Issue 106 - 13th February

The domain name industry continues to be fraught with unethical companies employing dubious sales tactics and in some cases blatant scams. An interesting article published yesterday by The Web Host Industry Review warns consumers of some of these scams. The WHIR estimates that as many as 20 domain name resellers are ceasing operations each month. This further highlights the importance of always working with a well established and ICANN Accredited registrar. Click here to read the full article.

Expansion of .edu domain name approved

The .edu domain name suffix, currently available only to colleges and universities, will soon be opened up to a wider range of educational institutions.

Educause, the nonprofit group that oversees the .edu domain, will make it available to new types of institutions, such as dance studios and beauty schools, from mid-April this year.

.edu was one of the early generic Top Level Domains (gTLDS) established back in the mid 1980's. Originally reserved for colleges and universities offering four-year degree courses, the name-space was first expanded in 2001 to also include community colleges. Currently there are about 7,500 .edu domain names registered.

Chinese domain registry to notify clients of change

Any .cn domain names that were registered directly with CNNIC (the Chinese Registry) prior to December 2002 will soon to be required to be transferred to a China based Registrar. CNNIC will be notifying owners of these domains via email next week and they will be required to be moved during the month of March 2003.

ICANN extension draws criticism

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently issued a notice of intent for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to continue its contract for another three years. This contract relates to the operation of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) including coordinating the root zone of the domain name system, and allocating IP address spaces. These functions are widely considered crucial to the stability of the Internet but ICANN has attracted significant criticism for a range of shortcomings since its inception 3 years previously.

The decision has therefore drawn criticism from various groups within the industry who claim that a proper period of consultation was not offered and that other organisations should have had a chance to bid for the contract.

Press Release: Reckitt Benckiser to protect household brands with NetNames

Global domain name strategy to be implemented using Platinum Service

London - 6 February 2003 - Domain management company, NetNames, has today announced a deal with Reckitt Benckiser, the world's leading household products company. Under the agreement, NetNames Platinum Service will be used to manage Reckitt Benckiser's portfolio of country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs). 

Reckitt Benckiser has recently implemented a strategic plan to protect all their key brands in major geographical markets. Their domain name portfolio includes many household brands such as Disprin, Harpic, Lysol, Dettol, Lemsip, Airwick and Vanish.

Full release available at www.netnames.com