Domain names

The future of the Internet is here: non-English extensions hit the Web

May 5, 2010

It’s taken far longer than it should but we are finally there – new, non-English extensions exist on the Internet as of a few hours ago.
The person who hit the button – my friend, Kim Davies – tweeted the news. Kim has already written a quick blog post on the launch, highlighting the Egyptian Ministry [...]

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Isn’t it time Dell, HP and Nike reviewed their CADNA membership?

April 8, 2010

You have to wonder how often large corporates review the work done in their name through lobbying organizations, because it is definitely time that big names such as Dell, HP, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Nike and Wells Fargo consider whether their support of the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse – CADNA – is starting to undermine [...]

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What ICANN needs to learn from the EOI collapse

March 18, 2010

At a recent meeting in Nairobi, the ICANN Board decided not to press ahead with a process to allow people to pre-apply for new Internet extensions.
This process was called “Expressions of Interest”, which was sadly but inevitably shortened to EOI within hours of being out for discussion.
Ultimately the Board decided that there wasn’t sufficient consensus [...]

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The Sex.com bankruptcy court doc

March 18, 2010

The auction for Sex.com was due to be held in New York a few hours ago but, as became clear last night, creditors of the current owner, Escom, forced through an involuntary bankruptcy which has caused the auction to be “postponed”.
Thanks to the court document [pdf] filed here in Los Angeles, we now have a [...]

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Is the Sex.com auction off?

March 18, 2010

So I’m hearing at a very late time that the much-vaulted auction of Sex.com is off following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (Chapter 11 meaning that the company is folded but that its assets are still available for sale etc.)
The auction was due to happen tomorrow afternoon, New York-time. As I write this it is late [...]

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ICANN Board sticks .xxx on public agenda

March 1, 2010

The ICANN Board has stuck discussion of the dot-xxx Internet extension on the agenda for its public meeting on 12 March – a good but brave move.
As covered last week, ICANN came off pretty badly following an independent review of the Board’s decision to reject dot-xxx back in 2007. A three-judge panel decided that [...]

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Talking about Sex.com on NPR’s On the Media

February 28, 2010

I recorded a show for National Public Radio’s (NPR) On the Media show earlier this week talking about Sex.com, my book about it and the domain’s upcoming auction next month.
The show played this morning. You can see the NPR page (with transcript) at http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/02/26/06. And listen to the show below:
[Audio clip: view full post to [...]

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Nominet passes governance test with flying colours

February 25, 2010

The dot-uk registry Nominet has passed a crucial governance test with flying colours, voting yes [pdf] on eight Board resolutions with more than 93 percent member support.
The resolutions will make a variety of changes to the organisation, ranging from an increase in the number of Board members to an explicit statement that Nominet will work [...]

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Watch out: .xxx is coming to an Internet near you soon

February 23, 2010

So I think there is a real chance that the Internet extension .xxx will appear on the Internet some time this year.
Of course, you really can never know since overseeing body ICANN is a complex beast, but following the first use of the organization’s Independent Review Process (IRP) and the resulting panel declaration [pdf], [...]

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What ICANN’s chair said about .xxx at the time

February 23, 2010

On Friday, there was a very interesting decision made by an independent panel of eminent retired judges with respect to an application five years ago for a “.xxx” Internet extension that would be used purely for online pornography.
The dot-xxx application was rejected by ICANN in 2007 following a long, complex and tortuous process. The man [...]

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