The Real Problem with dot-XXX by Michael Roberts ... So what we have, stripped down to essentials, is a moral contest. On the one side are the free expression advocates, such as Milton, who see the greater good in the avoidance of any form of censorship, accompanied by a laissez faire economic conviction that markets will solve most any problem in sight. On the other side are those who wonder how ICANN could have gotten itself entangled in a tawdry business that not infrequently preys on innocent youngsters and enjoys a lot of profit at the same time. How could any amount of rational sounding registry approval process be used as insulation from the downright evil acts which seek cover under the First Amendment? http://www.circleid.com/posts/real_problem_with_dot_xxx/ ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** Cybersquatting remains on the rise with further risk to trademarks from new registration practices (news release) The number of cybersquatting disputes filed with WIPO in 2006 increased by 25% as compared to 2005. In a related development, the evolution of the domain name registration system is causing growing concern for trademark owners, in particular some of the effects of the use of computer software to automatically register expired domain names and their 'parking' on pay-per-click portal sites, the option to register names free-of-charge for a five-day 'tasting' period, the proliferation of new registrars, and the establishment of new gTLDs. The combined result of these developments is to create greater opportunities for the mass, often anonymous, registration of domain names without specific consideration of third-party intellectual property rights. http://www.wipo.int/edocs/prdocs/en/2007/wipo_pr_2007_479.html http://www.wipo.int/edocs/prdocs/en/2007/wipo_pr_2007_479a.pdf Cybersquatting complaints rise 25 percent, U.N. says (AP) WIPO saw cybersquatting complaints increase 25 percent in 2006. WIPO received 1,823 complaints in 2006 alleging abusive registrations of trademarks as Internet domain names. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/13/1173722427174.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/16888915.htm http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/13/1173722464147.html Domain name chaos needs measured response Imagine a Wild West town where the street signs can be hired by the year. For that year, the hirer gets to say where they point but if they don't renew quickly enough, someone else can nip in and swing them around. Follow the sign to the town library, and you'll end up at the liquor shop the shopkeeper has more money than the librarian, and has a gang of kids wandering around nabbing old signs and putting up new confusing ones as quickly as they can. It would be frustrating chaos, and you'd soon be looking for a saner place to live. Yet that's not so far from the way internet domain names are currently managed, with predictable results documented by WIPO. http://opinion.zdnet.co.uk/leader/0,1000002208,39286281,00.htm Cybersquatting cases rose 25% in 2006 WIPO has reported that cybersquatting incidents have increased 25 percent to 1,823 complaints in 2006. http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id... 'Cybersquat' threat to trademarks Trademark owners face a disturbing new "cybersquatting" threat from internet developments that enable automatic registering of website addresses, WIPO warned on Monday. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/62a5d2ae-d109-11db-836a-000b5df10621.html Do Speculative Domains Threaten the Internet? (Reuters) The Internet's key site identity system is in mounting danger from new techniques that could cause havoc by turning it into a free-for-all market, the World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO warned on Monday. http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39166311,00.htm http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/3991579a28.html http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=137&objectid=10428563 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39286280,00.htm Domain name system in danger from speculators, cybersquatters, says U.N. agency (Reuters) The Internet's key site identity system is in mounting danger from new techniques that could cause havoc by turning it into a free-for-all market, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) warned yesterday. http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=13&articleId=9012989 McAfee Reveals List of Riskiest Country Web Sites for Malicious Downloads, Browser Exploits and Unwanted E-Mail (news release) McAfee, Inc. announced the results of their SiteAdvisor research report that creates a global road map of the riskiest, and the safest, places to surf and search on the World Wide Web. McAfee analysed and ranked 265 TLDs based on McAfee's Web safety tests for spyware, spam, exploits and scams. The report, "Mapping the Mal Web," revealed surprisingly large differences in safety from one domain to another. This global portrait estimates that each month, Internet users make more than 550 million clicks to risky Web sites and that even relatively safe domains like .de or .uk account for millions of risky clicks. The safest 10 TLDs are .gov, .fi, .ie, .no, .is, .se, .au, .co, .sg and .si. http://www.siteadvisor.com/studies/map_malweb_mar2007.html Study shows .info domain is a Net ghetto The .info domain is the online equivalent of an unsafe neighbourhood, according to a new SiteAdvisor report from McAfee. McAfee said there was a 73.2 per cent chance of receiving spam after registering an email address at a random .info domain. This domain was also the most unsafe top-level domain with 7.5 per cent of sites labelled 'risky'. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/security/news/107158/study-shows-info-domain-is-a-net... McAfee names most risky domains Ireland has the second least risky country domain name (.ie), according to a new report by McAfee. The report found that internet users make more than 550 million clicks to risky websites a month. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single7940 http://businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=1664497 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0313/breaking74.htm Vikings Best, Polynesians Worst In Domain Safety SiteAdvisor has completed an extensive scan of 265 TLDs on the Internet, ranking sites by the percentage of malicious code found in visiting the site. The survey found that 4.1 percent of all Web sites pose some sort of risk to a visitor, whether it's viruses, adware, spyware, phishing or some other form of malware. http://www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3665441 http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/03/12/web-domain-risk-tech-security-cx... East European domain names pose most risks to users (Computeract!ve) People who surf on sites with Romanian and Russian domain names are more likely to fall victim to scammers than those who access websites from Japan and Australia, a report has found. http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/news/2185379/russian-romanian... http://www.whatpc.co.uk/computeractive/news/2185379/russian-romanian-domain-... Internet Map: Here There Be Malware Where are the Web's most dangerous neighborhoods? Security firm McAfee analyzed and ranked 265 top-level domains to find out. It released its findings Monday. The most risky country domain names belong to Romania and Russia, with China rapidly ascending. Least risky are Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Ireland. http://www.technewsworld.com/story/56252.html Dot-gov safest domain around, says McAfee The safest websites on the internet end in dot-gov, according to McAfee. McAfee found no risky websites within the domain for US government agencies, it said in a report. In contrast, one in 10 sites that end in dot-tk, the domain for the tiny island of Tokelau, either spread malicious software or warrant a warning because of pop-ups or other nuisances, McAfee said. http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39166312,00.htm http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6166564.html McAfee publishes statistics on dodgy domains McAfee have released research to provide consumers with a global road map, which uncovers the riskiest and the safest places to surf and search on the Internet. http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/6995/8019/mcaffee-publishes-dod... http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012921 Profitable mistakes - typosquatting We all make mistakes when typing website addresses but a new breed of online fraudsters known as "cybersquatters" are generating huge profits from illegal businesses set up to exploit our errors. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/corporate/article1515229.... Coming to terms with the language of cybersquatting The Financial Times provides a handy guide defining cybersquatting, typosquatting, domainer, dropcatcher, domain tasting and domain parking. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e2356676-d17f-11db-b921-000b5df10621.html Microsoft hits 'cybersquatters' Microsoft is pursuing five alleged UK-based cybersquatters in its battle against firms and individuals who have registered variations or misspellings of its key brands, such as Xbox. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6449363.stm Microsoft files lawsuits against cybersquatters Microsoft has filed two new lawsuits against companies it accuses of registering domain names similar to certain Microsoft trademarks. It has also settled three similar suits with other companies, it said Wednesday. http://infoworld.com/article/07/03/14/HNmssuescybersquatters_1.html Microsoft to sue 'cybersquatters' over related web domain names Microsoft Corp. said it plans to file a new round of lawsuits in the U.S. and Britain this week against people it says are profiting from registering Internet domain names that contain the company's trademarked terms. http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=133607&type=Daily http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fbddb398-d19e-11db-b921-000b5df10621.html http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21385687%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e... http://news.com.com/2110-7355_3-6167004.html http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198000845 Microsoft pursues UK "cybersquatters" (Reuters) Microsoft Corp. took its fight against so-called "cybersquatters" overseas, seeking a payment of damages from five U.K. companies for registering Web site domain names that infringe on its trademarks and brand, Microsoft said on Tuesday. http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2007-03-14T152207Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-290891-1.xml Google finds itself stymied by cybersquatters Google, which should be one of the most internet savvy companies in the world, has recently been struggling with a rash of cybersquatting. The internet search company is facing several obstacles as it tries to secure rights to domain names for its Gmail internet e-mail service around the world. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c1934d34-d17f-11db-b921-000b5df10621.html ICANN RegisterFly update: March 13, 2007 This shows the number of domains transferred away from RegisterFly.com for the dates of March 9, 10, 11, 2007, these being 1,114, 707 and 345 respectively. http://blog.icann.org/?p=47 RegisterFly update: March 12, 2007 After discussions today with RegisterFly it seems clear that RegisterFly now has no technical impedements to do whats necessary to service its eNom customers, including obtain auth-codes. http://blog.icann.org/?p=46 Two RegisterFly Sites Online as Ousted CEO Returns ICANN is continuing to press RegisterFly to repair its management systems so domain owners can manage their names, but is now dealing directly with company founder Kevin Medina, who has been awarded control of RegisterFly by a New Jersey court. ICANN met Saturday with Medina to demand immediate action on RegisterFly's failure to provide adequate WHOIS information and make critical transfer codes (known as auth-info codes) available to customers. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2007/03/12/two_registerfly_sites_online_as... International Domain Names May Be Introduced By 2008 ICANN is running tests to see if spelling Internet domains with non-English characters like Chinese or Arabic will affect the Net's efficiency. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006729310 Recent Submissions by Proposed ICM Registry in Support of Sponsorship Criteria Adopted by the Board http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-13mar07.htm ICANN: Anycast And Communication Foiled February's Root Server Attack ICANN's evaluation analyzes what happened during the attack on the root servers, which ones were hit the hardest, and what kept them running. http://informationweek.com/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198000575 GoDaddy Makes Reporting Invalid Whois Easy Want to report an invalid whois record? Just click the link. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/13/godaddy-makes-reporting-invalid-whois-e... Whirlpool gives IP address management a spin While Whirlpool focuses on the business of making kitchen and laundry appliances, lead network engineer Gregory Fisbeck keeps his eye on thousands of IP addresses. With some 80,000 employees and 200 locations worldwide, Whirlpool network staff has always had its hands full managing multiple DNS zones and thousands of IP addresses. But last year's acquisition of Maytag increased Whirlpool's eight or nine DNS zones under management to some 16, shining a spotlight on a much-needed operational upgrade, Fisbeck says. http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1806000247;fp;2;fpid;2 http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1806000247;fp;4;fpid;78268965 U.K. Secondary Domain Name Market Sees a Growth of More than 150% in 2006 - Growth in .co.uk domain value exceeds that of .com (news release) Annual statistics for 2006 compiled by domain marketplace Sedo and DNJournal reveal a surge of 153% in the value of all published .CO.UK domain sales worldwide, in comparison to a growth of 79% in 2005. Already one of the worlds most expensive online addresses with an average sales value of £2,062.15. The increasing scarcity of quality .CO.UK domains, and the continued recovery in the UK online industry, have steadily driven prices higher in the past years http://www.sedo.co.uk/presse/presse_130307.php4?tracked=&partnerid=&language=e Hundreds of Thousands of .mobi Domains Registered Over 400,000 .mobi domains have been registered since the domain for mobile devices was launched last October, according to dotMobithe organization charged with managing .mobi, which includes the allocating of top level names. http://www.psionplace.com/articles/2007/3/2007-3-9-Hundreds-of-Thousands.htm... Topix.com Sells for $1M An article in the Wall Street Journal confirmed that the domain name Topix.com was purchased for $1M in January. The new owner is Topix.net, which receives 10M visitors per month. The company understood the user confusion of not owning the .com version of the domain and negotiated the purchase. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/13/topixcom-sells-for-1m/ Domain Sales Explode as Buyers Brush Off Signs of a Slowing Economy What a roller coaster ride the past couple of weeks have been. Last week we witnessed one of the slowest domain sales weeks we've seen in some time. Yesterday former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said we may see an economic recession by the end of the year and today (Feb. 27) the stock market plunged a breathtaking 416 points in the biggest drop since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. So, does that mean the domain market's steady ascent is about to end? From the numbers out this week, we can only say "Forget about it!" http://dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2007/domainsales03-06-07.htm Net copes with key character test Tests are carried out to see how the net's addressing system copes with international character sets such as Chinese and Arabic. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6441093.stm ____________________________________________________________________________________ No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail