Domain Name News: Mar. 4 Week in Review

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Contest Final: 5 Worst Domain Names – Vote Now! – 04-Mar-11
Thanks to everyone for submitting what they believe are their worst domain names. I got a lot of really terrible names, so it’s no wonder domain registrars stay in business! Only kidding… I have plenty of crappy names in my portfolio.
Qatar Launches Country Specific Internet Domain Names – 04-Mar-11
Officials from the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQatar) have launched the Qatar Domains Registry (QDR). Qatar-specific internet domain names will be made available to the public in the Gulf state by August, it has been announced.
New Domain Extension .us.org Debuts With Six Year Complimentary Registration – 02-Mar-11
“The mission of .US.ORG is to embody higher standards of social responsibility and ethical behavior. CentralNic has elected to introduce protections and benefits for trademark holders that far exceed the measures currently proposed by ICANN for new top-level domains, and practiced by other domains and registries,” said Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic.
Feds Arrest Owner of Seized Sports Streaming Domain – 04-Mar-11
In the past several months, U.S. authorities have seized several domain names that were allegedly facilitating copyright infringement, and yesterday U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced the first arrest. The 32-year-old Texan Bryan McCarthy was arrested and has been charged with criminal copyright infringement. Meanwhile, the site associated with these criminal charges remains active.
Domain Drama Heats Up – 04-Mar-11
The small business that manages the dot-jobs domain has rejected ICANN’s claim that it violated its agreement with the Internet watchdog.
A Landmark Showdown at World Intellectual Property Organization – 03-Mar-11
Case represents a big victory against radical UDRP ideology. A World Intellectual Property Forum panel handed down a UDRP decision on March 1 that could reverberate for a while and finally put to rest some recent shenanigans with UDRP. If you aren’t a UDRP junkie you may not appreciate it. But if you are, read on…
Wales Calls On ICANN to Unleash .cymru – 03-Mar-11
Welsh deputy first minister Ieuan Wyn Jones has complained about delays to ICANN’s new generic top-level domains programme, which are holding up a plan to offer citizens “.cymru” domain names.
Apple Now Owns Facetime.com (But Still Doesn’t Own iPad.com) – 02-Mar-11
When Apple first announced its video calling application FaceTime on June 7, 2010 at the WWDC event, in conjunction with the iPhone 4, it quickly became apparent that there was a potential trademark conflict with a company called FaceTime Communications.

But Apple struck a deal with the company to transfer said trademark over to them, and FaceTime Communications subsequently changed its company name to Actiance.

As of yesterday, ownership of the domain name FaceTime.com was also transferred over to the Cupertino company.
Internationalised Domain Names Being Exploited – 02-Mar-11
Internationalised domain names (IDNs) are being exploited by spammers who are buying domains which feature non-Latin characters for a low cost. According to a warning from Symantec.cloud’s MessageLabs team, spammers are using these IDNs to redirect people clicking on emails links to spam sites.
Survey: Domain Name Marketplaces – 02-Mar-11
Major domain marketplaces continue to innovate and grow. The number of domain name sales venues is expanding. More importantly, the way these venues syndicate sales listings is leading to a more fluid domain aftermarket. Domainers use a number of domain marketplaces beyond the usual suspects. Still, the big three dominate: Sedo received the …
Help Wanted: Go Daddy Hits Hiring Milestone – 02-Mar-11
Go Daddy, the world’s top Web hosting provider and domain name registrar, now employs more than 3,000 people and is looking to hire at least 350 more in the weeks ahead. A majority of Go Daddy’s employees work in the legendary Customer Care centers, all based in the U.S. These are the people standing by the phones to help any of Go Daddy’s nearly nine million customers.
Google and Myob Announce Free Websites and Domain Names for 50000 Small Businesses – 02-Mar-11
Google and accounting software provider MYOB have announced an initiative to get 50,000 Australian businesses online for free. “Getting Aussie Business Online” (www.gettingbusinessonline.com.au) aims to provide free websites to small businesses in Australia using the MYOB Atlas website creation tool.
Hackname.com Launches Domain Name Hack Community – 01-Mar-11
A community that offers blogs, forums, articles, news, domain names for sale and information specialized for domain name hacks.
Security and Price Top Requirements for Domain Registrars – 01-Mar-11
Domain registrants look for security and price when selecting a domain registrar. Domain registrars need to focus on security and price if they want to win your business, according to a survey of over 1,500 people in the domain name industry. As usual, participants in Domain Name Wire’s annual survey said security was the most important …
CADNA Applauds ICANN .JOBS Charter Notice of Breach – 01-Mar-11
The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) applauds the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) efforts to enforce the existing .JOBS Registry Agreement with Employ Media, LLC. In addition to direct breach of the Registry Agreement, Employ Media and SHRM have demonstrated “failure to operate and manage the .JOBS TLD [top-level domain] in a manner consistent with the spirit and intention of the .JOBS registry.”
Contest! Make $50 By Selling Me Your Crappiest Domain Name – 28-Feb-11
We all have crappy domain names in our portfolio. Maybe we were a bit buzzed when we registered them, had spelling problems, or there were other reasons for
Pre-bidding Opens for Aftermarket.com Live Domain Auction – 28-Feb-11
Live auction kicks off with pre-bidding. Aftermarket.com is back in the live domain name auction game this week. The company will host a live domain name auction in The Bahamas and will simulcast it through its new Aftermarket.com site. The actual auction will be Thursday, March 3 at 2PM EST. But pre-bidding has already open at …
Spammers Exploiting Internationalised Domain Names – 28-Feb-11
Security experts are warning that spammers are taking advantage of internationalised domain names (IDNs) owing to their increasing availability and low cost. IDNs allow domain names to be written in non-Latin characters such as Arabic, Cyrillic and Chinese. The introduction of IDNs has been a long-running project for internet oversight body Icann, and is now reaching the implementation stage with top level domains such as .—Ä—Ñ for Russia.
Domain Name Registrations Pass 205 Million – 28-Feb-11
The global base of Internet domain names grew by nearly 3.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief, published by VeriSign, Inc. According to the report, the fourth quarter of 2010 closed with a base of 205.3 million domain name registrations across all Top Level Domains (TLDs), or a 1.7 percent increase over the third quarter. Registrations have grown by 12.1 million, or 6.3 percent year over year.
How to Protect Your Domain Name From Cybersquatting – 28-Feb-11
Safeguarding your presence on the Internet requires ongoing vigilance to uncover the schemes of unscrupulous characters.
No Support for US Proposal for Domain Name Veto – 28-Feb-11
The Obama administration has failed in its bid to allow it and other governments to veto future top-level domain names, a proposal before ICANN that raised questions about balancing national sovereignty with the venerable Internet tradition of free expression.
Fashion, Business Clients and Finances are the Latest Domain Names Acquired By ASAP Ventures – 26-Feb-11
Adding to its wide-reaching group of web-based businesses, ASAP Ventures Ltd has acquired new domain names Catwalk.co.uk, AssetManagement.org.uk and Clients.co.uk. The new domains join the company’s range of information and advice based sites in the group to help the British public stay advised on many specialised subjects. Looking after one’s finances needn’t have to cause problems any more with the new site from ASAP Ventures, AssetManagement.org.uk. Finding excellent advice and information about how to look after your money and asset management is now readily available at the click of a mouse.
Cyber Cops and Domain Name Registrars Meet to Tackle Net Crooks – 25-Feb-11
Cyber cops from both sides of the Atlantic are meeting with domain name registrars in Brussels today to try to figure out ways to crack down on internet crime. This second meeting of the “EU-US working group on cyber security and cybercrime” is dedicated to increasing cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the companies that unwittingly sell web addresses to online crooks, according to attendees.
Canadian, Eh? Embrace the .CA Domain Name – 25-Feb-11
A few months ago, I received a call from a client disappointed about not being able to get a particular .com domain name for a new blog being created by his company. After a quick check on the Web, I told him the .ca domain name was available. The response was a combination of surprise and delight because it was an option the client had not considered.