Posted 10/02/09 at 09:08:53 AM by Paul Lilly

ICANN, the non-profit group who oversees a number of Internet-related tasks, including IP address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, making decisions on root server systems, and pretty much everything else that has to do with the Web, has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) that puts the organization in the hands of an international committee.

According to the Affirmation Agreement, the international committee of parties who will now run ICANN will be chosen by the chairman of its Governmental Advisory Committee, who represents 100 countries around the globe.

"One world, one Internet, everyone connected -- this is our goal at ICANN," said Rod Beckstrom, chief executive office of ICANN. "This agreement gives international stakeholders an even more powerful voice in our activities moving forward."

The move, which was universally praised across the industry, doesn't completely remove the U.S. government's influence, but it does give other countries a much bigger say in how ICANN's policies moving forward.

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Posted 08/31/09 at 07:00:34 AM by Paul Lilly

During the same year that you sat in a movie theater chomping on popcorn watching Marty McFly bend the time-space continuum, a computer manufacturer headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts laid claim to the first ever registered domain name: Symbolics.com.

You may recall Nordu.net as the first domain name ever created, which dates back to January 1985. But it wasn't until March of that same year that Symbolics.com would go through the appropriate DNS process to be the first domain ever registered, after which it remained under its original ownership for a quarter of a century. Now almost 25 years later, Symbolics.com finally changes hands following XF.com Investments' acquisition of the domain for an undisclosed sum.

It's unclear what the future holds for the Internet's first-ever registered domain name, or for Symbolics, which largely fell out of relevance long ago.

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Posted 08/04/09 at 06:10:28 PM by Paul Lilly

New Jersey resident Daniel Goncalves is making history as the first person ever to be arrested and charged for domain name theft in the United States.

Goncalve, a 25-year-old law firm computer technician, stands accused of hacking into Albert Angel's AOL email account and using that information to retrieve the login details for P2P.com from Angel's Godaddy.com domain account. Probably not the best target to go after, Angel is an attorney and former Justice Department prosecutor with a background in internet payment processing.

According to reports, Goncalve also falsified Paypal.com transaction records in an attempt to cover his trail and make it appear as though he purchased the domain for $1,500 from the Angels, much lower than the $160,000 Albert Angel, his wife Lesli Angel, and domain name investor Marc Ostrosfsky paid for the domain in 2005.

There's a whole lot more to this story, which involves an Ebay sale to Mark Madsen, an NBA basketball player with the LA Clippers (and a terrible dancer). You can read all the gory details here.

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Posted 06/18/09 at 06:43:41 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Yahoo’s financial woes have not been hidden from anybody. The blighted internet giant is ready to do anything to raise funds. It does not even mind small amounts of cash dribbling into its famishing coffers. It has now stooped to abject levels associated with cybersquatters.

Yahoo is busy putting premium domain names on the block just to breathe easy every once in a while. Last night, Yahoo managed to auction off Contests.com for $380,000.

It isn’t a princely sum by any drug-induced stretch of imagination. A premium domain like that should have fetched in the millions of dollars. That actually explains Yahoo’s dismal state. Yahoo should trade premium domains for some business acumen and not greenbacks in the future. Wonder what Yahoo.com will fetch?

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Posted 02/26/09 at 02:08:11 PM by Paul Lilly

It's been eight months almost to the day since ICANN members voted to allow the freeing up of top level domains (gTLD), and it could be eight more months (or longer) before you can actually register one. Why the hold up, you ask?

ICANN's first-draft guidelines sparked a flurry of critical comments, including the exact opposite of a ringing endorsement from the U.S. government, and now a second draft has been released. Also accompanying the revised draft is a 154-page analysis of the comments already received, and ICANN expects to delay implementing the plan to at least September to give itself time to review all the feedback.

One of the primary concerns is that gTLDs could lead to confusion, and some companies fear they may be forced to invest in several new domain names. With an application fee of $180,000 and annual maintenance charges of $25,000 per gTLD (recently reduced for $75,000), that could turn into a costly affair. One solution is to place a hold on protected terms, but that raises the question of whether or not it would extend trademark holders' rights beyond what trademark law allows.

Comments on the revised proposal will be heard through April 13, 2009.

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Posted 12/18/08 at 01:57:12 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Speculation has been rife about the possible use Microsoft might make of the “Kumo” name. The general consensus amongst the speculators has been that Kumo would be the new name of Microsoft’s Live Search service. But a new trademark application filed by Microsoft hints that the new name might be used for a few other MS services as well.

The Kumo trademark is intended for use in sundry segments, including advertising, telecommunications, education, training and entertainment, and not just for online search. Microsoft has also registered quite a few domains with the name Kumo in them. Maybe Microsoft believes that a brand new name might just turn the tide in its favor as far as the high-stakes online search market goes.

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Posted 08/19/08 at 11:49:22 AM by Paul Lilly

Come December, directory assistance will hit the web in a big way, and it has nothing to do with the online yellow pages. Instead, ICANN has approved the creation of a new domain name, .tel, which will serve to offer a one-stop surfing destination to look up contact information on what it hopes will eventually include every individual and corporate entity.

ICANN says that .tel sites are stored within the DNS systems so that information can be "quickly accessed on any device from a game console to a PC to a mobile phone." Regardless of the vehicle, navigators could, for example, head over to WillSmithMPC.tel to gain access to a wealth of contact information, including address, phone, Facebook URL, IM, Twitter, and whatever else the MPC editor-in-chief chose to share. Companies can purchase a domain name too, meaning you could visit MaximumPC.tel to see who's on staff and other contact information for your favorite magazine.

The new Telnic-owned domains will go on sale this December with initial registrations reserved for trademark owners. General availability opens up to public on March 24, 2009. Pricing yet to be announced.

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Posted 07/21/08 at 09:00:42 PM by Paul Lilly

Last week GoDaddy began selling top-level .me domains for the first time ever, and it didn't take long for thousands of registrants to pounce on the newly available naming scheme. The frenzy started immediately after opening registration and according to GoDaddy, in the first 24 hours it "registered more than 20,000 .me names, making it the most successful new domain launch" in the company's history.

As previously reported, the launch wasn't without its technical difficulties as GoDaddy found its servers temporarily overwhelmed, resulting in a few customers purchasing domain names that already belonged to someone else. Those customers were refunded, but still left without a domain name. Perhaps you're one of them, and if so, here's a list of domain names that have not yet been taken:

• HoorayFor.me
• WillYouSleepWith.me
• DontTalkTo.me
• NoOneIsBetterThan.me
• ShoesFit.me
• YouBother.me
• Windoze.me

Have an idea for a better one that's still available? Share it below!

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