.UK – Second-level domains launched today – 10th June 2014

It is now possible to register .UK second-level domain names that do not have an equivalent name already registered as a .CO.UK or a .ORG.UK on a first-come, first served basis.

Holders of existing third-level .UK domains (.CO.UK, .ORG.UK, etc.) registered before 08:00hrs on 10 June 2014 will be offered the second-level equivalent of their current domain and will be given five years to decide whether they want to use it in addition to, or instead of their existing third-level domain.

The registration rules for second-level .UK domains will be essentially the same as for existing .CO.UK and .ORG.UK domains, with the following two exceptions:
• An address for service in the UK will be required for overseas registrants (which Com Laude can provide); and
• PO Boxes will not be allowed in the address.

Pricing for new domains will be GBP 3.50 per year for single year registrations and GBP 2.50 per year for multi-year registrations. Com Laude fees are additional and VAT will be added where applicable.

Com Laude offers corporate domain name management and online trademark protection for corporations worldwide. In addition, Com Laude offers the advice brand owners need in order to formulate a sharp strategy with regard to domain name registration in all the new gTLDs at the second level.

What can we learn from new gTLD registrant take up so far? 

Its early days for the new gTLDs. Can we learn anything from registrant take up yet? At the start of March 2014, the total number of registrations across over 130 new gTLDs was over 200,000, says Matthew Zook of Zooknic, which provides data and analysis for the domain name industry.  

The new gTLD, .GURU has attracted more than 40,000 registrations, .PHOTOGRAPHY 20,000, .TODAY and .TIPS 13,000 each. Five other registries have between 2,500 and 7,500 and the rest a meagre 1,000 or so. To have 200,000 registrations in the first quarter of the first year of the new gTLD program is hardly a tsunami when, for example, Nominet is registering over 105,000 .UK domains a month. Is this slow, low take up due to a lack of public interest or confusion at change of this magnitude? Is it because of poor marketing by registries and registrars or caution by rights owners that have the opportunity of priority registration in a Sunrise? Perhaps it is a combination of all these reasons – the natural consequence of a complex roll-out process.

The most keenly anticipated strings – .ART, .APP, .BLOG, .CLOUD, .MOVIE, .MUSIC, .SHOP – will not launch until much later this year when contention between the multiple applicants has been resolved. Some of these new gTLDs may capture the public’s imagination. Otherwise, we don’t expect to see any significant wave of registrations, other than in the geo-TLDs. The .LONDON new gTLD promises to be huge when it launches on 29 April. Meanwhile, if its innovation you want, you’ll have to wait for some of the “open restricted” and “.brand” registries to launch. What we have at the moment is what we’ve had for the past decade: registrations being sold to enhance online communication (and in the case of defensive registrations: registry coffers).

Com Laude offers corporate domain name management and online trademark protection for corporations worldwide. In addition, Com Laude offers the advice brand owners need in order to formulate a sharp strategy with regard to domain name registration in all the new gTLDs at the second level.

ICANN and internet governance: who should control the internet?

The US currently has more influence than any other stakeholder over internet governance.

• 40% of the internet backbone is in or passes through America.
• Ten of the 13 root servers are owned or controlled by American organisations and the three not distributed by anycast are on US soil.
• ICANN is based in California and is subject to US law.
• The Affirmation of Commitments, one of ICANN’s principal governing documents, signed by both former ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom in 2009 and the US Department of Commerce mandates that ICANN remains “a not for profit corporation, headquartered in the United States of America with offices around the world to meet the needs of a global community”.
• The IANA contract gives the US more control over root zone management than any other country. The contract was up for renewal in 2011, but only US-based organisations were permitted to apply.

Tensions between the US and the international community have escalated since whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed PRISM, the US surveillance programme. The recent revelations have provided a catalyst to some governments to accelerate ICANN’s break from what they regard as the US internet stranglehold. Even though ICANN’s independence and DNS management does not relate directly to the NSA and its mass surveillance practices, the US stands condemned.

Brazil is now the spearhead of a very public anti-NSA movement after it was revealed that President Dilma Rousseff’s email and telephone calls were tapped by the US agency. Brazil was also one of the nations that backed International telecommunications Union (ITU) oversight over internet governance at the World Conference on International Communications (WCIT), held in December 2012 in Dubai.

The result of these developments has been the Montevideo Statement on the Future of Internet Cooperation which was signed by internet leaders including representatives from ICANN, the IEGF, W3C, the Internet Society and the five regional internet address registries in Uruguay on 7 October 2013. At this event new models of internet governance were discussed. They will be raised again at the Brazil-ICANN Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance, 23-24 April 2014, where the goal is to create a an “institutional framework for multistakeholder internet governance” and to “globalise current institutions”.

At the ICANN meeting in Argentina in November, ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé faced some tough questions from all parts of the ICANN community. Why is ICANN prioritising governments above other parties in the multistakeholder model? Does ICANN want to move to Switzerland and become an International Treaty Organisation or part of the ITU? What is the problem that ICANN is trying to address because the Snowden revelations have nothing to do with ICANN? ICANN’s policy making body, the GNSO, criticised Chehadé for heavy handed, top-down decision making; ICANN Board member, Chris Disspain, countered and described Chehadé’s movements as an “effort to preserve the multistakeholder model” and mitigate against the risk of “the governance of the internet falling into governmental control”.

If you are interested in contributing to the discussion on the future of internet governance, or would like to stay updated on recent developments, you are invited to join the open mailing list: https://nro.net/mailman/listinfo/i-coordination. In addition, a comprehensive website on the topic will soon be released at this address:http://www.1net.org.

Valideus, Com Laude’s sister company, offers strategic new gTLD consulting and registry management services for applicants engaged in ICANN’s New gTLD Program. It is currently managing 5% of all new gTLD applications for clients from a diverse range of industry sectors, including global leaders in e-commerce, banking, consultancy, food, insurance, media, software and telecoms.

ICANN finally launches WHOIS website beta

We recently learned that this “new website, whois.icann.org, will be a centralised location for all WHOIS information, making it easier to learn about WHOIS, raise accuracy issues about WHOIS information and how to contribute to WHOIS policies”.
 
WHOIS – the database of registrant contact information – is a core part of ICANN’s mission. It was created in 1982 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a directory service for ARPANET users to locate the appropriate individuals to enable the resolution of any technical problems with the online network. ICANN adapted the IETF WHOIS in 1998 to fulfil the Department of Commerce’s requirement for a “searchable database”. Since then, it has evolved and is used for locating domain name registrants for aftermarket sales and law enforcement.
 
ICANN has the power to enforce the WHOIS protocol through the contractual relationships it has with registries and registrars, who are mandated to follow WHOIS protocols. In addition, registries and registrars are required to comply with ICANN’s Consensus Policies, which include a WHOIS Data Reminder Policy.
 
Despite these agreements, many WHOIS records contain inaccurate or invalid information, and some country-code TLD registries provide a confusing WHOIS, or no WHOIS at all.
 
This new online resource is a preliminary step towards improving WHOIS. Community members have been invited to view the beta WHOIS website and provide feedback. The second phase of the site is expected to go live in January 2014, when a search function will be added.

Com Laude Client Manager, Phillipa Dyball (formerly Phillipa Pook), advocated for a one-stop WHOIS shop back in 2011. It looks like she may now get her wish. Along with discussions on privacy and proxy service accreditation standards, this fresh look at WHOIS is long overdue but very welcome nonetheless.

Com Laude offers corporate domain name management and online trademark protection for corporations worldwide. In addition, Com Laude offers the advice brand owners need in order to formulate a sharp strategy with regard to domain name registration in all the new gTLDs at the second level.

And…we’re off! First new gTLD strings are delegated into the internet’s root zone

History has been made! On 23 October 2013, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) announced the first new gTLDs to be delegated into the internet’s “root zone”.

Akram Atallah, president of ICANN’s Generic Domains Division, proclaimed “It’s happening – the biggest change to the internet since its inception. In the weeks and months ahead, we will see new domain names coming online from all corners of the world, bringing people, communities and businesses together in ways we never imagined. It’s this type of innovation that will continue to drive our global society.”

This shakeup to the internet’s naming system is set to create opportunities to enhance competition and innovation on the web, through transforming how information is circulated, marketed and discovered online. VeriSign’s .com space is incredibly crowded, with many startups coining new words to name their company, just so they can acquire affordable .com real estate (e.g. Reddit, Spotify, Tumblr). These new gTLD extensions will transform the increasingly cramped domain name space, offering more variety and choice to all internet users.

The first delegated strings are:

You might notice that they are written in languages that do not use the Latin alphabet. That’s because ICANN decided to put Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) first, to make the internet more global. Before today, aside from a few ccTLDs, IDNs could only be registered at the second level.

Now that the strings are online, it is up to the associated registries to sign up ICANN 2013-compliant registrars, coordinate PR and marketing efforts, publish their Sunrise Policy and issue their 30-day Sunrise Notice Period. In other words, this is a big milestone, but there is much work to be done before consumers start using domain names in these new pieces of internet real estate. That’s not likely to happen until the beginning of 2014.

How will ICANN handle 1,400 more new gTLDs coming online over the next few years? If reported alleged early violations are anything to go by, they will be completely overwhelmed.

How will trademark owners handle 1,400 new gTLDs coming online in the next few years? With trepidation and consternation. While they are given a chance to register their brands before infringers, it comes at a cost. Nevan Chellan, Com Laude’s Special Projects Manager for these trademark Sunrise periods, reports that “it’s still early days for brand awareness, but we are seeing an uptick in monitoring activity.”

How will the public react? Many have said that we don’t need these new gTLDs. We didn’t need our Kindle or camera phone a few years ago either. Now, they’re virtually irreplaceable.

Com Laude offers corporate domain name management and online trademark protection for corporations worldwide. In addition, Com Laude offers the advice brand owners need in order to formulate a sharp strategy with regard to domain name registration in all the new gTLDs at the second level.

Google signs its first Registry Agreement with ICANN

The time has come – another historic moment in the new gTLD program. Internet search giant, Google has signed its first Registry Agreement with ICANN for the new gTLD .みんな (“everyone” in Japanese). Google proposes that the TLD will adopt an open registration policy; therefore if a domain name under .みんな is available, anyone will be able to register it.

As yet, none of the executed new gTLD contracts have substantially changed from the approved base agreement, and with 44 Registry Agreements already signed (29 signed by Donuts, which is seven more than the same number of existing TLDs!), the first new gTLD Sunrise periods are likely to start later this year. We are therefore left wondering whether we will see the first registry go live before the next ICANN meeting in Buenos Aires; what an exciting prospect that would be!

Valideus, Com Laude’s sister company, offers strategic new gTLD consulting and registry management services for applicants engaged in ICANN’s New gTLD Program. It is currently managing 5% of all new gTLD applications for clients from a diverse range of industry sectors, including global leaders in e-commerce, banking, consultancy, food, insurance, media, software and telecoms.

20% of new gTLDs have UK roots

In this multi-national multi-lingual age of global communication across territorial boundaries, why do we still celebrate national success? Hard to say, but we found ourselves analysing the provenance of new gTLD applications last week. So how well did the UK perform?

Our not-very-scientific study indicates that of the total 1,930 new gTLD strings applied for, 394 (or 20.4%) were from organisations based in the UK. Of these, applications for 96 strings were from UK based organisations and 280 strings were supported by UK based organisations.

Although this figure of 20.4% includes the 18 applications made but withdrawn by UK based organisations, we think it is impressive that one fifth of the new gTLD registries have got at least one foot on this green and pleasant land. Credit must be given to Her Majesty’s Department for Culture Media and Sport, which strived to ensure that UK business was aware of the possible advantages to the digital economy that the new gTLD program could deliver. We’d like to name check Mark Carvell, the UK’s representative on ICANN’s Government Advisory Committee, who is particularly effective at championing British interests.

Valideus is managing 124 out of the 394 UK based new gTLD applications. First the applications were created and now the strategies for launch and day to day operation are being formulated. The process of identifying short and long term uses for a registry is Valideus' priority.


Valideus, Com Laude’s sister company, offers new gTLD consulting services for ICANN’s new gTLD process. It is currently managing 5% of all new gTLD applications for clients from a diverse range of industry sectors, including global leaders in e-commerce, banking, consultancy, food, insurance, media, software and telecoms.