DSL and cable, with DSL sector, which rapidly overtook cable as the preferred access method, dominating on the market. There are 37 internet service providers in Austria. The leading cable ISP is UPC Austria, offering cable access under the Chello brand and also DSL access as Inode. The other main cable ISPs are Tele2, and Kabelsignal offering cable services in the area south of Vienna.
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Today, we are to talk about one of the Central European countries Austria, bordering Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The country’s capital, Vienna, is one of the most wonderful cities in the world. The country has developed a high standard of living, and in 2008 was ranked 14th in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the EU in 1995, and is a founder of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the European currency in 1999. We are to consider the Internet and e-commerce infrastructure in Austria to find what stage of development the country is currently on.
As for the broadband market, Internet access is typically represented by DSL and cable, with DSL sector, which rapidly overtook cable as the preferred access method, dominating on the market. There are 37 internet service providers in Austria. The leading cable ISP is UPC Austria, offering cable access under the Chello brand and also DSL access as Inode. The other main cable ISPs are Tele2, and Kabelsignal offering cable services in the area south of Vienna.
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More@ Ecommerce Journal
DomainPulse.com: 13 Million .DE Domain Names Registered
August 19th, 2009 by David Goldstein
.DE, the country code Top Level domain (ccTLD) for Germany, passed the 13 million registration milestone on 18 August cementing its position for now as the ccTLD with the most registrations worldwide.
.CN (China) has been on a downward trend recently, possibly in part due to registration promotions over one year ago, has slipped back under the 13 million mark back into second position as we reported earlier this week.
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More @ DomainPulse.com
.DE, the country code Top Level domain (ccTLD) for Germany, passed the 13 million registration milestone on 18 August cementing its position for now as the ccTLD with the most registrations worldwide.
.CN (China) has been on a downward trend recently, possibly in part due to registration promotions over one year ago, has slipped back under the 13 million mark back into second position as we reported earlier this week.
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More @ DomainPulse.com
Services For The . Net: Dot NU Web Name TLD What A Price For A Countrywide Identity?
By Services For The . Net | Aug 16, 2009
The tiny Polynesian island nation of Niue is beginning to think it’s been had. Frankly, it’s clear they didn’t do their research before they did their deal.
Ironically, it seems the buyer hadn’t really done his, either. Anyone who has been inundated by advertisements for ‘global domains’ can easily understand that it’s a escalating business. The specter of purchasing a domain at a much better price than the more common ‘dot com’ or ‘dot net’ or ‘dot org’ is most attractive to most would-be entrepeneurs on restricted budgets. This niche’s market leader is most likely Global Domains International (GDI), which has no doubt put Western Samoa on the mental map of many a cybernaut. The key element in that deal is that the Western Samoan government granted the rights to GDI in return for a royalty for every domain sold.
Niue’s name is derived from the local language’s phrase for, “Look, a coconut!” It seems they should have used theirs more thoroughly before signing a domain deal with Bill Semich in 1998.
An American businessman whose former station was editor for a computer magazine, Semich recognized the potential value in the marketability of rare domains. Apparently finding the ‘nu’ extension an eye-catching letter arrangement, he signed a contract with the Niue government that gave him the exclusive rights to it.
It wasn’t a one-way deal. Semich assured free wireless access for all 2000 of Niue’s populace and he delivered, finishing the system of an island-wide set-up of translator towers in 2003. The country’s leaders surely felt they had provided their population with a service for the new century which would positively ensconce their place in island history.
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More@ Services For The . Net
The tiny Polynesian island nation of Niue is beginning to think it’s been had. Frankly, it’s clear they didn’t do their research before they did their deal.
Ironically, it seems the buyer hadn’t really done his, either. Anyone who has been inundated by advertisements for ‘global domains’ can easily understand that it’s a escalating business. The specter of purchasing a domain at a much better price than the more common ‘dot com’ or ‘dot net’ or ‘dot org’ is most attractive to most would-be entrepeneurs on restricted budgets. This niche’s market leader is most likely Global Domains International (GDI), which has no doubt put Western Samoa on the mental map of many a cybernaut. The key element in that deal is that the Western Samoan government granted the rights to GDI in return for a royalty for every domain sold.
Niue’s name is derived from the local language’s phrase for, “Look, a coconut!” It seems they should have used theirs more thoroughly before signing a domain deal with Bill Semich in 1998.
An American businessman whose former station was editor for a computer magazine, Semich recognized the potential value in the marketability of rare domains. Apparently finding the ‘nu’ extension an eye-catching letter arrangement, he signed a contract with the Niue government that gave him the exclusive rights to it.
It wasn’t a one-way deal. Semich assured free wireless access for all 2000 of Niue’s populace and he delivered, finishing the system of an island-wide set-up of translator towers in 2003. The country’s leaders surely felt they had provided their population with a service for the new century which would positively ensconce their place in island history.
(...)
More@ Services For The . Net
PitchEngine: Innovative .dj domain website offers unique domain name opportunity
.
08.14.2009 – Domain names are one of the most important elements of an online business. Choosing a relevant domain name can provide a form of brand which can be recognised instantly and help the website to prosper. Although there are several styles of top level domains such as the .com and .co.uk extensions, one which has become popular within the music and dj market is the domain extension .dj. With this in mind a leading domain name registration website offers a unique dj domain offering to disc jockeys which is proving to be very popular, the website is www.dj-domains.dj
This innovative website offers the ability to secure a dj domain name. This means that the domain name chosen will have the ending .dj instead of .com or .co.uk. Unlike many other generic top level domains, this one highlights the fact that the individual is a disc jockey simply by the reference to the .dj domain extension.
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More@ PitchEngine
08.14.2009 – Domain names are one of the most important elements of an online business. Choosing a relevant domain name can provide a form of brand which can be recognised instantly and help the website to prosper. Although there are several styles of top level domains such as the .com and .co.uk extensions, one which has become popular within the music and dj market is the domain extension .dj. With this in mind a leading domain name registration website offers a unique dj domain offering to disc jockeys which is proving to be very popular, the website is www.dj-domains.dj
This innovative website offers the ability to secure a dj domain name. This means that the domain name chosen will have the ending .dj instead of .com or .co.uk. Unlike many other generic top level domains, this one highlights the fact that the individual is a disc jockey simply by the reference to the .dj domain extension.
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More@ PitchEngine
Global by Design: The Branding of Country Codes: A list of “countryless” ccTLDs
Posted on August 16th, 2009 by John Yunker
A country code top-level-domains (ccTLD) has traditionally been used to signify a country-specific web site or resource, or simply to tell users where a given organization is located. For example, Russia’s leading search engine, Yandex, is hosted at www.yandex.ru and The Holy See hosts its site at www.vatican.va (.va = Vatican City).
Then along came the the marketing of .TV.
This ccTLD, owned by the island nation of Tuvalu, was licensed and packaged as the ultimate domain for any media property. And though the domain hasn’t exactly become as popular as .COM, a precedent had been set — ccTLDs weren’t just for country-specific properties anymore.
Then along came Delicio.us, a company that cleverly embedded the United States ccTLD into its brand name.
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More@ Global by Design
A country code top-level-domains (ccTLD) has traditionally been used to signify a country-specific web site or resource, or simply to tell users where a given organization is located. For example, Russia’s leading search engine, Yandex, is hosted at www.yandex.ru and The Holy See hosts its site at www.vatican.va (.va = Vatican City).
Then along came the the marketing of .TV.
This ccTLD, owned by the island nation of Tuvalu, was licensed and packaged as the ultimate domain for any media property. And though the domain hasn’t exactly become as popular as .COM, a precedent had been set — ccTLDs weren’t just for country-specific properties anymore.
Then along came Delicio.us, a company that cleverly embedded the United States ccTLD into its brand name.
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More@ Global by Design
Ecommerce Journal: Internet and e-commerce industry in Hong Kong
August 3, 2009 - 12:00pm | author: Petrony
The name of the country we are to talk about today is translated to English as "fragrant harbour". This romantic name originally described a small inlet (Little Hong Kong today) between the island of Ap Lei Chau and the south side of the island which later became known as Hong Kong. Officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a largely self-governing territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south. Today, Hong Kong is a global metropolitan and international financial centre, with a highly developed capitalist economy. We are to find what stage of ICT progress and e-commerce development the country is currently at.
Internet market in Hong Kong has been growing impetuously over the last several years. In the beginning of 2001, Hong Kong led the world broadband market, having the highest in the world growth rate for household broadband penetration. The boom was reflected by almost 5 million subscribers by 2005, or to be exact 4,878,713, that made up over 70% of the population that doubled the digits of 2000 data with 2,283,000 people connected, or 34% (internetworldstats.com). Nevertheless, the take up of broadband services got off to a slow start as only at the beginning there any serious embracing of the services offerings took place. As for the current data, year 2008 revealed almost the same with 2005 penetration rate.
As for the Internet Service Providers, the great number of them appeared in early 2000s as a big jump in issuing licenses was followed in 2000. So, by the year 2005 about 188 ISPs were accounted.
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The name of the country we are to talk about today is translated to English as "fragrant harbour". This romantic name originally described a small inlet (Little Hong Kong today) between the island of Ap Lei Chau and the south side of the island which later became known as Hong Kong. Officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is a largely self-governing territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south. Today, Hong Kong is a global metropolitan and international financial centre, with a highly developed capitalist economy. We are to find what stage of ICT progress and e-commerce development the country is currently at.
Internet market in Hong Kong has been growing impetuously over the last several years. In the beginning of 2001, Hong Kong led the world broadband market, having the highest in the world growth rate for household broadband penetration. The boom was reflected by almost 5 million subscribers by 2005, or to be exact 4,878,713, that made up over 70% of the population that doubled the digits of 2000 data with 2,283,000 people connected, or 34% (internetworldstats.com). Nevertheless, the take up of broadband services got off to a slow start as only at the beginning there any serious embracing of the services offerings took place. As for the current data, year 2008 revealed almost the same with 2005 penetration rate.
As for the Internet Service Providers, the great number of them appeared in early 2000s as a big jump in issuing licenses was followed in 2000. So, by the year 2005 about 188 ISPs were accounted.
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More@ Ecommerce Journal
KyleWilliams.com: .us ccTLD Domain Research
I have been curious how well the .us ccTLD has been growing, so I decided to do some research of my own. For most domains, it is easy to go to Google, type site:.com, and see approximately how many pages Google has indexed on the .com gTLD. However, this isn’t as simple with .us. The problem is, there are millions of pages indexed for each of the official state.us domains, and I did not want this data included in the end result. So I decided to start archiving my own data, by doing manual site: searches for each state, and subtracting that data from the total number of .us pages. This includes removing data from US territories, and the fed.us pages.
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More @ KyleWilliams.com
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DomainPulse.com: .DE Regains Number One ccTLD Ranking From .CN
August 16th, 2009 by David Goldstein
With .CN (China)’s official statistics for domain name registrations on a downward spiral, according to figures provided by CNNIC, .DE (Germany) has regained its position as the ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) registry with the most registrations.
Registrations for .CN have declined from an end-of-month peak of 14,082,553 in February 2009 to 12,545,589, a decline of approximately 1.5 million, as of the end of July. This appears to be a correction following a promotion where .CN domain names could be registered for one yuan for the twelve month period to December 31, 2008. With registrations coming up for renewal, many registrants may have decided not to renew their domain names.
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More @ DomainPulse.com
With .CN (China)’s official statistics for domain name registrations on a downward spiral, according to figures provided by CNNIC, .DE (Germany) has regained its position as the ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) registry with the most registrations.
Registrations for .CN have declined from an end-of-month peak of 14,082,553 in February 2009 to 12,545,589, a decline of approximately 1.5 million, as of the end of July. This appears to be a correction following a promotion where .CN domain names could be registered for one yuan for the twelve month period to December 31, 2008. With registrations coming up for renewal, many registrants may have decided not to renew their domain names.
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More @ DomainPulse.com
Ecommerce Journal: Internet and e-commerce industry in Venezuela
August 17, 2009 - 12:00pm | author: kara deniz
Venezuela is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America, that represents a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea. Venezuela is considered to be one of the most urbanized countries in Latin America; the majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the capital Caracas which is also one of the largest cities along with Maracaibo, Valencia, Maracay, Barquisimeto and Ciudad Guayana. Today we are to find what the country’s broadband market and e-commerce infrastructure like.
As for the Internet penetration in Venezuela, it’s considerably lower than average for Latin America. Thus, according to the worldstats.com data related to the second quarter of 2008 Venezuela accounted 5,900,000 Internet subscribers occupying the sixth position far behind Brazil with 50,000,000 users taking the first place, Argentina with 16,000,000 and Colombia with 13,700,000, taking second and third places, respectively. Fourth and fifth place are taken by Peru and Chile, having the penetration levels that are slightly higher than Venezuela’s one.
As for the Internet usage growth, for the period of 2000-20008 it made up 607.7%, but anyway, it’s still lower than in other developed countries and made up just 25,5 % with 6,723,616 subscribers. Thus, for example, in 2000 it was just 950,000 users or only 4.1% of the population; by 2005 their number grew to 3,040,000, or 12.2 %.
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Venezuela is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America, that represents a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea. Venezuela is considered to be one of the most urbanized countries in Latin America; the majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, especially in the capital Caracas which is also one of the largest cities along with Maracaibo, Valencia, Maracay, Barquisimeto and Ciudad Guayana. Today we are to find what the country’s broadband market and e-commerce infrastructure like.
As for the Internet penetration in Venezuela, it’s considerably lower than average for Latin America. Thus, according to the worldstats.com data related to the second quarter of 2008 Venezuela accounted 5,900,000 Internet subscribers occupying the sixth position far behind Brazil with 50,000,000 users taking the first place, Argentina with 16,000,000 and Colombia with 13,700,000, taking second and third places, respectively. Fourth and fifth place are taken by Peru and Chile, having the penetration levels that are slightly higher than Venezuela’s one.
As for the Internet usage growth, for the period of 2000-20008 it made up 607.7%, but anyway, it’s still lower than in other developed countries and made up just 25,5 % with 6,723,616 subscribers. Thus, for example, in 2000 it was just 950,000 users or only 4.1% of the population; by 2005 their number grew to 3,040,000, or 12.2 %.
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DomainNews.com: DNS.PT automates the domain registration on the .PT
[news release] DNS.PT is on the second phase of implementation of the Registry-Registrar Protocol which aims to expedite the registration of domains .PT by FCCN registrars agents, following the specifications of the EPP protocol (Extensible Provisioning Protocol).
The EPP protocol is an international standard that uses XML and contains commands of session control, search and modification of content.
The whole process of registering and managing domains is automated with a direct interaction between information systems of the registrars agents and FCCN (responsible for Portugal country code domain).
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The EPP protocol is an international standard that uses XML and contains commands of session control, search and modification of content.
The whole process of registering and managing domains is automated with a direct interaction between information systems of the registrars agents and FCCN (responsible for Portugal country code domain).
(...)
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Domain Superstar: Domain Name Statistics
by Joel Ohman
I certainly do not agree with everything that this article says in regards to choosing domain names but I did find some great domain name statistics mentioned. You can check out the full article by clicking here but here are some of my favorite pieces of domain name information that Preeti Pradhan of Smashing Magazine put together:
1. All 3 letter possibilities are gone on .com
2. All 4 letter words are depleted on .com
3. The most popular registered domain name length is 11 characters
4. There are 255,000+ domain names that are 32 characters or longer
5. All of the top 10,000 family names are registered as a domain name
6. The most common letter to start a domain with is S
7. More than 270,000 domains contain the sequence SEX
Top ccTLD Registries by Domain Name Base, 1st Quarter 2009
1. .cn (China)
More@ Domain Superstar
I certainly do not agree with everything that this article says in regards to choosing domain names but I did find some great domain name statistics mentioned. You can check out the full article by clicking here but here are some of my favorite pieces of domain name information that Preeti Pradhan of Smashing Magazine put together:
1. All 3 letter possibilities are gone on .com
2. All 4 letter words are depleted on .com
3. The most popular registered domain name length is 11 characters
4. There are 255,000+ domain names that are 32 characters or longer
5. All of the top 10,000 family names are registered as a domain name
6. The most common letter to start a domain with is S
7. More than 270,000 domains contain the sequence SEX
Top ccTLD Registries by Domain Name Base, 1st Quarter 2009
1. .cn (China)
More@ Domain Superstar
DomainNews.com: Change of Guard at InternetNZ
Monday, 03 August 2009
The recent election for president of InternetNZ (Internet Society of New Zealand), the body that oversees the .NZ domain name space, saw Frank March elected as the new president.
The previous president, Peter Macaulay, stood down prior to the election having served in the post from 2007 to 2009. Previously Macaulay held the Executive Director role from 2003 to 2005 and then as a served as a Councillor from 2005 to 2007.
There will be another changing of the guard at InternetNZ as Keith Davidson stepped down from his position as Executive Director when his contract expired at the 2009 AGM. He has agreed to continue working for InternetNZ in a part time contractor’s role with a focus on technical and international representation.
Newly-elected President Frank March says Macaulay’s contribution to InternetNZ has been invaluable, and thanks him for his efforts.
“Pete has been an instrumental part of InternetNZ's growth. He has worked for many years at the crux of developments in the Internet in New Zealand and, as President, led InternetNZ through a challenging period of structural change."
During Macaulay’s tenure as President the InternetNZ Group achieved charitable status and InternetNZ also formalised its relationship with ICANN – the global body responsible for managing the global assignment of domain names and IP addresses.
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The recent election for president of InternetNZ (Internet Society of New Zealand), the body that oversees the .NZ domain name space, saw Frank March elected as the new president.
The previous president, Peter Macaulay, stood down prior to the election having served in the post from 2007 to 2009. Previously Macaulay held the Executive Director role from 2003 to 2005 and then as a served as a Councillor from 2005 to 2007.
There will be another changing of the guard at InternetNZ as Keith Davidson stepped down from his position as Executive Director when his contract expired at the 2009 AGM. He has agreed to continue working for InternetNZ in a part time contractor’s role with a focus on technical and international representation.
Newly-elected President Frank March says Macaulay’s contribution to InternetNZ has been invaluable, and thanks him for his efforts.
“Pete has been an instrumental part of InternetNZ's growth. He has worked for many years at the crux of developments in the Internet in New Zealand and, as President, led InternetNZ through a challenging period of structural change."
During Macaulay’s tenure as President the InternetNZ Group achieved charitable status and InternetNZ also formalised its relationship with ICANN – the global body responsible for managing the global assignment of domain names and IP addresses.
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IBLS: INTERNET LAW - Registration Of “.cn” Domain Names In China
Alain Megias, IBLS
The registration of China Internet Domain Names (“CIDN”) under “.cn,” the two letter top level code for China, is conducted pursuant to the China Internet Domain Name Regulations promulgated on September 2002 by the Ministry of Information Industry (the “CIDN Regulations.”) There also exists a Dispute Resolution Policy regarding CIDN, issued by China Internet Network Information Center (“CNNIC”) (“the Dispute Resolution Policy.”)
The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry is responsible for the administration of the Internet domain names in China. Its major functions and responsibility include:
•Formulating the regulations and policies concerning the administration of the Internet domain names;
•Establishing the system for Top Level Domain (ccTLD) under “.cn” and Chinese domain names;
•Administering the registry of “.cn” and the Chinese domain names;
•Administering the operational institution of domain name root servers (i.e.: the servers that bear the function of root nodes in the domain name system), which sets up and operates the domain names root servers within the territory of the People’s Republic of China;
•Supervising and administering the service of domain name registration;
•Being in charge of the international coordination regarding to domain names.
On September 2002, the Ministry of Information Industry formulated the CIDN Regulations, which describe the registration process to be followed in order to register a CIDN in China.
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The registration of China Internet Domain Names (“CIDN”) under “.cn,” the two letter top level code for China, is conducted pursuant to the China Internet Domain Name Regulations promulgated on September 2002 by the Ministry of Information Industry (the “CIDN Regulations.”) There also exists a Dispute Resolution Policy regarding CIDN, issued by China Internet Network Information Center (“CNNIC”) (“the Dispute Resolution Policy.”)
The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry is responsible for the administration of the Internet domain names in China. Its major functions and responsibility include:
•Formulating the regulations and policies concerning the administration of the Internet domain names;
•Establishing the system for Top Level Domain (ccTLD) under “.cn” and Chinese domain names;
•Administering the registry of “.cn” and the Chinese domain names;
•Administering the operational institution of domain name root servers (i.e.: the servers that bear the function of root nodes in the domain name system), which sets up and operates the domain names root servers within the territory of the People’s Republic of China;
•Supervising and administering the service of domain name registration;
•Being in charge of the international coordination regarding to domain names.
On September 2002, the Ministry of Information Industry formulated the CIDN Regulations, which describe the registration process to be followed in order to register a CIDN in China.
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The Star Online: Special offer on .my domain names
Published: Monday August 3, 2009 MYT 3:36:00 PM
KUALA LUMPUR: Register a .my domain name or renew a current one and you’ll get a 50% reduction on the fee. For renewals, the discount is applicable for a renewal period of one-year.
.my Domain Registry — the sole registrar and administrator for web addresses that end with .my in Malaysia — is running a promotional campaign.
Its fees now range between RM32 and RM120, depending on the type of .my domain name.
The campaign, which ends Sept 4, is offered in conjunction with the National ICT Month 2009 and the upcoming Aug 31 Merdeka Day celebration of Malaysia’s indepenence.
A .my domain name endows Malaysian businesses and individuals with brand identity on the Internet.
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More@ The Star Online
KUALA LUMPUR: Register a .my domain name or renew a current one and you’ll get a 50% reduction on the fee. For renewals, the discount is applicable for a renewal period of one-year.
.my Domain Registry — the sole registrar and administrator for web addresses that end with .my in Malaysia — is running a promotional campaign.
Its fees now range between RM32 and RM120, depending on the type of .my domain name.
The campaign, which ends Sept 4, is offered in conjunction with the National ICT Month 2009 and the upcoming Aug 31 Merdeka Day celebration of Malaysia’s indepenence.
A .my domain name endows Malaysian businesses and individuals with brand identity on the Internet.
(...)
More@ The Star Online
The Domains: Fraudulent Use Of Country Code Domains
2009 August 2
by MHB
As you know the most used country code domains, have grown exponentially, as users people in those countries are looking for information and to deal with products in their own country.
However a story in the Telegraph.co.uk highlight the a new problem of using country codes to trick people into thinking they are buying from a “local” business.
According to the story, up to 480,000 sites, representing approximately 6% of all .co.uk domains, which sell goods (rather than informational sites) are based outside the UK, but carry the co.uk domain name. Many of these sites are based in China but use co.uk as part of their domain name, fooling shoppers into thinking the company is UK-based.
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More@ The Domains
by MHB
As you know the most used country code domains, have grown exponentially, as users people in those countries are looking for information and to deal with products in their own country.
However a story in the Telegraph.co.uk highlight the a new problem of using country codes to trick people into thinking they are buying from a “local” business.
According to the story, up to 480,000 sites, representing approximately 6% of all .co.uk domains, which sell goods (rather than informational sites) are based outside the UK, but carry the co.uk domain name. Many of these sites are based in China but use co.uk as part of their domain name, fooling shoppers into thinking the company is UK-based.
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More@ The Domains
RobbieBirkner.info: .ME continues down the road of success
July 30, 2009
On July 16th 2009, .ME celebrated their first anniversary from “go live”. .ME, simply an amazing success story of a Top-Level-Domain. In just 1 year a ccTLD has nearly 300,000 Domains under management - speechless … How many TLDs worldwide can share a similar success story? How many of the highly anticipated new TLDs will be sharing a similar or same success story? Probably not too many …
The popularity and continued growth of .ME is a testament to the work of the Registry and the value of .ME as a truly personal TLD.
Some more interesting information about .ME:
•Top Five Countries: (Distribution by Registrant)
•United States
•United Kingdom
•Germany
•Canada
•Montenegro
Additional Facts:
•79% of all registered .ME Domains are active websites
•Over 560 .ME Domains in the top 1 Million ALEXA Ratings
•Already 6 .ME Domains in the top 10,000 with ALEXA
•Google has already indexed more than 8.3 Million .ME Pages
Organizations verse Individual Registrations:
•59% Organizations - Businesses are truly adopting .ME as well!
•41% Individuals
(...)
More@ RobbieBirkner.info
On July 16th 2009, .ME celebrated their first anniversary from “go live”. .ME, simply an amazing success story of a Top-Level-Domain. In just 1 year a ccTLD has nearly 300,000 Domains under management - speechless … How many TLDs worldwide can share a similar success story? How many of the highly anticipated new TLDs will be sharing a similar or same success story? Probably not too many …
The popularity and continued growth of .ME is a testament to the work of the Registry and the value of .ME as a truly personal TLD.
Some more interesting information about .ME:
•Top Five Countries: (Distribution by Registrant)
•United States
•United Kingdom
•Germany
•Canada
•Montenegro
Additional Facts:
•79% of all registered .ME Domains are active websites
•Over 560 .ME Domains in the top 1 Million ALEXA Ratings
•Already 6 .ME Domains in the top 10,000 with ALEXA
•Google has already indexed more than 8.3 Million .ME Pages
Organizations verse Individual Registrations:
•59% Organizations - Businesses are truly adopting .ME as well!
•41% Individuals
(...)
More@ RobbieBirkner.info
The Domains: Technical Problems Postpone The .CM LandRush
2009 July 31
by MHB
.The .cm domain name registry announced, today, that the landrush (first come, first served), domain registration for .cm domain names, originally due at 00:00 UTC tomorrow, has been postponed due to technical problems.
“”Unrelated to the widely reported cable fault affecting Internet access in West Africa at present, the .cm registry have cited technical difficulties with their root name servers. The .cm registry have currently postponed the launch until further notice, although it’s anticipated to be re-scheduled to 00:00 UTC on Tuesday 4th August 2009.”"
The .cm registry posted on its site:
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More@ The Domains
by MHB
.The .cm domain name registry announced, today, that the landrush (first come, first served), domain registration for .cm domain names, originally due at 00:00 UTC tomorrow, has been postponed due to technical problems.
“”Unrelated to the widely reported cable fault affecting Internet access in West Africa at present, the .cm registry have cited technical difficulties with their root name servers. The .cm registry have currently postponed the launch until further notice, although it’s anticipated to be re-scheduled to 00:00 UTC on Tuesday 4th August 2009.”"
The .cm registry posted on its site:
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More@ The Domains
Domain.com: What is a Top-Level Domain, Anyway?
July 31, 2009
You may have heard of the term top-level domain, often referred to as TLD, when talking about domain registration. The top-level domain is the .com or other extension that follows your individual domain. They fall into two categories – generic TLDs and country-specific TLDs. Currently there are just over 20 generic top-level domains (the most notable being .com, .net, .org, .gov, .edu, .biz) plus top-level domains for most countries.
What’s in a Domain Name?
A domain is broken into several parts, but it can be simplified to a great degree. Historically when talking about a website, you’d specify www.domain.com when telling someone your web address. However, with most web browsers are now improved to the point where if you simply type “domain.com” the website will resolve without a problem. Everything to the left of the TLD in a domain name is technically a subdomain. The “domain” in www.domain.com is a subdomain of the .com TLD, and the “www” is a subdomain of domain.com.
The domain name system in general can be a little confusing, but it’s much better than having to type in the IP address that the domain name represents. You’d end up typing 216.34.94.184 into your address bar to get to Domain.com without the domain name system. If you’re curious about more domain name system details, the Wikipedia page is a good place to start.
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More@ Domain.com
You may have heard of the term top-level domain, often referred to as TLD, when talking about domain registration. The top-level domain is the .com or other extension that follows your individual domain. They fall into two categories – generic TLDs and country-specific TLDs. Currently there are just over 20 generic top-level domains (the most notable being .com, .net, .org, .gov, .edu, .biz) plus top-level domains for most countries.
What’s in a Domain Name?
A domain is broken into several parts, but it can be simplified to a great degree. Historically when talking about a website, you’d specify www.domain.com when telling someone your web address. However, with most web browsers are now improved to the point where if you simply type “domain.com” the website will resolve without a problem. Everything to the left of the TLD in a domain name is technically a subdomain. The “domain” in www.domain.com is a subdomain of the .com TLD, and the “www” is a subdomain of domain.com.
The domain name system in general can be a little confusing, but it’s much better than having to type in the IP address that the domain name represents. You’d end up typing 216.34.94.184 into your address bar to get to Domain.com without the domain name system. If you’re curious about more domain name system details, the Wikipedia page is a good place to start.
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More@ Domain.com
Ecommerce Journal: Internet and e-commerce industry in Ecuador
July 30, 2009 - 1:14pm | author: ayny
Ecuador is a democratic republic in South America, bordered on Colombia to the north, on Peru to the east and south, and on the Pacific Ocean to the west. Ecuador is one of the only two countries in South America (the other one is Chile) that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Ecuador’s greatest national export is represented by crude oil. Fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. Industry is largely oriented on servicing the domestic market, with some exports to the Andean Common market. Thus, we are talking today about the other strand of country’s economy that is also important in the modern progressive word: broadband and e-commerce infrastructure.
Internet market in Ecuador is currently in the process of a rash development; however, the country’s broadband market level is still lower than in majority of the counties. Thus, amid the countries of Latin America Ecuador occupies the 7th position with 1.1% of the market share, while Brazil gets 50%, Argentina has 16% and Colombia 13.7, taking first, second and third places respectively, thus Ecuador's broadband indicators lag considerably behind those Latin American countries.
Concerning Internet penetration in Ecuador, the growth for the period of 2000-2008 is considerably high, almost 880%. But, actually, penetration level crept higher from 1.5%, 180.000 users, to 8%, or 1,109,967 users, in the beginning of 2008 and jumped to 12.3% level by the end of 2008, with 1,759,500 people connected to the web (according to internetworldstat.com data). So, Internet market growth in the country is obvious.
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More@ Ecommerce Journal
Ecuador is a democratic republic in South America, bordered on Colombia to the north, on Peru to the east and south, and on the Pacific Ocean to the west. Ecuador is one of the only two countries in South America (the other one is Chile) that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Ecuador’s greatest national export is represented by crude oil. Fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. Industry is largely oriented on servicing the domestic market, with some exports to the Andean Common market. Thus, we are talking today about the other strand of country’s economy that is also important in the modern progressive word: broadband and e-commerce infrastructure.
Internet market in Ecuador is currently in the process of a rash development; however, the country’s broadband market level is still lower than in majority of the counties. Thus, amid the countries of Latin America Ecuador occupies the 7th position with 1.1% of the market share, while Brazil gets 50%, Argentina has 16% and Colombia 13.7, taking first, second and third places respectively, thus Ecuador's broadband indicators lag considerably behind those Latin American countries.
Concerning Internet penetration in Ecuador, the growth for the period of 2000-2008 is considerably high, almost 880%. But, actually, penetration level crept higher from 1.5%, 180.000 users, to 8%, or 1,109,967 users, in the beginning of 2008 and jumped to 12.3% level by the end of 2008, with 1,759,500 people connected to the web (according to internetworldstat.com data). So, Internet market growth in the country is obvious.
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More@ Ecommerce Journal
BizCommunity: Domain names registration: SA doing well
By: Issa Sikiti da Silva
When it comes to the issue of registering domain names South Africa is doing well, with some 60% of the continent's total of registered domain names. The rest of Africa, more than 50 countries, shares the continent's other 40% of about a million top level domains.
There are currently 107.9 million registrations of generic top level domains (gTLDs) in the world, and some 74.1 million of country codes top level domains (ccTLDs), Vika Mpisane, GM of .za DNA (.za Domain Name Authority), announced yesterday, Wednesday 29 July 2009, at a media workshop on domain names held in Rivonia, Johannesburg.
Africa, however, only accounts for fewer than 1 million of ccTLDs, while South Africa (co.za) has at least 60% of that figure, which translates at some 492 164 registrations.
“Setting up a domain name registration project is not an expensive exercise, but many African governments take the digital divide as an excuse to sit back and do nothing, further exacerbating the problem,” Mpisane said.
“Until we sort out the issue of infrastructures, including networks, regulations and broadband, as a continent we will always remain behind,” Mpisane added, citing the lack of political will as a fundamental obstacle.
China has some 12 million ccTLDs, while Germany and UK have 11 million and 6 million, respectively.
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More@ BizCommunity
When it comes to the issue of registering domain names South Africa is doing well, with some 60% of the continent's total of registered domain names. The rest of Africa, more than 50 countries, shares the continent's other 40% of about a million top level domains.
There are currently 107.9 million registrations of generic top level domains (gTLDs) in the world, and some 74.1 million of country codes top level domains (ccTLDs), Vika Mpisane, GM of .za DNA (.za Domain Name Authority), announced yesterday, Wednesday 29 July 2009, at a media workshop on domain names held in Rivonia, Johannesburg.
Africa, however, only accounts for fewer than 1 million of ccTLDs, while South Africa (co.za) has at least 60% of that figure, which translates at some 492 164 registrations.
“Setting up a domain name registration project is not an expensive exercise, but many African governments take the digital divide as an excuse to sit back and do nothing, further exacerbating the problem,” Mpisane said.
“Until we sort out the issue of infrastructures, including networks, regulations and broadband, as a continent we will always remain behind,” Mpisane added, citing the lack of political will as a fundamental obstacle.
China has some 12 million ccTLDs, while Germany and UK have 11 million and 6 million, respectively.
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More@ BizCommunity
Telegraph: Facebook handed Iranian domain name by UN
By Claudine Beaumont
Published: 12:00PM BST 29 Jul 2009
Facebook has been granted control of the Facebook.ir Iranian domain name after the United Nations ordered its owner to surrender the address.
The United Nation's World Intellectual Property Organisation said that Majid Karimian Ghannad had registered the Facebook.ir domain name "in bad faith", and ruled that he had no right to use the web address. The organisation ordered Mr Ghannad to transfer ownership of the localised domain to Facebook.
Mr Ghannad said that he was using the site to sell book, but the United Nations rejected his claim.
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More@ Telegraph
Published: 12:00PM BST 29 Jul 2009
Facebook has been granted control of the Facebook.ir Iranian domain name after the United Nations ordered its owner to surrender the address.
The United Nation's World Intellectual Property Organisation said that Majid Karimian Ghannad had registered the Facebook.ir domain name "in bad faith", and ruled that he had no right to use the web address. The organisation ordered Mr Ghannad to transfer ownership of the localised domain to Facebook.
Mr Ghannad said that he was using the site to sell book, but the United Nations rejected his claim.
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More@ Telegraph
BusinessWire: Dot VN, Inc. Commercialization of “.VN” Domain Registry Monetization Programs Begins to Generate Revenue
July 29, 2009 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Dot VN Domain Parking Pages Receiving Average Daily Views of more than 1 million
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dot VN, Inc., (http://www.DotVN.com) (OTCBB: DTVI), an Internet and Telecommunications Company and the exclusive provider of online global domain name registration and Parking Page Marketing/Advertising services for the Country of Vietnam, announced that it has launched the first phase of the Company’s .vn domain registry monetization programs, and is generating immediate revenue.
“We are extremely pleased to announce that commercialization has begun on the domain registry monetization programs, allowing Dot VN to offer an important new product to millions of Internet users that will permit advertisers to specifically and accurately target the rapidly growing Vietnamese market,” said Thomas Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Dot VN, Inc. “We expect these programs will generate significant revenue, as our preliminary results show that the Dot VN domain parking pages are already receiving an average of more than 1,000,000 views per day, with the majority of visitors coming from Vietnam, followed by China, South Korea and the United States.”
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More @ BusinessWire
Dot VN Domain Parking Pages Receiving Average Daily Views of more than 1 million
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dot VN, Inc., (http://www.DotVN.com) (OTCBB: DTVI), an Internet and Telecommunications Company and the exclusive provider of online global domain name registration and Parking Page Marketing/Advertising services for the Country of Vietnam, announced that it has launched the first phase of the Company’s .vn domain registry monetization programs, and is generating immediate revenue.
“We are extremely pleased to announce that commercialization has begun on the domain registry monetization programs, allowing Dot VN to offer an important new product to millions of Internet users that will permit advertisers to specifically and accurately target the rapidly growing Vietnamese market,” said Thomas Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Dot VN, Inc. “We expect these programs will generate significant revenue, as our preliminary results show that the Dot VN domain parking pages are already receiving an average of more than 1,000,000 views per day, with the majority of visitors coming from Vietnam, followed by China, South Korea and the United States.”
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More @ BusinessWire
DN Journal: German Country Code Domain Tops This Week's Top 20 Sales Chart With ccTLDs Taking 6 Spots on the All Extension Leader Board
By Ron Jackson
ccTLDs turned in another strong showing this week, taking the top spot on our latest all extension leader board and six of the 20 positions overall. Texel.de (German country code) claimed the pole position after changing hands for €39,500 ($56,090) at Sedo.com. Sedo went on to sweep the top three spots and pile up a dozen chart entries to lead all venues.
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More@ DN Journal
ccTLDs turned in another strong showing this week, taking the top spot on our latest all extension leader board and six of the 20 positions overall. Texel.de (German country code) claimed the pole position after changing hands for €39,500 ($56,090) at Sedo.com. Sedo went on to sweep the top three spots and pile up a dozen chart entries to lead all venues.
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More@ DN Journal
The National: Horse lover puts Dh6m on .ae domain
John Henzell
Last Updated: July 29. 2009 12:40AM UAE / July 28. 2009 8:40PM GMT
ABU DHABI // The sale of a UAE internet domain name for Dh6 million (US$1.6m) to an unidentified horse enthusiast has been described as a landmark that has put the Emirates up with some of the highest domain prices in the world.
The Ozone Group, an Indian-based technology company with an office in Dubai, ran an intensive advertising campaign to sell the right to use horse.ae, but without any associated website or hosting agreement.
The company invested around Dh1 million in advertising in newspapers and radio stations in the UAE, offering the domain name for Dh5m.
The move generated a flurry of interest, including seven serious bidders which saw the price go up to Dh6m and the sale close a day before the original deadline of July 26.
Munir Badr, a Dubai-based technology entrepreneur, said the sale of horse.ae far exceeded the previous highest known price for a .ae domain, putting the UAE’s country code on a par with the far more mature .com market.
Registration and trade in .ae domain names was liberalised in August last year, when the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority took away Etisalat’s monopoly.
The broad liberalisation of the national internet domain system aimed to “promote the widespread usage of the .ae branding on a global scale”. Part of the changes allowed companies other than Etisalat to act as registrars of UAE web addresses. While the old system involved going along in person to an Etisalat office, along with stamped documents and passport copies, .ae domains can now be purchased online, with a credit card, in minutes.
The .ae top-level domain has since been catching up with trends seen in the rest of the world, not just in huge prices for popular domain names but also with battles over intellectual property against people, dubbed “cybersquatters”, who register words and names, including trademarks, usually with a view to selling them at a profit to their “rightful” owners.
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More@ The National
Last Updated: July 29. 2009 12:40AM UAE / July 28. 2009 8:40PM GMT
ABU DHABI // The sale of a UAE internet domain name for Dh6 million (US$1.6m) to an unidentified horse enthusiast has been described as a landmark that has put the Emirates up with some of the highest domain prices in the world.
The Ozone Group, an Indian-based technology company with an office in Dubai, ran an intensive advertising campaign to sell the right to use horse.ae, but without any associated website or hosting agreement.
The company invested around Dh1 million in advertising in newspapers and radio stations in the UAE, offering the domain name for Dh5m.
The move generated a flurry of interest, including seven serious bidders which saw the price go up to Dh6m and the sale close a day before the original deadline of July 26.
Munir Badr, a Dubai-based technology entrepreneur, said the sale of horse.ae far exceeded the previous highest known price for a .ae domain, putting the UAE’s country code on a par with the far more mature .com market.
Registration and trade in .ae domain names was liberalised in August last year, when the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority took away Etisalat’s monopoly.
The broad liberalisation of the national internet domain system aimed to “promote the widespread usage of the .ae branding on a global scale”. Part of the changes allowed companies other than Etisalat to act as registrars of UAE web addresses. While the old system involved going along in person to an Etisalat office, along with stamped documents and passport copies, .ae domains can now be purchased online, with a credit card, in minutes.
The .ae top-level domain has since been catching up with trends seen in the rest of the world, not just in huge prices for popular domain names but also with battles over intellectual property against people, dubbed “cybersquatters”, who register words and names, including trademarks, usually with a view to selling them at a profit to their “rightful” owners.
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More@ The National
2nd International conference for ccTLD registriersand registrars of CIS, Central and Eastern Europe
The first international conference for ccTLD registries and registrars of CIS, Central and Eastern Europe was held on 8-10 September 2008 by the Coordination Center for TLD RU initiative and ICANN support. The conference was located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and gathered more then 90 participants from 25 countries, world internet experts, representatives of international organizations such as WIPO, ICANN, CENTR, etc. The Coordination Center for TLD RU, ISOC-Bulgaria and Register.BG were the last year conference organizers. The first international conference was officially supported by the Bulgarian State Agency for Information Technology and Communications (SAITC). Attendees and ccTLD community highly evaluated the initiative and it was resumed to lead the conference annually.
The second International conference for ccTLD registries and registrars of CIS, Eastern and Central Europe will be held on 7-8 September 2009 in Bled, Slovenia.
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More@ meeting2009.cctld.ru
The second International conference for ccTLD registries and registrars of CIS, Eastern and Central Europe will be held on 7-8 September 2009 in Bled, Slovenia.
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More@ meeting2009.cctld.ru
DomainNameWire: Live.cc Domain Name Posts $10,000 Bid at Sedo
Sunday, July 26th, 2009
Domain would be one of the most expensive .cc domain names ever sold.
Long before .me, .tv, and .ws were commercialized, the big rage of country code domain names was .cc. .CC is the country code domain for the Cocos islands, an Australian territory.
A bidder on Sedo has placed a bid at $10,000 for Live.cc, which may be the largest amount ever paid for a .cc domain, save for a publicity stunt in 2000.
NameBio shows three other sales of .cc domains over $5,000: Poker.cc for $6,802, and Ringtones.cc and Co.cc for $5,00 each.
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More@ DomainNameWire
Domain would be one of the most expensive .cc domain names ever sold.
Long before .me, .tv, and .ws were commercialized, the big rage of country code domain names was .cc. .CC is the country code domain for the Cocos islands, an Australian territory.
A bidder on Sedo has placed a bid at $10,000 for Live.cc, which may be the largest amount ever paid for a .cc domain, save for a publicity stunt in 2000.
NameBio shows three other sales of .cc domains over $5,000: Poker.cc for $6,802, and Ringtones.cc and Co.cc for $5,00 each.
(...)
More@ DomainNameWire
IEDR News: 2008 - Turnover and registrations rise at Ireland's top level domain
Download the IEDR 2008 Annual Report here
Highlights:
•.ie registrations up by 26.8% net
•.ie domain prices reduced by 20%
•Turnover increased by 7.4% to €2.5m
•Operating profit and interest income totalled €433,647
•ComReg public consultation completed; IEDR to be appointed as the authority authorised to register .ie domain names
•.ie maintained market share in 2008 compared to .com and .eu
•Q1 2008 .ie domain registrations reach 9,000 mark for first time
•Administration costs rise reflecting increased investment in technical services projects, advertising and promotion and ComReg's public consultation process
•After tax results include provision for financial investment impairment of 29%, reflecting fall in international market values
Thursday, 23rd July, 2009:
The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the not-for-profit organisation that manages Ireland's top level internet domain, .ie, reports a strong core trading performance for 2008 with overall continued growth in .ie domain registration numbers, additional price reductions and further technical service improvements, notwithstanding more challenging trading conditions, particularly in the second half of the year.
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More@ IEDR News
Highlights:
•.ie registrations up by 26.8% net
•.ie domain prices reduced by 20%
•Turnover increased by 7.4% to €2.5m
•Operating profit and interest income totalled €433,647
•ComReg public consultation completed; IEDR to be appointed as the authority authorised to register .ie domain names
•.ie maintained market share in 2008 compared to .com and .eu
•Q1 2008 .ie domain registrations reach 9,000 mark for first time
•Administration costs rise reflecting increased investment in technical services projects, advertising and promotion and ComReg's public consultation process
•After tax results include provision for financial investment impairment of 29%, reflecting fall in international market values
Thursday, 23rd July, 2009:
The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), the not-for-profit organisation that manages Ireland's top level internet domain, .ie, reports a strong core trading performance for 2008 with overall continued growth in .ie domain registration numbers, additional price reductions and further technical service improvements, notwithstanding more challenging trading conditions, particularly in the second half of the year.
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More@ IEDR News
ccTLD Talk: .AC Domain Names
Registering a .AC domain can help you organize your life so that you are ‘always connected’.
What is a .AC domain?
The .AC domain is a ccTLD (country code top level domain), and the Internet country code for Ascension Island. As part of the British Overseas Territory, this island is grouped with Saint Helena and the island group Tristan da Cunha. They are located in the South Atlantic Ocean, midway between South America and Africa where Ascension Island lies 700 nautical miles northwest of Saint Helena. This island is only 56 square miles, about twice the size of Washington D.C. The combined population of the British Overseas Territory is 7,601 and the national language is English.
Why should I register a .AC domain?
Although there are many domains registered by entities associated with Ascension Island, it is becoming popularized in other facets. People within the academic community are beginning to use .AC as a shortened version of academia.
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More@ ccTLD Talk
What is a .AC domain?
The .AC domain is a ccTLD (country code top level domain), and the Internet country code for Ascension Island. As part of the British Overseas Territory, this island is grouped with Saint Helena and the island group Tristan da Cunha. They are located in the South Atlantic Ocean, midway between South America and Africa where Ascension Island lies 700 nautical miles northwest of Saint Helena. This island is only 56 square miles, about twice the size of Washington D.C. The combined population of the British Overseas Territory is 7,601 and the national language is English.
Why should I register a .AC domain?
Although there are many domains registered by entities associated with Ascension Island, it is becoming popularized in other facets. People within the academic community are beginning to use .AC as a shortened version of academia.
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More@ ccTLD Talk
ccTLD Talk: .AG Domain Names
What is the .AG domain?
The .AG domain is a ccTLD (country code top level domain), and the Internet country code for Antigua and Barbuda. These Caribbean islands are located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east-southeast of Puerto Rico. Combined, the islands are 170.89 square miles (Antigua 108.12 sq mi, and Barbuda 62.16 sq mi), about 2.5 times the size of Washington D.C. The islands became an independent state within the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1981, and maintain an official language of English. As of July 2008, the population was 84,522.
Why should I register a .AG domain name?
The .AG domain is extremely popular in German-speaking parts of the world because AG can be used to represent certain types of companies. This is true for several major European countries including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. If your company conducts business in German-speaking countries, having a .AG domain can make your presence known.
In addition to being used as a country code and it’s secondary meaning to German-speaking countries, .AG has several other meanings. The atomic symbol for silver is Ag, and so can be used to reference this metal. Additionally, the agriculture arena has begun using .AG for agriculture-related sites.
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More@ ccTLD Talk
The .AG domain is a ccTLD (country code top level domain), and the Internet country code for Antigua and Barbuda. These Caribbean islands are located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east-southeast of Puerto Rico. Combined, the islands are 170.89 square miles (Antigua 108.12 sq mi, and Barbuda 62.16 sq mi), about 2.5 times the size of Washington D.C. The islands became an independent state within the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1981, and maintain an official language of English. As of July 2008, the population was 84,522.
Why should I register a .AG domain name?
The .AG domain is extremely popular in German-speaking parts of the world because AG can be used to represent certain types of companies. This is true for several major European countries including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. If your company conducts business in German-speaking countries, having a .AG domain can make your presence known.
In addition to being used as a country code and it’s secondary meaning to German-speaking countries, .AG has several other meanings. The atomic symbol for silver is Ag, and so can be used to reference this metal. Additionally, the agriculture arena has begun using .AG for agriculture-related sites.
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More@ ccTLD Talk
kachwanya: Why is .co.ke domain names so expensive?
By kachwanya Published: 22 July 2009 2:16 PM CDT
Domain names are used in URL to identify particular Web Pages. Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain it belongs to. Acquiring a domain is therefore an important part of establishing an online presence.
Kenya Network Information Center (Kenic) charges 2,000 for .ke top level domain name registration. The amount on itself is more than two times the amount charged for the other top level domain names like .com, .org, .net. The licensed registrars would in turn want to make something out of the business and therefore will add between Kshs.1000 to Kshs.2000. At the end most Kenyans end up paying between 3000 to 4000, for co.ke domain name. Can somebody from Kenic or ICT Board or CCK explains the reason why it is so damn expensive to get .co.ke than other commercial top level domain names. To register a .com domain name, for non premium second level domain name, the price will not be more than US$15 (15*75) = Kshs.1125. And even that is probably on the higher side.
It is envisaged that the cost of registering a Kenyan Domain would for the first 2 years be KSh 2,000 per annum to ensure that the organization can cover the costs of its initial setup. Thereafter the fees would be reviewed. –kenic website
That above statement might make you think that kenic has not been existence for more than two years. That is not the case, the history of Kenic dates back to 1993, although back then it was being run by volunteers. The consultations and the foundation of Kenic took root around 2001. To be fair to Kenyans the prices should have been reviewed long time ago. The question being asked now is the organization on it for business or it still takes pride of being a trustee for the .ke country-code-top-level-domain
They also indicate on their website that the registration of local domain names hits 10,000 mark last year. Congratulations are in order by the way, for such a small number landmark achievement. If all things were constant with competent organization and right pricing for the domain names, I bet the number of local domain names bearing the .co.ke extensions by last year could have been more than hundred thousand.
More@ All about Africa and specifically Kenya
Domain names are used in URL to identify particular Web Pages. Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain it belongs to. Acquiring a domain is therefore an important part of establishing an online presence.
Kenya Network Information Center (Kenic) charges 2,000 for .ke top level domain name registration. The amount on itself is more than two times the amount charged for the other top level domain names like .com, .org, .net. The licensed registrars would in turn want to make something out of the business and therefore will add between Kshs.1000 to Kshs.2000. At the end most Kenyans end up paying between 3000 to 4000, for co.ke domain name. Can somebody from Kenic or ICT Board or CCK explains the reason why it is so damn expensive to get .co.ke than other commercial top level domain names. To register a .com domain name, for non premium second level domain name, the price will not be more than US$15 (15*75) = Kshs.1125. And even that is probably on the higher side.
It is envisaged that the cost of registering a Kenyan Domain would for the first 2 years be KSh 2,000 per annum to ensure that the organization can cover the costs of its initial setup. Thereafter the fees would be reviewed. –kenic website
That above statement might make you think that kenic has not been existence for more than two years. That is not the case, the history of Kenic dates back to 1993, although back then it was being run by volunteers. The consultations and the foundation of Kenic took root around 2001. To be fair to Kenyans the prices should have been reviewed long time ago. The question being asked now is the organization on it for business or it still takes pride of being a trustee for the .ke country-code-top-level-domain
They also indicate on their website that the registration of local domain names hits 10,000 mark last year. Congratulations are in order by the way, for such a small number landmark achievement. If all things were constant with competent organization and right pricing for the domain names, I bet the number of local domain names bearing the .co.ke extensions by last year could have been more than hundred thousand.
More@ All about Africa and specifically Kenya
DomainNameNews: .CM Auctions and Typo Traffic - What Are These Domains Really Worth?
07|22|2009 8:01 am EDT
by Chad Kettner
Every domainer has heard the story of how Kevin Ham built a $300 million empire - particularly how he profited from the millions of people who accidentally type “.cm” (the country code TLD for Cameroon) instead of “.com” when searching for a website.
And now that Cameroon’s ccTLD registrations are open to the public, domain auction houses are targeting domainers and typosquaters alike in an effort to sell high-end generic .CM domains for hefty prices.
In Rick Latona’s premium .CM auction, which ended July 14, some of the most sought after .CM domains such as cars.cm, jobs.cm, and loan.cm were sold for prices ranging between $5,000 to $35,500. And beyond that, the registration fees for .CM domains are expected to start around $350 for 2 years.
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More@ DomainNameNews
by Chad Kettner
Every domainer has heard the story of how Kevin Ham built a $300 million empire - particularly how he profited from the millions of people who accidentally type “.cm” (the country code TLD for Cameroon) instead of “.com” when searching for a website.
And now that Cameroon’s ccTLD registrations are open to the public, domain auction houses are targeting domainers and typosquaters alike in an effort to sell high-end generic .CM domains for hefty prices.
In Rick Latona’s premium .CM auction, which ended July 14, some of the most sought after .CM domains such as cars.cm, jobs.cm, and loan.cm were sold for prices ranging between $5,000 to $35,500. And beyond that, the registration fees for .CM domains are expected to start around $350 for 2 years.
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More@ DomainNameNews
EuroDNS: Register your .IM domain name for only 2 Euros!
EuroDNS is glad to announce the opening of the .IM extension, now available for purchase for only 2 Euros at www.eurodns.com.
.IM is the Country Code Top-Level Domain extension for The Isle of Man, a self-governing crown dependency located within the British Isles, but constitutionally separate from the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man is a "low tax economy" with no capital gains tax, wealth tax, or inheritance tax.
Xavier Buck, CEO of EuroDNS, explains “The .IM extension represents more than just a country code domain available to all Isle of Man’s businesses and residents. It can indeed be used to personalize your web address, as .IM in English phonetically corresponds to “I am”.
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More @ EuroDNS
.IM is the Country Code Top-Level Domain extension for The Isle of Man, a self-governing crown dependency located within the British Isles, but constitutionally separate from the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man is a "low tax economy" with no capital gains tax, wealth tax, or inheritance tax.
Xavier Buck, CEO of EuroDNS, explains “The .IM extension represents more than just a country code domain available to all Isle of Man’s businesses and residents. It can indeed be used to personalize your web address, as .IM in English phonetically corresponds to “I am”.
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More @ EuroDNS
Law.com: 'Dot-cm': A New Target for Cybersquatters
By Tresa Baldas
Law.com
July 23, 2009
It's typosquatting waiting to happen.
Trademark attorneys are warning companies about a new target for cybersquatters known as ".cm," which is the country code -- or top level domain -- for the West African nation of Cameroon. The dot-cm domain is a hot target for scammers, they say, due to "cm" being a common typographical error for "com" in the popular dot-com domain.
Attorneys say this is significant to brand owners because Internet users searching for brand owners' Web sites frequently mistype dot-com as dot-cm and wind up on a bogus site. Not only is Web traffic lost, they say, but a brand name can get diluted or tainted along the way.
"It's a trick-to-click model. They're trying to trick people into thinking they're at a legitimate site," said Enrico Schaefer, founding attorney of Traverse Legal, based in Traverse City, Mich., which specializes in Internet law and online brand protection. "Most companies do not have a clue that this cybersquatting or typosquatting is going on. But they are becoming more aware of it all the time."
To avoid falling prey to typosquatters, lawyers are urging companies to register their trademark as a dot-cm domain before squatters do. The Cameroon government's "Sunrise Period" allowing trademark owners to apply for dot-cm domain names ended on July 14, which means it's a free-for-all now. Anyone can register a brand through dot-cm, and there's little remedy as Cameroon has no published dispute policy at this time.
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More@ Law.com
Law.com
July 23, 2009
It's typosquatting waiting to happen.
Trademark attorneys are warning companies about a new target for cybersquatters known as ".cm," which is the country code -- or top level domain -- for the West African nation of Cameroon. The dot-cm domain is a hot target for scammers, they say, due to "cm" being a common typographical error for "com" in the popular dot-com domain.
Attorneys say this is significant to brand owners because Internet users searching for brand owners' Web sites frequently mistype dot-com as dot-cm and wind up on a bogus site. Not only is Web traffic lost, they say, but a brand name can get diluted or tainted along the way.
"It's a trick-to-click model. They're trying to trick people into thinking they're at a legitimate site," said Enrico Schaefer, founding attorney of Traverse Legal, based in Traverse City, Mich., which specializes in Internet law and online brand protection. "Most companies do not have a clue that this cybersquatting or typosquatting is going on. But they are becoming more aware of it all the time."
To avoid falling prey to typosquatters, lawyers are urging companies to register their trademark as a dot-cm domain before squatters do. The Cameroon government's "Sunrise Period" allowing trademark owners to apply for dot-cm domain names ended on July 14, which means it's a free-for-all now. Anyone can register a brand through dot-cm, and there's little remedy as Cameroon has no published dispute policy at this time.
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More@ Law.com
BusinessWire: Dot VN, Inc. Names Director of Communications and Business Development Louisa T. Huynh
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dot VN, Inc., (http://www.DotVN.com) (OTCBB: DTVI), an Internet and Telecommunications Company and the exclusive online global domain name registrar and provider of Parking Page Marketing/Advertising for the Country of Vietnam, announced today that it has hired Louisa T. Huynh as the Director of Communications and Business Development. Huynh will be responsible for managing communications, including all internal and external Vietnamese communications, as well as managing public relations in Vietnam, assisting in the development of the Company’s communication strategies and developing marketing and sales campaigns that appeal to the Vietnamese market.
“Ms. Huynh is a highly respected and recognized journalist in Vietnam,” said Thomas Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Dot VN, Inc. “While located in the U.S., she will assist in building the Company’s image and communications program. We are very happy to have her on Dot VN’s team.”
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“Ms. Huynh is a highly respected and recognized journalist in Vietnam,” said Thomas Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Dot VN, Inc. “While located in the U.S., she will assist in building the Company’s image and communications program. We are very happy to have her on Dot VN’s team.”
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More@ BusinessWire
DomainNameNews: Three New Members Added In Nominet’s Non-Executive Director Election
07|21|2009 11:23 pm EDT
by Chad Kettner in Categories: People - 0 Comments
Nominet announced last week that three new members - Clive Grace, Nora Nanayakkara, and Jonathan Robinson - were added to the board following an electoral vote.
Nora Nanayakkara is a notable member, having served as Sedo’s Business Development Director since November 2007 as well as being an elected member of Nominet’s Policy Advisory Body (PAB) since June 2008.
Clive Grace has served on a Corporate Governance Audit Committee for the Welsh Assembly Government and has been a member of numerous boards and councils since 1998 when she first chaired the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives.
Jonathan Robinson, the Chief Operating Officer of Netnames, has previously served as a Deputy Chairman on the Internet Council of Registrars (CORE) as well as the Director for NetBenefit. He also currently serves on the Board of Director for Afilias.
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by Chad Kettner in Categories: People - 0 Comments
Nominet announced last week that three new members - Clive Grace, Nora Nanayakkara, and Jonathan Robinson - were added to the board following an electoral vote.
Nora Nanayakkara is a notable member, having served as Sedo’s Business Development Director since November 2007 as well as being an elected member of Nominet’s Policy Advisory Body (PAB) since June 2008.
Clive Grace has served on a Corporate Governance Audit Committee for the Welsh Assembly Government and has been a member of numerous boards and councils since 1998 when she first chaired the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives.
Jonathan Robinson, the Chief Operating Officer of Netnames, has previously served as a Deputy Chairman on the Internet Council of Registrars (CORE) as well as the Director for NetBenefit. He also currently serves on the Board of Director for Afilias.
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More@ DomainNameNews
computing.co.uk: Global internet population to hit 2.2 billion by 2013
Written by Dave Bailey
Computing, 21 Jul 2009
The number of online users is set to grow 45 per cent to 2.2 billion users in 2013, according to analyst Forrester Research.
In a report titled Global Online Population Forecast, 2008 To 2013, Forrester says the engine of growth for this increase is Asia, especially since 43 per cent of the world’s population will live in the region by 2013.
The top five online nations today are the US, China, Japan, Brazil and Germany. But by 2013 Forrester predicts that China will have more people online than anywhere else. The US will drop to second and India will displace Japan and Brazil, to have the third largest online population.
In the UK, the number of internet users will grow from 41.3 million (69 per cent of the population) to 48.7 million (81 per cent) in 2013.
The area of fastest growth in internet users will be the Middle East and Africa, which currently has eight per cent of the global total, but by 2013 will have 13 per cent.
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More@ computing.co.uk
Computing, 21 Jul 2009
The number of online users is set to grow 45 per cent to 2.2 billion users in 2013, according to analyst Forrester Research.
In a report titled Global Online Population Forecast, 2008 To 2013, Forrester says the engine of growth for this increase is Asia, especially since 43 per cent of the world’s population will live in the region by 2013.
The top five online nations today are the US, China, Japan, Brazil and Germany. But by 2013 Forrester predicts that China will have more people online than anywhere else. The US will drop to second and India will displace Japan and Brazil, to have the third largest online population.
In the UK, the number of internet users will grow from 41.3 million (69 per cent of the population) to 48.7 million (81 per cent) in 2013.
The area of fastest growth in internet users will be the Middle East and Africa, which currently has eight per cent of the global total, but by 2013 will have 13 per cent.
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More@ computing.co.uk
James Seng's Blog: JET Open Letter to ICANN
July 20th, 2009
Dear Mr. Beckstrom,
In July 2000, CNNIC, JPNIC (now JPRS), KRNIC (now part of NIDA) and TWNIC jointly established Joint Engineering Team (JET) to develop and implement IDN technology. JET is responsible for drafting RFC 3743 that is commonly known as JET Guidelines for Chinese, Japanese and Korean IDN.
1) IDN Variant Problem. On 27th March 2003, ICANN Board endorsed the “Guidelines for the Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names” 1 with the following:
"3. In implementing the IDN standards, top-level domain registries will (a) associate each registered internationalized domain name with one language or set of languages, (b) employ language-specific registration and administration rules that are documented and publicly available, such as the reservation of all domain names with equivalent character variants in the languages associated with the registered domain name, and, (c) where the registry finds that the registration and administration rules for a given language would benefit from a character variants table, allow registrations in that language only when an appropriate table is available."
The implementation of IDN variant is of utmost importance to our community as variants are often used interchangeably, similar although not the same, as uppercase and lowercase characters in English.
JET would like to urge ICANN to implement TLD with IDN variants, at least for the Chinese, Japanese and Korean strings, in according to RFC 3743.
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More@ James Seng's Blog
Dear Mr. Beckstrom,
In July 2000, CNNIC, JPNIC (now JPRS), KRNIC (now part of NIDA) and TWNIC jointly established Joint Engineering Team (JET) to develop and implement IDN technology. JET is responsible for drafting RFC 3743 that is commonly known as JET Guidelines for Chinese, Japanese and Korean IDN.
1) IDN Variant Problem. On 27th March 2003, ICANN Board endorsed the “Guidelines for the Implementation of Internationalized Domain Names” 1 with the following:
"3. In implementing the IDN standards, top-level domain registries will (a) associate each registered internationalized domain name with one language or set of languages, (b) employ language-specific registration and administration rules that are documented and publicly available, such as the reservation of all domain names with equivalent character variants in the languages associated with the registered domain name, and, (c) where the registry finds that the registration and administration rules for a given language would benefit from a character variants table, allow registrations in that language only when an appropriate table is available."
The implementation of IDN variant is of utmost importance to our community as variants are often used interchangeably, similar although not the same, as uppercase and lowercase characters in English.
JET would like to urge ICANN to implement TLD with IDN variants, at least for the Chinese, Japanese and Korean strings, in according to RFC 3743.
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More@ James Seng's Blog
TheDomains: ICANN Has Little Power On ccTLD’s & UDRP’s Rarely Apply
2009 July 19
by MHB
Over the last week, I have talked about the .cm extension on several occasion (here, here, and here) and in the comments to the post it appears there is a lot of confusion in the domainer community as to ICANN’s role in ccTLD’s
The short answer is, they don’t have much.
ICANN territory is Top Level Domains, the 21 existing TLD’s and the new proposed g’TLD’s
Simply put ccTLD’s “are not subject to the rules for TLD’s that the ICANN community develops but in most cases are subject to the regulation of the country or region that they are based”
Here is the official explanation by ICANN:
“”"There are over 250 ccTLDs, some of which have a contract with ICANN; others of which have signed working agreements with ICANN; and some of which have yet to enter any formal agreement with ICANN. ICANN however does carry out what is known as the “IANA function” in which every ccTLD’s main address is listed so the rest of the Internet can find it”.
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More @ TheDomains
by MHB
Over the last week, I have talked about the .cm extension on several occasion (here, here, and here) and in the comments to the post it appears there is a lot of confusion in the domainer community as to ICANN’s role in ccTLD’s
The short answer is, they don’t have much.
ICANN territory is Top Level Domains, the 21 existing TLD’s and the new proposed g’TLD’s
Simply put ccTLD’s “are not subject to the rules for TLD’s that the ICANN community develops but in most cases are subject to the regulation of the country or region that they are based”
Here is the official explanation by ICANN:
“”"There are over 250 ccTLDs, some of which have a contract with ICANN; others of which have signed working agreements with ICANN; and some of which have yet to enter any formal agreement with ICANN. ICANN however does carry out what is known as the “IANA function” in which every ccTLD’s main address is listed so the rest of the Internet can find it”.
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More @ TheDomains
OpenSRS: The Registries: .DE
July 17th, 2009 by Heather Leson
Denic eG is the registry provider for .DE, the third largest TLD and second largest ccTLD in the world. Like other early TLDs, .DE had its start in the 1980s in a university setting (in this case, the University of Dortmund). It quickly expanded with the growth of Internet use requiring the need for more formal management. A foundation was formed in 1993, followed closely by the establishment of the Denic cooperative in 1996. By then, there were approximately 20,000 domains in existence. Now more than a decade later, the volume of .DE domains has grown to more than 12.9 million.
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Denic eG is the registry provider for .DE, the third largest TLD and second largest ccTLD in the world. Like other early TLDs, .DE had its start in the 1980s in a university setting (in this case, the University of Dortmund). It quickly expanded with the growth of Internet use requiring the need for more formal management. A foundation was formed in 1993, followed closely by the establishment of the Denic cooperative in 1996. By then, there were approximately 20,000 domains in existence. Now more than a decade later, the volume of .DE domains has grown to more than 12.9 million.
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More@ OpenSRS
Daily Times: Transition of ‘.pk’ domain completed
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The transition of county code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) of Pakistan ‘.pk’has been successfully completed marking it as the most significant and noteworthy landmark in the internet history of the county.
A press release issued on Friday revealed that in this regard, Chairman PTA, Dr Mohammed Yaseen, visited Lahore office of PKNIC. PKNIC was the present ccTLD operator for ‘.pk’ domain. The purpose of his visit was to appraise the newly upgraded ‘.pk’ infrastructure, data centre and customer services department in Pakistan.
During the visit Chairman PTA noted that the root server mirroring for ‘.pk’ domain in Pakistan was fully operational. PKNIC had successfully implemented the root server mirroring for ‘.pk’ and tested it with all global root servers from a.root-servers.net to m.root-servers.net.
The new authoritative mirror M-2.PKNIC.NET.pk (203.128.7.123) would enable local resolution of ‘.pk’ websites. PKNIC representatives briefed the Chairman regarding mirroring techniques and provided some testing on new Domain Name Service (DNS) resolution mechanism of .pk ccTLD. Formal inauguration of new PKNIC office should be organized in August.
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More@ Daily Times
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The transition of county code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) of Pakistan ‘.pk’has been successfully completed marking it as the most significant and noteworthy landmark in the internet history of the county.
A press release issued on Friday revealed that in this regard, Chairman PTA, Dr Mohammed Yaseen, visited Lahore office of PKNIC. PKNIC was the present ccTLD operator for ‘.pk’ domain. The purpose of his visit was to appraise the newly upgraded ‘.pk’ infrastructure, data centre and customer services department in Pakistan.
During the visit Chairman PTA noted that the root server mirroring for ‘.pk’ domain in Pakistan was fully operational. PKNIC had successfully implemented the root server mirroring for ‘.pk’ and tested it with all global root servers from a.root-servers.net to m.root-servers.net.
The new authoritative mirror M-2.PKNIC.NET.pk (203.128.7.123) would enable local resolution of ‘.pk’ websites. PKNIC representatives briefed the Chairman regarding mirroring techniques and provided some testing on new Domain Name Service (DNS) resolution mechanism of .pk ccTLD. Formal inauguration of new PKNIC office should be organized in August.
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More@ Daily Times
ZADomains.com: blackjack.co.za and casinos.co.za sale
This pair of names sold for $24 800 each in the 15 July 2009 report from DNJournal.
The co.za domain market has gone largely unreported with many sales in the $200 to $1000 range. Many co.za investors will have been contacted over the past month or so since the ccTLD auction promoted by Rick Latona a legendary domainer.
The Auction produced some impressive sales in most ccTLD’s with .de and co.uk leading the way. This has of course highlited the ccTLD market with investors realising that there are still many fantastic opportunities with the exceptional returns potential experienced by those who held their .com portfolios after the .com bubble burst in 2001.
There are a few holders of co.za porfolios which extend to 1000 + domains, most of which are foreign companies, German, Turkish and British. These are very small holdings compared to the same companies and other individuals who hold portfolios of many hundreds of thousands of domain names.
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More@ ZADomains.com
The co.za domain market has gone largely unreported with many sales in the $200 to $1000 range. Many co.za investors will have been contacted over the past month or so since the ccTLD auction promoted by Rick Latona a legendary domainer.
The Auction produced some impressive sales in most ccTLD’s with .de and co.uk leading the way. This has of course highlited the ccTLD market with investors realising that there are still many fantastic opportunities with the exceptional returns potential experienced by those who held their .com portfolios after the .com bubble burst in 2001.
There are a few holders of co.za porfolios which extend to 1000 + domains, most of which are foreign companies, German, Turkish and British. These are very small holdings compared to the same companies and other individuals who hold portfolios of many hundreds of thousands of domain names.
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More@ ZADomains.com
PCWorld: China's Internet Users Outnumber U.S. Population
Owen Fletcher, IDG News Service
July 16, 2009 9:50 PM PDT
China's Internet users have surpassed the U.S. population in number, and more Chinese than ever are using e-commerce and accessing the Web through mobile phones, according to official statistics.
China had 338 million Internet users at the end of last month, the most in any country, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said late Thursday.
Chatting on message boards, cruising around social networking sites and pursuing other entertainment were among the most popular activities for Web users, the center said in a report posted on its Web site. The number of Internet users who watched videos online rose 10 percent from six months ago. More than one-fourth now shop online.
China also led the world in the number of registered Web sites, nearly 13 million, using its .cn top-level domain, the report said.
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More @ PCWorld
July 16, 2009 9:50 PM PDT
China's Internet users have surpassed the U.S. population in number, and more Chinese than ever are using e-commerce and accessing the Web through mobile phones, according to official statistics.
China had 338 million Internet users at the end of last month, the most in any country, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said late Thursday.
Chatting on message boards, cruising around social networking sites and pursuing other entertainment were among the most popular activities for Web users, the center said in a report posted on its Web site. The number of Internet users who watched videos online rose 10 percent from six months ago. More than one-fourth now shop online.
China also led the world in the number of registered Web sites, nearly 13 million, using its .cn top-level domain, the report said.
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More @ PCWorld
PRNewsWire: ME Domains Enjoy Record Growth in 2009: White Paper 'ME' Branding Report by Brands-and-Jingles
ME Domains Enjoy Record Growth in 2009 - In less than a year .ME domains became more popular than
.asia, .jobs, .coop, .aero, .int, .mil, .museum, .name, .pro, .tel,
.travel, and other 200 country code top-level domains
NEW YORK, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- To celebrate one year of the official live launch of the popular .me domains, Brands-and-Jingles has issued a white paper on how "me"-branded names are used in marketing. In its effort the advertising agency wants to congratulate the .me registry team, registrars, the developers and Internet users with another important milestone of jingling online marketing and wish the one year old ME domain baby many happy returns.
The document summarises the first year of .me domain names as well as provides an exhaustive overview of "me" advertising with numerous examples.
"In less than a year .ME domains became more popular than
.asia, .jobs, .coop, .aero, .int, .mil, .museum, .name, .pro, .tel,
.travel, and other 200 country code top-level domains," notes the document.
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More@ PRNewsWire
.asia, .jobs, .coop, .aero, .int, .mil, .museum, .name, .pro, .tel,
.travel, and other 200 country code top-level domains
NEW YORK, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- To celebrate one year of the official live launch of the popular .me domains, Brands-and-Jingles has issued a white paper on how "me"-branded names are used in marketing. In its effort the advertising agency wants to congratulate the .me registry team, registrars, the developers and Internet users with another important milestone of jingling online marketing and wish the one year old ME domain baby many happy returns.
The document summarises the first year of .me domain names as well as provides an exhaustive overview of "me" advertising with numerous examples.
"In less than a year .ME domains became more popular than
.asia, .jobs, .coop, .aero, .int, .mil, .museum, .name, .pro, .tel,
.travel, and other 200 country code top-level domains," notes the document.
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More@ PRNewsWire
NIC.LV: Liberalised domain name registration rules come into force 1st July 2009
1 July 2009 is the day when new domain name registration rules liberalising domain name registation procedure under ccTLD .lv come into force. The main changes affect the way domain name applications are being handled: now the Registry will not perform manual checks to ensure that the registered domain name does not violate rights of a third party. Domain names will be registered on the 'first come first served' basis.
However, following the conclusions of a public survey carried out by the Registry, internet users are concerned about the rude and offensive domain names that might be registered under liberal policy. Therefore (recognisable) rude and offensive domain name registrations will not be allowed. The Registry also wishes to protect people from their names being registered in bad faith: full names (first names, last name) may be registered only by people with respective full names.
Source: NIC.LV
However, following the conclusions of a public survey carried out by the Registry, internet users are concerned about the rude and offensive domain names that might be registered under liberal policy. Therefore (recognisable) rude and offensive domain name registrations will not be allowed. The Registry also wishes to protect people from their names being registered in bad faith: full names (first names, last name) may be registered only by people with respective full names.
Source: NIC.LV
MelbourneIT DBS: The Tunisian ccTLDs .com.tn and .tn are moving to unrestricted registration
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Beginning 31 December 2009 the two ccTLDs will be open to unrestricted registration. Leading up to December there are two sunrise periods.
1 July to 30 September 2009
Applicants can register a .tn domain name directly if it relates the name or the abbreviation of the applicant name (in addition to providing the company CRC).
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More@ MelbourneIT DBS
Beginning 31 December 2009 the two ccTLDs will be open to unrestricted registration. Leading up to December there are two sunrise periods.
1 July to 30 September 2009
Applicants can register a .tn domain name directly if it relates the name or the abbreviation of the applicant name (in addition to providing the company CRC).
(...)
More@ MelbourneIT DBS
RNIDS: Fifty thousand .RS Internet domain names
Belgrade, 9 July 2009 - The Serbian National Register of Internet Domain Names (RNIDS) stated that the new Serbian Internet domain .RS got its 50,000th user on 7 July 2009. It is "Rival" d.о.о. from Belgrade that registered the domain name rival.co.rs. The company will be award free domain registration.
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More @ http://rnids.rs/en/node/67?lang=en
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More @ http://rnids.rs/en/node/67?lang=en
RickLatona: Interview with Hiro Hotta, Director of Corporate Planning for the .jp and .co.jp extensions of Japan’s ccTLD
July 13, 2009 by Rick Latona
One of the most successful of the ccTLDs and also the most mysterious is Japan’s .jp.
Japan as the second largest economy in the world seems like quite an opportunity. However, you need to know Japan and preferably Japanese before you jump into the game.
I’ve been there many times and the country to me has always come across as one of the most self-contained societies in the world. According to Wikipedia 98.5% of the people there are in the Japanese ethnic group. That’s amazing considering the amount of business that is done there.
However, as the Asian crisis years back proved their economy is anything but self-contained. They are very much a part of the global web.
They have the money and the entrepreneurial spirit to be buyers of names. If only domainers could figure out how to tap the market. Hopefully, these questions can help demystify it a bit.
(...)
More@ RickLatona.com
One of the most successful of the ccTLDs and also the most mysterious is Japan’s .jp.
Japan as the second largest economy in the world seems like quite an opportunity. However, you need to know Japan and preferably Japanese before you jump into the game.
I’ve been there many times and the country to me has always come across as one of the most self-contained societies in the world. According to Wikipedia 98.5% of the people there are in the Japanese ethnic group. That’s amazing considering the amount of business that is done there.
However, as the Asian crisis years back proved their economy is anything but self-contained. They are very much a part of the global web.
They have the money and the entrepreneurial spirit to be buyers of names. If only domainers could figure out how to tap the market. Hopefully, these questions can help demystify it a bit.
(...)
More@ RickLatona.com
byte.me: .CM cctld Landrush starts 13th July
.cm is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cameroon. Previously the .cm registry has only allowed registrations under .co.cm, .com.cm and .net.cm. This is the first opportunity to register a second level .cm domain name.
The landrush period will start on 15th of July and end on 31st of July 2009. During this time period, anyone can pre-order their desired .cm domain names. If one domain name gets more than one application during the landrush the domain will go into auction obviously being awarded to the highest bidder. After the landrush period will be the general registration period. From 1st of August 2009, .CM domains will be available on a first come first served basis.
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More@ http://byte.me/2009/07/07/cm-cctld-landrush-starts-13th-july/
The landrush period will start on 15th of July and end on 31st of July 2009. During this time period, anyone can pre-order their desired .cm domain names. If one domain name gets more than one application during the landrush the domain will go into auction obviously being awarded to the highest bidder. After the landrush period will be the general registration period. From 1st of August 2009, .CM domains will be available on a first come first served basis.
(...)
More@ http://byte.me/2009/07/07/cm-cctld-landrush-starts-13th-july/
IBLS: INTERNET LAW - Domain Names In Brazil: Authorities And Rules
Martha L. Arias,
The “Comite Gestor da Interner no Brazil” (CGIB) (Brazilian Internet Committee) is the government authority integrating and coordinating the Internet initiatives in Brazil. The Internet rules published by this agency are called “Resolutions.” The CGIB’s Internet Resolutions concentrate on technical or operative procedures for Internet services. This summary informs the reader on the Brazilian authorities in charge of registering domain names and the rules governing the registration process.
The CGIB conferred the “Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo” (FAPESP) competence for the registration of domain names in Brazil through Resolution 002/98. FAPESP had been registering domain names before this resolution conferred legal competence for such activity.
Resolution 002/98 clearly orders FAPESP to follow the procedures and rules established by Resolution 001/98. This last resolution sets the procedures for an e-business which must follow to register a domain name in Brazil. Following are the main points of Resolution 001/98.
What principle regulates the right to a domain name in Brazil?
(...)
More @ http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=FEC8CD6C-6CA7-4BF5-9C51-9D9A752DEA3C
The “Comite Gestor da Interner no Brazil” (CGIB) (Brazilian Internet Committee) is the government authority integrating and coordinating the Internet initiatives in Brazil. The Internet rules published by this agency are called “Resolutions.” The CGIB’s Internet Resolutions concentrate on technical or operative procedures for Internet services. This summary informs the reader on the Brazilian authorities in charge of registering domain names and the rules governing the registration process.
The CGIB conferred the “Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo” (FAPESP) competence for the registration of domain names in Brazil through Resolution 002/98. FAPESP had been registering domain names before this resolution conferred legal competence for such activity.
Resolution 002/98 clearly orders FAPESP to follow the procedures and rules established by Resolution 001/98. This last resolution sets the procedures for an e-business which must follow to register a domain name in Brazil. Following are the main points of Resolution 001/98.
What principle regulates the right to a domain name in Brazil?
(...)
More @ http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=FEC8CD6C-6CA7-4BF5-9C51-9D9A752DEA3C
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