ICANN GTLD Plan Questioned By US Lawmakers

The board at ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the nonprofit organization created in 1998 to oversee the Internet's domain name system, voted in June 2008 to move toward unlimited gTLDs, in addition to the 21 gTLDs available now, including .com, .biz, and .info. Under the ICANN plan, anyone could apply for a new gTLD -- some suggested have been .food, .basketball and .eco -- at a cost of about US$100,000.

Members of a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Wednesday questioned ICANN Chief Operating Officer Doug Brent about why the organization continues to move forward with its plan to sell new generic top-level domains, or gTLDs. Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, complained that ICANN hasn't been able to resolve complaints about its plan to sell new gTLDs to compete with .com, .org and other current TLDs.

Asked by lawmakers how soon ICANN planned to offer new gTLDs, Brent said he wasn't sure. ICANN had originally planned to offer them this year, but the latest estimate is February, and Brent said he expects that deadline to slip as ICANN works with critics to resolve issues.
Critics of the TLD expansion, including Hewlett-Packard and Dell, have complained that a huge expansion of gTLDs would force trademark owners to buy multiple domains on each new gTLD, potentially costing them and their customers billions of dollars. This week, the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), an organization with 19 large-business members, called on the U.S. government to conduct a "full-scale" audit of ICANN.

ICANN's Brent defended the organization's decision to move forward with new gTLDs. Internet users, including the U.S. government, have long called for new TLDs, he said. In addition, the expansion of TLDs would allow Internet users who don't use the Roman alphabet to have domain names in their native languages, he noted.

While the results or the next move is not yet known, it would be interesting to see how ICANN - operating much like a corporate instead of NGO resolves this issue!

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.tv - Tuvalu - The Story of a Sinking Island

Do you know where does .TV domain originate from? I admit, I always thought .tv for television (ignorance ... sighs...) but today while doing a search for something else, I came across the origin for .tv ccTLD extension. OK, so while you have time here are some interesting facts on .tv domains..tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the island nation of Tuvalu. Except for reserved names like .com.tv, .net.tv, .org.tv and others, any person in the world can register a .tv domain for a fee. The domain name is popular (and thus economically valuable) because it is an abbreviation of the word 'television' (other similar ccTLDs are .me, .fm, .am, .cd, .dj and .mu). Such unconventional usage of TLDs in domain names are known as domain hacks.
Tuvalu was formerly known as the Ellice Islands. A Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls. Its population of 11,992 makes it the third-least-populated independent country in the world, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. It is also one of the smallest member by population of the United Nations. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican City—0.44 km²; Monaco—1.95 km² and Nauru—21 km².
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. The islands came under the UK's sphere of influence in the late 19th century. The Ellice Islands were administered by Britain as part of a protectorate from 1892 to 1916 and as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony from 1916 to 1974. In 1974, the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully independent within The Commonwealth in 1978.
As low-lying islands, lacking a surrounding shallow shelf, the island communities of Tuvalu are especially susceptible to changes in sea level and storm patterns that hit the island undissipated. It is estimated that a sea level rise of 20–40 centimetres (8–16 inches) in the next 100 years could make Tuvalu uninhabitable. The South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) suggests that while Tuvalu is vulnerable to climate change there are additional environmental problems such as population growth and poor coastal management that are affecting sustainable development on the island. SOPAC ranks the country as extremely vulnerable using the Environmental Vulnerability Index. While some commentators have called for the relocation of the population of Tuvalu to Australia, New Zealand, or Kioa (Fiji), the former Prime Minister Maatia Toafa said his government did not regard rising sea levels as such a threat that the entire population would need to be evacuated. In spite of persistent Internet rumours that New Zealand has agreed to accept an annual quota of 75 evacuees, the annual residence quota of 75 Tuvaluans under the Pacific Access Category (and 50 places for people from Kiribati) replaced the previous Work Schemes from the two countries and are not related to environmental concerns.
At its highest, Tuvalu is only 4.5 m above sea level, and could be one of the first nations to experience the effects of sea level rise caused by climate change. Not only could parts of the island be flooded, the rising saltwater table could destroy deep rooted food crops such as coconut and taro.
Considering that Tuvalu islands may sink one day - Do you think it is wise to purchase a .tv domain? Would they earn more money in future for domainers or a sheer lost money should the island really get washed up and becomes inhabitable for the human race? Do share your views on .tv extensions!

If you are considering to purchase or search for available .tv ccTLD domains - visit Pubdomains.com - we register .tv domains!

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Mandatory ICANN Fees Reduced by 2cents

The mandatory fee charged by ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers: www.icann.org). which was effective from November 1, 2004. is now 18 cents per domain name registration year. Thus, the fee on a one year .com registration would be 18 cents. The fee would be $0.36 for a two year registration (i.e. 18 cents times 2). Additional years would be at 18 cents per year.

ICANN fees apply to .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .name, .jobs, .mobi, and .asia.

The new fees structure has already been incorporated on Pubdomains.com Web Store – a one stop shop for all your Domain Registration, Email and Web Hosting on Linux and Windows and SSL Certificates.

Announcement was made at the 35th International Meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reduction in ICANN mandatory fees charged on registration of gTLD’s.

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ICANN - Uniform Rapid Suspension - Comments Closed

ICANN - URS IS NOT NEEDED

Monday 6th July was the last date to submit your comments to proposed URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension) policy introduced by ICANN.

While a lot has been talked about the role of ICANN itself, read more on the public hearing about lack of transparency and accountability, ICANN is yet to give the final report after comment period ended on July 6th 2009.

If you are wondering what URS (Uniform Rapid Suspension) is - ICANN, the organization that sets the guidelines for arbitration panels to follow in reaching their decisions, governs the issuance of domain names ending in .com and .net, for example, and has recently proposed a new plan called the Uniform Rapid Suspension System Policy (URS) that could give trademark holders the ability to file a simple form complaint for only $200. By filing the URS complaint it automatically freezes the domain name in dispute before the domainer ever has a chance to respond to the complaint and before a decision is ever rendered.

Although the URS on its face only applies to the new gTLD’s, comments made by representatives of ICANN clearly indicate that they will in fact apply to all existing extensions (.com. .net. &.org) meaning all the domains you own sooner than later.

Background information and links to the final Report can be found by clicking here.

While this is such an important decision regarding domains that you may own, and affects every domain owner on the planet, ICANN decided to play it down and instead of sending email to every admin contact for registered domains, it has rather demonstrated the lack of transparency by just publishing the information on its website only. Did you receive any email informing you that IRT may decide the fate of your domains - and you should participate. Of course with ICANN the term democracy doesn't apply, and it is playing in the hands of business parties with vested interest. Clearly evident from the fact that no member of IRT was from domain investment background and thus couldn't have a balanced view about the whole process.

Would you as a domainer be happy if someone could stop your running website by simply paying a paltry $1.5 (for mass filing - you get a discount from ICANN) in a one sided arbitrary fashion and you are left to defend the ownership of domain. All along your domains and your website would remain locked and frozen!

Internet Commerce Association (ICA) is taking up the issue on behalf of domainers and suggest you visit the site to learn more about their activity.

I hope some good sense prevails over ICANN and they think 'Logically' and with right approach before passing the judgement. This may as well be the turning point that would force domain owners to unite and stand up against not so tranparent ICANN.

I welcome your views on this topic and incase you haven't sent comment to ICANN, please do feel free to make your opinion heard on this blog.