Have you been following the story about Sacha Baron Cohen? Cohen is a comedian who frequently makes fun of Kazakhstan (mostly for its politics). He has (had) a site on Kazakhstan's country code, .kz, that made fun of the country and its backward ... Continue ReadingLeave a Comment
How NOT to win a cybersquatting case
· Policy & LawI came across an interview in The Gothamist today about author Ron Hogan. Hogan is author of "The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane!", co-editor of Galleycat; and editor of of Beatrice.com. One of the questions made me laugh: Q: What prompted you to ... Continue ReadingLeave a Comment
Two fined $2.3M for sending fake domain renewal notices
· Domain Registrars, Policy & LawIf you own more than a couple domain names then you've surely received one of those emails or letters telling you to renew your domain or risk losing it. The notification is actually a trick to get you to transfer your domain to another registrar. Two ... Continue Reading1 Comment
eBay Scammer is back…
· Policy & LawIn October I wrote about a person listing domains on eBay that he didn't own. When someone would bid on the domains he'd subsequently register them. He also added a bogus $15 transfer charge to the domains. This insured that he never lost money. (See ... Continue Reading3 Comments
Court rules against domain owner provotownecenter.com
· Policy & LawI find this story interesting because it involves a domain owner who has no chance of winning but keeps fighting. Steven Rasmussen lost a UDRP for the domain provotownecenter.com but is still fighting in court. Provo Towne Centre is a mall in Utah. ... Continue ReadingLeave a Comment
2006 Domain Name Survey
· Domain Registrars, Domain Sales, Expired Domains, Policy & Law, Services, UncategorizedDomain Name Wire is doing a study of the domain name market and where we're headed in 2006. Please take a few minutes to complete our survey. Survey results will be provided free of charge at the conclusion of the survey period. If you have a domain ... Continue ReadingLeave a Comment
U.S. Government blasts ICANN for Whois Data
· Policy & LawThe U.S. General Accountability Office has issued a report claiming that over 5% of domains in Whois contain contact information that is "obviously and intentionally false". This doesn't surprise me. How many times do you find phone numbers like ... Continue ReadingLeave a Comment
Typosquatting: What’s the worst that can happen?
· Policy & LawOwn typos of popular domain names and think the worst case scenario is getting slapped with a UDRP? Think again. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit against a Chicago jeweler accused of diverting typo traffic from competitors. The ... Continue Reading1 Comment
.asia Approved, .XXX in Q1 2006
· Policy & LawICANN's president Paul Twomey told reporters that a decision on the .xxx domain will likely be made in Q1 2006. .xxx was supposed to be on the agenda at the Vancouver meetings but was removed. ICANN gave tentative approval to a .asia domain extension. ... Continue Reading1 Comment
.Travel, ICANN, and commercial interests
· Policy & LawCommercial travel services companies have been able to apply for .travel domain names for a couple months now. Non-commercial travel entities, such as globetrotters, cannot register the domains. Edward Hasbrouck, author of The Practicle Nomad travel ... Continue ReadingLeave a Comment