Mathieu Weill, AFNIC’s CEO, has replaced Andrzej Bartosiewicz from the Polish registry NASK as CEO of CENTR as his two-year term was coming to an end. … more

DENIC have allowed the registration of the two-letter domain name BR.DE. The domain was excluded from the release of two-character domains affected in autumn 2009. Upon DENIC’s objection, this temporary injunction was now rescinded. The domain name was subsequently registered at 15:00 on 18 February. … more

A survey of the domain registration behaviour of Fortune 100 companies conducted by Minds + Machines reveals that they have not registered many of their trademarks in recently created generic top-level domains (gTLDs). … more

[news release] VeriSign, the operator of.com, announced today that President Bill Clinton will deliver the opening keynote address at its Policy Impact Forum in Washington D.C. on March 16. This event is part of a larger industry-wide campaign led by VeriSign recognizing 25 years of Internet innovation. … more

In what is being described by Chinese government officials as a means of tackling online pornography, individual domain name registrants are now able to register domain names, but are being forced to meet regulators and produce identity documents. Online activists are describing the new requirements as added censorship for Chinese internet users. … more

ICM Registry, the applicant for .XXX generic Top Level Domain, hopes to begin offering .XXX domain names in 2010 following an independent review of its application to, and subsequent refusal by, ICANN. … more

There were 192 million domain names registered around the world at the end of 2009, an increase of eleven million registrations over the previous quarter, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign. … more

Zone File Access Concept Paper [PDF, 260 KB]

Cost Model Information
Draft Program Development Snapshot High Security Zone Top-Level Domains Advisory Group (HSTLD AG) [PDF, 144 KB]

In one of many efforts to mitigate the potential for malicious conduct in new gTLDs, ICANN formed the Zone File Access (ZFA) Advisory Group and the High Security Top-Level Domain Advisory Group (“HSTLD AG”) following an announcement on 3 December 2009 (see, icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-03dec09-en.htm). … more

ICANN Strategic Plan July 2010 - June 2013 [PDF, 947 KB]

After extensive consultation with the community, including a workshop in Seoul as well as a first time ever survey conducted last Fall, the Strategic Plan [PDF, 947 KB] is being posted following its approval by the ICANN Board at its February meeting. In the joint communication from ICANN’s Chairman and CEO [PDF, 73 KB], it is noted that the Strategic Plan sets out ICANN’s priorities for the next three years and is used as the basis for shaping ICANN’s annual operating plan and budget. Details of the annual planning cycle can be found at icann.org/en/planning/. … more

The saga of the sex.com domain name has taken another turn. The saga was expertly described by Kieren McCarthy in his book called Sex.com. In the publicity for the book McCarthy asks “how far would you go to get the internet’s most valuable property?” … more

A working group has been formed by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communicationsto consider whether there is a demand in the country for new generic Top Level Domainssuch as .OSLO or .TRONDELAG. The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority will chair the group. … more

ICANN’s Kevin Wilson has posted on the ICANN blog a report on ICANN’s commitment to accountability and transparency that outlines the progress ICANN has made in this area. … more

In its latest meeting on the issue, the ICANN board decided on Friday that they will proceed with plans to hold their 37th meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, after considering all the security issues that have been raised in recent weeks. … more

Abstract: In December 2008, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has successfully completed its third installment on issues pertaining to Internet governance. The IGF promotes a multistakeholder environment, where protagonists engage in an extensive debate to discuss how the Internet should look in the future; with these discussions in place issues of cultural diversity and cultural relativism become more relevant than ever before. … more

ICANN is today opening a public comment forum on a proposed amendment from Afilias Limited to Appendix 6 & 7 of the .INFO Registry Agreement. … more