ICANN: .vin and .wine domains set to be Uncorked despite objections

“It would be ill-advised for ICANN to attempt to define bad faith behaviour related to the use of geographical indications… when the world’s experts have been unable to do so for years,” the US letter said. Online addresses ending in .wine and .vin are set to be uncorked soon, despite objections from European governments and …

ICANN stifles a privacy advocate’s dissent

The Internet Governance Project (IGP) writes: ICANN’s Expert Working Group (EWG) on Whois and privacy, which published its final report today, has unfortunately continued a long tradition of failing to find consensus between privacy advocates and business interests. The business interests see coerced publication of domain name registration data as an invaluable aid to brand protection and law enforcement, …

NTIA escapes IANA spending restriction in Senate spend Bill

UPDATE: I am not going to rewrite this blog post. However, since writing it earlier today, I learned that there was a late addition — a “managers’ package” — added to the bill prior to passage. That new language, offered by Senator Johanns, adds a requirement that Senate Commerce receive 7 days advance notice of …

Second House of Representatives “must pass” legislation amendment ups the stakes on ICANNTransition

The House of Representatives has passed another measure related to the proposed IANA functions transition, and has again attached it to “must pass” legislation. This move ups the ante and may well be the final straw that compels the Senate Commerce Committee to hold its own oversight hearing on the IANA transition proposal. On May …

ICANN: Contention Sets and New gTLD Auctions

Depending on the person, the word auction can bring to mind a dusty, hot structure full of livestock and a fast-talking announcer with a Western lilt to his voice or a cool, quiet room of well-dressed art patrons waiting for the next Impressionist masterpiece to be unveiled in a stately building on the Upper East …

International – Registrants get the ‘.club’, but are brand owners outside looking in?

With heavyweight endorser 50 Cent throwing his weight behind the ‘.club’ gTLD, the string has shot to the top of the gTLD registrations table. However, new research suggests that brand owners are shying away from making wholesale defensive registrations. At time of writing, ntldstats.com’s list of the top 10 gTLDs consists of:  ‘.club’ (61,713   domains …

SOPHIA BEKELE: Founder DCA Trust & Yes2dotAfrica speaks on Digital INNOVATION at NYF Africa

The NYF Africa 2014 focused on transformation: unlocking the competitiveness of the African economy through building value chains around the transformation of the continent’s natural resources, including its human capital. In knowledge economies, such as those in the western world, education is the foundation of economic competitiveness and global prosperity – and is inseparable from …