Japan Registry Services have published their JP Domain Name Registry Report 2008, their 2008 annual report, outlining the activities for 2008 regarding the management of the .JP ccTLD.

Probably the most noteworthy of the .JP happenings was the passing of the one million registrations mark on March 1, 2008. As of May 1 2009 the number stands at 1,090,476. For a country the size of Japan, with around 127 million people, this is a very low rate of registrations per capita. … more

Sweden’s registry, .SE, is undertaking a series of free courses to alert Sweden’s municipalities on the use of secure DNS, or DNSSEC with the first course taking place in Sundsvall on 4 June. .SE found that 11 of the 290 Swedish municipalities are using secure DNS. … more

The Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) posted its Final Report on Trademark Protection in New gTLDs [PDF, 300K].

The IRT (Members of the IRT are listed here [PDF, 88K]) was formed by ICANN’s Intellectual Property Constituency in accordance with the 6 March, 2009 ICANN Board resolution (icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-06mar09.htm). The resolution was in response to the request by the community seeking solutions for potential issues for trademark holders in the implementation of new gTLDs. The team reflects experiential and geographic diversity and is comprised of 18 members and two alternates. … more

As one important element of transparency and accountability, ICANN strives to publish meaningful, accessible financial and operational information. Through its history, ICANN has consistently increased its financial reporting. Within the last 24 months, for example, ICANN developed monthly dashboard reporting on financial data. Earlier this year, the dashboard started to provide financial information by primary functions. See forms.icann.org/idashboard/public/. … more

A wide range of amendments have been approved to the contract that defines the rules for the retail level of the Internet’s domain name system.

The set of 17 amendments to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) were agreed to unanimously by the ICANN Board on 21 May 2009 and follow an extensive consultation that engaged all interested elements of the Internet community including governments, individual Internet users, and gTLD registrars. … more

Responding to a request from the ICANN Board, the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) and the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) have commissioned a study of the potential impact on the operation of the root server system of adding IPv6 address records, IDN top level names, other new TLDs, and new records to support DNS security to the root zone. … more

“House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., will hold a June 4 hearing to examine the future of the U.S. government’s relationship with” ICANN, reports Tech Daily Dose. … more

An online question box where community members can ask questions directly to the ICANN Board and staff has opened today.

The question box will take questions until Wednesday 17 June in preparation for the public forum at ICANN’s international public meeting in Sydney on Thursday 25 June. … more

On 26 May 2009, the GAC submitted a final letter [PDF, 72K] responding to the ICANN Board’s concerns about the ability to implement the provisions of article 2 of the GAC Principles regarding new gTLDs, particularly paragraph 2.7¹. The letter recommends, as a minimum, that the names contained in three internationally recognised lists must be reserved at the second level at no cost to governments of all new gTLDs. However, other issues relating to geographic names at the top level and the potential misuse of the respective names at the second level requires further discussion. … more

Never letting a chance go by, cybersquatters have seized on the names of the semi-finalists of Britain’s Got Talent, registering the domain names and fake Twitter accounts of 33 of the 40 remaining contestants. … more

Writing for the BBC’s Tech Lab, Paul Twomey, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) CEO and President, writes about the internet’s potential for change as part of their Tech Lab series. Previous contributors have included Vint Cerf, who at the time was Chair of ICANN. … more

Instra Corporation, a global Domain Name and ENUM provider, is pleased to announce that it has successfully received a Research & Development Grant (R&D Tax Concession) from the Australian Government.

The R&D Tax Concession was introduced in 1986 to encourage Australian industry to undertake research and development activities. It aims to make eligible companies more internationally competitive by encouraging innovative products, processes and services and by promoting technological advancement and strategic R&D planning. … more

The final Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) report, originally called for by 24 May 2009 will be published on 29 May, 2009. The IRT has rapidly performed their work, called for by the ICANN Board in a resolution on 6 March, 2009. … more

Melbourne IT has experienced slower growth than in previous years, but in 2008 the company still saw the number of domain names managed rise by eight per cent to 5.9 million. … more

80.com is up for grabs on Sedo, and with just over one day to go at the time of writing, the current bid is for US$51,000 with the reserve not yet met. … more