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January’s top domain name news stories

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Looking back at last month in domains.

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There was a lot of news in the domain name industry last month. Here’s a look at the top five posts on Domain Name Wire ranked by the number of pageviews.

1. This company’s domain name is a ten digit domain! – Using your telephone number as a domain name seems a little backward, doesn’t it?

2. .Com prices are going up after Verisign pays off ICANN – The optics are bad after ICANN accepts $20 million payment as part of a deal to raise .com prices.

3. Google’s new search results pages: love it or hate it? – A lot of people hate it, so Google is testing pages without favicons.

4. California Attorney General delays .org sale – The attorney general has opened an investigation into the sale and ICANN, but Public Interest Registry is pushing back on the delay.

5. XYZ to launch five top level domains this year – XYZ is on a .quest to provide more .beauty.

Here are the DNW podcasts published in January:

Podcasts:

#267 – The domain sales lander OG (listen)

#268 – Interview with Saw.com cofounders (listen)

#269 – From selling vinyl to selling domain names (listen)

#270 – A NamesCon preview with Michael Cyger and Monte Cahn (listen)

 

California AG backs down on document requests — for now

by — Policy & Law 10 Comments

Attorney general had already narrowed the initial scope before ICANN published letter.

Seal for the California Attorney General

On January 30, ICANN published a letter from the California Attorney General that asked ICANN to answer 35 questions relating to pricing practices and the transaction to sell .org to Ethos Capital.

Oddly, ICANN waited until last Friday, February 7, to publish a communication (pdf) between ICANN’s attorney at Jones Day (who used to work for the California attorney general) and the attorney general that was sent on January 29, a day before ICANN published the attorney general’s initial letter.

That email outlines that ICANN would prioritize document production to just three of the 35 requests. The email also stated, “Finally, you also agreed that, until further notice, ICANN need not produce documents or materials called for in the other requests.”

It turns out that Jones Day sent a formal letter (pdf) to the attorney general on January 31, linking to publicly available information in response to the three requests. Again, that letter wasn’t published until last Friday.

Why ICANN published the attorney general’s letter and blogged about it on January 30 without noting that the initial request had been narrowed in scope is beyond me.

It’s unclear if the attorney general merely delayed the other requests until it reviewed the initial information, or if it’s backing down from further requests. We might find out on another Friday.

Breaking: California Attorney General delays .org sale

by — Policy & Law 21 Comments

Office that oversees California non-profits demands extensive documentation.

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The California Attorney general has likely delayed approval of the .org sale to Ethos Capital by two months, if not more, after demanding extensive documentation from ICANN. The office supervises charitable organizations in California, where ICANN is based. [Update: PIR is pushing back on the delay.]

In a letter to ICANN (pdf), the attorney general has demanded responses to 35 questions and information requests. About half of the questions relate to ICANN’s decision to remove price caps on .org domain names. If it gets the answers it demands, it will get much more information than ICANN has previously disclosed about the process and thinking behind removing price caps on .org domain names last year.

It seems that the attorney general may wish to speak to individual members of ICANN’s board about the price removals. It has asked for their names and contact information.

The contract between ICANN and Public Interest Registry states that ICANN is not permitted to disclose Public Interest Registry’s confidential information unless there is a valid court order or ICANN’s counsel believes the disclosure is required by applicable law. ICANN believes that applies in this case and intends to provide the unredacted information to the Attorney General.

The current deadline for ICANN to approve or deny the sale is February 20. It is asking Public Interest Registry to extend this to April 20 as a result of the attorney general office’s request.

This is perhaps the biggest wrinkle so far in Internet Society’s plans to sell the registry for $1.135 billion to a private equity company. While many have weighed in, the California Attorney General may argue it has direct regulatory control over ICANN. It could also give ICANN a “reasonable” reason to deny the sale, depending on the outcome.