New top-level internet domain name for Kiwis is approved

The generic top-level internet domain designation .kiwi has been formally approved by ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). This provides an alternative to .(co, org, etc).nz for New Zealand companies and individuals to register a distinctive identity. Registration of .kiwi names is expected to become available as early as mid-August for registered …

ICANN Signs an Exchange of Letters with ccTLD Manager for Montenegro (.ME)

17 June 2013 ICANN has announced today that it has signed an Accountability Framework with the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) manager for .ME (Montenegro), the Ministry for Information Society and Telecommunications of Montenegro, on 13 May 2013. The Accountability Framework program provides two mechanisms by which ccTLD managers can formalise their relationship with …

ICANN gears up for the arrival of new web domain

The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the not-for-profit organization that oversees web addresses, has created two new executive positions as it prepares for the arrival of a slew of new web domain names.   Chief operating officer Akram Atallah will become president of the newly-created Generic Domains Division on July 1, ICANN …

ICANN NomCom Monthly Report Cards

The 2013 NomCom adopted an initiative during their first meeting in Toronto, Canada on 19 – 20 October 2012, to produce a monthly report card as a method to communicate with the Community on a regular basis. Monthly Report Cards: October 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013

GAC Advice on .africa application fails to address vital concerns

Beijing 46th meeting was the platform that was used to post the ICANN GAC advice, which is a requirement of the new gTLD progress for all the new applications.  GAC is an advisory body to ICANN. Though their advice came slightly after the deadline since the new gTLD program guideline clearly indicates in Module 3: …

“The Emperor’s New Clothes”: Uniforum does not have endorsement for its “.africa” Application

  Its been exposed that Uniforum SA, the allegedly AU and African Government endorsed Competition to DotConnectAfrica for the .africa TLD,  does have the  claimed endorsement that they have been reporting on the news media quite widely. . Additionally Uniforum’s purported AU endorsements has also been in dispute for a long time now and subject to an objection by …

The Rise of Cyrillic Domain Names

This week, on a cruise ship navigating Russia’s Neva river, around 250 domain registrars and resellers are gathered for the RU-CENTER annual domain conference. RU-CENTER is the largest Russian registrar in a market that is dominated by three companies. RU-CENTER and competitor Reg.Ru both manage around 28% of domains registered in the country’s national suffix …

Kuek Yu-Chuang a Technology Policy Expert to Lead ICANN’s Asia Engagement Strategy

Kuek Yu-Chuang a Technology Policy Expert to Lead Los Angeles, California… Kuek Yu-Chuang, a leading executive in technology policy development has been named Vice President for Global Stakeholder Engagement for the Asia Region. He will assume the role on August 1st, 2013. Kuek has served most recently as a Senior Director for Yahoo! Inc., where …