DomainPulse.com - The Beat on the Domain Name Industry

Pre-Prague ICANN Policy Update Webinar Invitation

David Goldstein — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:18:41 +0000

In order to participate, please RSVP via email to the GNSO Secretariat (gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org) to receive the call details.

Whether you plan to participate in the upcoming ICANN meeting in Prague remotely or in person, you’re invited to an update on the background and current status of each major policy issue currently under discussion in ICANN.

The ICANN Policy Staff will provide a briefing on Thursday 14 June at 12.00 UTC and Thursday 14 June at 19.00 UTC, summarizing policy issues across the different ICANN Supporting Organizations, namely the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) and Address Supporting Organization (ASO). Amongst other topics, updates will be provided on:

Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy
WHOIS
RAA Improvements
Consumer Choice, Competition and Innovation
Study Group on Use of Names for Countries and Territories
Framework of Interpretation Working Group for the delegation and re-delegation of ccTLDs
Joint DNS Security and Stability Analysis Working Group
Participation and Engagement activities in Prague

In addition, staff will provide a briefing on the ALAC‘s activities related to current policy development issues of the Supporting Organizations.

The two sessions are duplicates, scheduled to accommodate different time zones. Each session, scheduled to run for 90 minutes, will be conducted in English only. The meeting will be run in Adobe Connect with a slide presentation along with a dial-in conference bridge for audio.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of each session. During the course of the webinar, questions may be submitted using the chat function of Adobe Connect. If you are not able to participate in either of the live sessions, the recording of the session will be made available shortly after the meeting. The policy staff is always available to answer any questions that you email to policy-staff@icann.org.

In order to participate, please RSVP via email to the GNSO Secretariat (gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org) to receive the call details. Please indicate which call you would like to join, Thursday at 13.00 UTC or Thursday at 20.00 UTC (to convert those times into your local time, see: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedform.html). We will send you an e-mail reminder before the event with log-in and dial-in details. Please DO NOT RSVP to any other ICANN staff members e-mail address.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-16may12-en.htm

ICANN: Open-Source Reference Implementation of a Domain Name RESTful Whois Server – Request for Proposals

David Goldstein — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:13:53 +0000

ICANN is issuing today a Request for Proposal [PDF, 183 KB] to identify a provider capable of providing an open source reference implementation of a Domain Name RESTful Whois server.

On 15 May 2012, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) chartered a new working group to standardize a RESTful-based Registration Data Access Protocol. In order to facilitate the evaluation and adoption of the replacement protocol for domain registries and registrars, ICANN is seeking proposals for an open source reference implementation.

Whois services, and their effectiveness in the case of Internationalized registration data, are important issues for ICANN. ICANN has been working to make advances in this area, appreciating the technical community’s past and present contributions, and committed to collaborating with the technical and policy community to improve the Whois service.

Beginning in 2002, ICANN‘s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) published various advisories describing the needs for improvement related to the Whois protocol, service and data schema, most recently SAC 051 [PDF, 237 KB]: SSAC Report on Domain Name Whois Terminology and Structure. SAC 051 summarizes the previous advisories, and among other things, recommends that the ICANN community evaluate and adopt a replacement protocol that supports the query and display of Internationalized registration data as well as addressing the relevant recommendations in past SSAC advisories on this topic.

Respondents are requested to respond to this RFP by replying to: rws-opensource@icann.org. The period to submit questions about the RFP will close on 5 June 2012. ICANN will provide answers to all questions submitted to all respondents by 7 June 2012. The final response to the RFP is due on 15 June 2012.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-3-16may12-en.htm

ICANN: Call for Expressions of Interest for 2012-2013 Nominating Committee Chair-Elect

David Goldstein — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:11:42 +0000

ICANN is immediately seeking expressions of interest for the 2012-2013 Nominating Committee (NomCom) Chair-Elect.

In accordance with the Bylaws, “[i]t is anticipated that upon the conclusion of the term of the Chair-Elect, the Chair-Elect will be appointed by the Board to the position of Chair.” See Article VII, section 3.4.

The Chair-Elect is a position created within the Bylaws as an outcome of the independent review of the NomCom. The Chair-Elect position is not a replacement of the Advisor to the NomCom Chair, and is not intended to fill an advisory role. Rather, the Chair-Elect will receive the benefit of training while serving alongside the Chair, gaining skills and knowledge to be applied for the Chair-Elect’s anticipated succession into the role of the Chair. Candidates for Chair-Elect should possess the same skills as candidates for the Chair.

For more information about the NomCom see: nomcom.icann.org/

Position Description – Nominating Committee Chair

This position blends time management and negotiation skills with the practical aspects of conducting a world-wide search for individuals to fill various ICANN leadership positions. The NomCom Chair will be called on to schedule, organize and lead numerous in-person and telephonic meetings with a large committee of community members. The NomCom Chair is also responsible for managing the candidate identification and statement of interest process, with other committee members, and for managing the due diligence to be performed on nominated candidates, in cooperation with ICANN‘s General Counsel and any retained outside firm(s). Throughout all NomCom activities, the Chair is responsible for ensuring that all NomCom operating rules and procedures are followed, and that all required documentation and reports are prepared in a timely fashion and provided to the proper parties as necessary.

Skills and Experience

To properly serve as the NomCom Chair, the selected individual must have:

(i) adequate time available to undertake the role;

(ii) excellent communication and negotiation skills to manage a committee of 20-21 members;

(iii) a clear understanding of the duties and responsibilities of each position for which the NomCom is selecting candidates;

(iv) experience on or with a Board of Directors of organizations with similar scale, scope and diversity as ICANN;

(v) strong organization and leadership skills;

(vi) ability to remain unbiased;

(vii) no conflicts of interest, and

(viii) a thorough understanding of, and satisfy, all criteria set forth in ICANN Bylaws relating to the NomCom (see www.icann.org/en/about/governance/bylaws#VII).

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

Plans and schedules NomCom meetings as required, including ensuring posting schedules for public review. Please see attached for a Listing of the NomCom activities.
Appoints non-voting Associate Chair if so desired.
Reports to ICANN Board and the community on status of the NomCom.
Prepares and publishes the NomCom report.
Ensures that NomCom operating rules and procedures are followed.
Manages NomCom Selection Process, including:
1. Approves outreach/advertising methods for attracting candidates.
2. Conducts outreach with ICANN Constituencies, ACs and SOs (with Chairs of those groups), ICANN Board, and others.
3. With other committee members, reviews and evaluates candidate Statements of Interest (SOIs) and references submitted during NomCom process
4. Coordinates due diligence on nominated candidates in cooperation with ICANN‘s General Counsel and any outside firm(s) retained to perform due diligence activities.
Approves posting of NomCom announcements and schedules on ICANN website.
Ensures NomCom records are properly established, maintained and archived.

Eligibility Exclusion

No person who is an employee of or is a paid consultant to ICANN (including the Ombudsman) shall simultaneously serve as a member of the NomCom, including the post of Chair or Chair-Elect.

Expenses

All reasonable travel expenses and administrative costs incurred as a result of performing the duties as NomCom Chair or Chair-Elect in accordance with ICANN‘s policies will be reimbursed by ICANN upon the Chair or Chair-Elect’s submission to ICANN of valid receipts and invoices.

Expressions of Interest

Expressions of Interest, which will be maintained as confidential, should be sent to NomComChairElect2013@icann.org no later than 20 June 2012.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-4-16may12-en.htm

ICANN: Proposed Revised Process for Handling Requests for Removal of Cross-Ownership Restrictions on Operators of Existing gTLDs

David Goldstein — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:08:13 +0000

Purpose (Brief): ICANN is posting a proposed revision to the process that allows existing registry operators to request removal of cross-ownership restrictions for the gTLDs that they operate. The revision will allow existing gTLD registries to own or control registrars that sell domain names in their own, existing registry. (More detail is provided below.)

Commencing a public comment period on the proposed revised process at this time is intended to solicit community input for Board consideration of the revised process.

Public Comment Box Link: www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/revised-cross-ownership-restrictions-16may12-en.htm

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-16may12-en.htm

India Calls For UN Body To Replace ICANN

David Goldstein — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:34:55 +0000

India is calling for a United Nations-run body to take over the responsibilities of ICANN, with discussions likely to take place in Geneva later this week, according to a report in The Hindu.

The Geneva meeting is to be led by the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and is a multi-stakeholder discussion platform on Internet governance structures.

In its proposal submitted to the General Assembly in New York on 26 October, 2011, The Hindu reports “India has argued for a radical shift from the present model of multi-stakeholder led decision-making, to a purely government-run multilateral body that would relegate civil society, private sector, international organisations as well as technical and academic groups to the fringes in an advisory role.”

“India is pushing for the creation of a forum called ‘Committee for Internet Related Policies’ (CIRP) to develop internet policies, oversee all internet standards bodies and policy organisations, negotiate internet-related treaties and sit in judgment when internet-related disputes come up. The catch is that India’s formal proposal is for CIRP to be funded by the U.N., run by staff from the U.N.’s Conference on Trade and Development arm and report directly to the U.N. General Assembly, which means it will be entirely controlled by the U.N.’s member states.

The report goes on to say “India’s proposal could prove controversial for multi-stakeholder communities within the country and across the world, since it entails moving away from the prevailing democratic ‘equal say’ process for internet governance to one in which governments would be front and centre, receiving advice from stakeholders and deciding the way forward.”

To read the report in The Hindu in full, see:
www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3423018.ece

Ratification of Global Policy Proposal for Post Exhaustion IPv4 Allocation Mechanisms by the IANA

David Goldstein — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:05:30 +0000

The ICANN Board has ratified the Global Policy Proposal for Post Exhaustion IPv4 Allocation Mechanisms by the IANA as sent by the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) Council to the ICANN Board on 13 March 2012.

The proposal was posted for public comment from 14 March 2012 through 4 April 2012, during which time no comments were submitted. The Global Policy allows the Regional Internet Registries to return IPv4 address space to an IANA-managed pool from which equal parts will be allocated to all five RIRs in a deterministic manner on a regular schedule, once triggered. www.icann.org/en/news/in-focus/global-addressing/allocation-ipv4-post-exhaustion. ICANN staff will be taking all necessary steps to implement the Global Policy.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-15may12-en.htm

Revised ICANN Board Conflicts of Interest Policy and Other Governance Documents Adopted

David Goldstein — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:02:22 +0000

As part of ICANN‘s review of its conflicts of interest and ethics practices, on 6 May 2012 the ICANN Board approved revisions to the Board Conflicts of Interest Policy, the Code of Conduct and Expected Standards of Behavior. The Board also approved new Corporate Governance Guidelines, a flexible framework document that collects the sources of corporate governance requirements that ICANN follows. For more information on how each of these documents applies within ICANN, please refer to this explanatory memo [PDF, 128 KB].

These four documents were prepared after a review of ICANN‘s corporate governance documents, and the resulting recommendations as to how the documents could be improved in light of best practices in corporate governance, while still reflecting the needs of ICANN. Each of the documents were posted for public comment in March 2011. They represent just the first stage of ICANN‘s approach to the Conflicts of Interest and Ethics review. The ongoing work within ICANN on conflicts of interest and ethics practices may result in identification of additional changes to these exact documents. Further, in approving these revised or newly created documents, the Board has recognized that further modifications may be necessary – these are living documents that should be reviewed and amended from time to time to reflect changes within ICANN, as well as to best practices in corporate governance.

Other Work on Conflicts of Interest and Ethics

As reported by ICANN, there are two other portions of its review of conflicts of interest and ethics practices. One of those portions was asking Cooley LLC, a law firm with expertise in corporate governance issues and that is new to ICANN, to perform a review of ICANN‘s corporate governance practices. Cooley produced two reports:

First Report on Corporate Governance [PDF, 401 KB] (3 October 2011, revised on 27 April 2012) and
Second Report on Corporate Governance [PDF, 767 KB] (17 April 2012)

The action items arising out of the first report, including compiling ICANN‘s corporate governance document in one section of the ICANN website, providing dates of amendment for documents such as the Code of Conduct, have been adopted. In addition, ICANN asked Cooley to undertake recommended research, which resulted in the Second Report.

In the Second Report, Cooley conduced a comparative review of ICANN‘s documentation to the governance documentation of leading institutions. While Cooley noted that ICANN‘s policies are aligned with essential governance principles, it also noted that there may be room for improvement. Two specific recommendations for improvement followed: ICANN should consider revising its guidebook for employees to ensure that policies covering unethical behavior and complaints are satisfactorily covered; and ICANN should consider adopting a policy to deal with repeat offenders of its ethical and governance standards. ICANN has already begun work with outside counsel to review its employee policies and procedures, which will take Cooley’s recommendation into account, and work is ongoing to determine how the recommendation to address “repeat offenders” can be implemented.

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-2-15may12-en.htm

SIDN Announces DNSSEC Protection Now Possible For .NL Domain Names

David Goldstein — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:21:56 +0000

[news release] SIDN, the company behind .NL, has today implemented DNSSEC in its domain name registration system (DRS). DNSSEC (“Domain Name System Security Extensions”) adds an additional layer of security to the existing DNS, which has vulnerabilities that can be exploited by criminals. Implementation of the new protocol means that .NL registrants can now have their domain names secured with DNSSEC.

Promoting acceptance
DNSSEC’s global rollout is a major operation, whose outcome depends on registrants, registrars and internet service providers (ISPs) cooperating to create a continuous chain of trust. The involvement of registrars is essential for the continuity of the chain. The implementation of DNSSEC in the DRS means that registrars are now able to set up automated systems that customers can use to get their domains signed with DNSSEC. Once that happens, acceptance of DNSSEC can grow. “SIDN is committed to making the internet more secure. And we regard DNSSEC as an important tool for achieving enhanced DNS security,” said Roelof Meijer, SIDN’s CEO. “We are one of the indispensable links in the DNS hierarchy needed to make DNSSEC available. So too are the registrars, DNS operators and resolvers such as ISPs. The ball is now in their court. Nine registrars are immediately offering DNSSEC to end users. SIDN is very pleased with their involvement in the introduction of DNSSEC and their willingness to invest in the extra security it provides. Although the adoption of DNSSEC by registrars is no small matter, we expect the number of .NL registrars offering DNSSEC to increase rapidly, because the Netherlands has always been at the forefront of internet innovation. SIDN will continue to stimulate demand for DNSSEC in various ways.”

Registrars
“By offering DNSSEC to our customers, we hope to give impetus to the adoption of this standard in the Netherlands,” commented Ewout de Graaf of Mijndomein, who is also chairman of the Registrars’ Association’s Technology Committee. “If more people start using DNSSEC, the internet really will be more secure. And the more domain names there are that are signed with DNSSEC, the more attractive it is for ISPs to operate DNSSEC resolvers.”

Alex Bik, Technical Director at BIT, the business isp, is also backing the new protocol. “Consumers and businesses expect to be able to use the internet safely, without worrying about the security of the data they send and receive. SIDN’s implementation of DNSSEC is an essential step towards making that possible. The benefit of DNSSEC will be felt only if it is implemented all along the chain. We at BIT are very pleased that, by working with SIDN, we can now offer signed domain names to end users. We firmly believe that DNSSEC will make the DNS a lot more secure against malicious threats.”

Authentic response
As the internet’s roadmap, the DNS has always been vulnerable to criminal threats such as cache poisoning and ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks by unidentified parties. The perpetrators of such attacks can divert internet users to fake websites or intercept e-mail, even though the correct domain name is used. These vulnerabilities were underestimated until 2008, when Dan Kaminsky demonstrated that the DNS was easy to manipulate. Kaminsky’s revelations gave urgency to the worldwide rollout of DNSSEC, which had been in progress for some time. DNSSEC addresses the problems identified by Kaminsky. It provides a method for ascertaining whether an incoming DNS response is authentic and originates from the right source. The practical outcome of that is that the DNS is more reliable. In July 2010, ICANN signed the root zone and a month later SIDN followed suit by signing the .NL zone with DNSSEC. Once that had been done, early adopters had the opportunity to have trust anchors added to the .NL zone file during a Friends & Fans phase.

This SIDN news release was sourced from:
https://www.sidn.nl/en/news/news/article/dnssec-protection-now-possible-for-nl-domain-names/

To register your .NL domain name, check out Europe Registry here.

CIRA celebrates 25 years of .CA

David Goldstein — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:11:01 +0000

[news release] On May 14, 2012, Canada’s .CA turns 25 years old. It was on this day in 1987 that the .CA top-level domain was officially delegated by Jon Postel, operator of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), to John Demco at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Demco and a group of volunteers ran the registry for 13 years. Since 2000, the registry for .CA domain names has been run by the Ottawa-based Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).

“We owe a debt to the visionaries who set up .CA in the 1980s,” explained CIRA’s President and CEO Byron Holland. “While many people today may take the Internet for granted, the fact is, without the foresight of people like John Demco, the Internet might not have developed as we now know it.”

In 1987, the Internet was a very different entity. Very few Canadians were online, and until 1990 only governments and the academic community were able to register .CA domains. The very first .CA domain name was registered to the University of Prince Edward Island in 1988. Today, .CA is an integral part of the Canadian economic and social landscape.

From 1987 to 2000, the volunteers at UBC registered almost 60,000 domain names. Now with more than 1.9 million domain names registered, .CA is the world’s 14th-largest domain registry, and it has the fourth-highest growth rate over the past five years.

Research conducted by CIRA suggests that:

The .CA domain is viewed as being safe, secure and trusted.
Canadians value .CA, with 88 per cent of Internet users seeing it as an important resource for Canadians.
Forty-nine per cent of Canadian Internet users say they are proud to be Canadian and feel a personal connection to the .CA domain extension.

“The growth in both the size of the registry and in the role .CA plays in Canadians’ lives bodes well for the next 25 years of .CA,” said Holland. “As we move more and more of our lives online, .CA is becoming the ‘flag on the virtual backpack’ for hundreds of thousands of Canadians.”

This CIRA news release was sourced from:
www.cira.ca/news/news-releases/25-years-of-ca/

To register your .CA domain name, check out America Registry here.

At Least 3 Companies Submit Bids To Operate French and Territorial ccTLDs

David Goldstein — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:02:06 +0000

At least three and up to six companies have submitted bids to operate the .FR (France) ccTLD and the ten French territory ccTLDs currently managed by AFNIC.

Bids were required to be submitted to the French Ministry of Industry by Friday for the 11 ccTLDs, and so far the current ccTLD manager AFNIC, along with l’Office d’enregistrement des extensions Internet françaises (“Office For The Registration Of French Internet Extensions” – a subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based OpenRegistry) and FRNIC have all publicly stated they have applied.

In the bid by the current registry operator, AFNIC have said they have significant industry support with more than 660 organisations and individuals expressing support for them to retain the operation of the registry.

Another of the applicants, FRNIC, a collaboration between FREE Foundation and the French registrar StartingDot, say they will invest all the profits of the organisation into developing the internet including the establishment of a foundation with €2.5 million over five years to be led by a scientific committee and to double the number of registered domain names between 2012 and 2017.

StartingDot has also applied to ICANN for five new gTLDs they describe as being “dedicated to businesses in many important sectors so that they may optimise their visibility and align their internet address with the name of their business.”

But the number of .FR domain names has been growing rapidly since registration rules were liberalised, leading to the ccTLD being one of the fastest growing in recent years, Matthieu Weill, AFNIC Director General, told Les Echos.

The 11 ccTLD registries for which tenders have been requested by the French Ministry of Industry are:

.FR for France;
.BL for Saint-Barthélemy;
.GF for French Guiana;
.GP for Guadeloupe;
.MF for Saint-Martin;
.MQ for Martinique;
.PM for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon;
.RE for Reunion Island
.TF for the French Southern and Antarctic Territories;
.WF for Wallis and Futuna;
.YT for Mayotte.

ICANN Appoints Independent Objector for New gTLD Programme

David Goldstein — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:33:47 +0000

ICANN has appointed Professor Alain Pellet as the Independent Objector for the New Generic Top-Level Domain programme. The Independent Objector’s role is to act solely in the interests of the public who use the internet.

IcANN note that Professor Pellet’s credentials and experience are an ideal fit for this key role. He is a highly regarded professor and practitioner of law and has represented governments as Counsel and Advocate in the International Court of Justice in many significant and well-known cases. He is widely published and holds several significant honours.

ICANN’s formal search for an Independent Objector began with the posting of a Request for Proposals in November 2011. They also advertised, utilised the services of a global recruiting firm and took word-of-mouth recommendations. Numerous candidates were interviewed and considered throughout the search process.

Acting solely in the best interests of global internet users, the Independent Objector may lodge Limited Public Interest and Community objections in cases where no other objection is made to an application that the Independent Objector deems to be objectionable.

More information about the Independent Objector role can be found in the new gTLD Applicant Guidebook.

More information about Professor Pellet, including his curriculum vitae, can be found at: www.alainpellet.eu

Half Of New gTLDs Will Fail: CIRA CEO

David Goldstein — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:30:56 +0000

Half of all new gTLDs, at least the ones that are open to registrations from the public, will fail, said the CEO of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), Byron Holland, in an interview with the Canadian IT Business. In addition, Holland believes that the introduction of the new gTLDs will create competition for ccTLDs such as .CA.

“It’s going to dramatically impact the Canadian domain space one way or the other,” Holland told IT Business. “We assume if you add 500 or 1,000 new TLDs to the Internet landscape, we will definitely be up against a more competitive environment.”

ICANN’s governance model to allow private stakeholders to control the new domains is the right approach, Holland said. Some critics would have preferred a treaty-based system run by national governments, possibly organised by the United Nations. But less government regulation and a more free market approach should lead to more rapid expansion of the internet, Holland went on to tell IT Business. Even if that does mean that for the first time in the Internet’s history, consumers will see TLDs fail.

“Just like any other private business starting up, all these new TLDs will have a 50 per cent chance of going out of business in two or three years,” Holland says. “That’s going to be somewhat disquieting to people.”

The full IT Business report is available at www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=67442.

29,000 .PT Domains Registered In First Week After Rules Liberalised

David Goldstein — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:02:02 +0000

18,220 .PT domain names were registered in the first 24 hours and 28,984 in the first week after a new era was launched for the Portuguese country code with registration policies liberalised allowing anyone to register the country’s domains.

Pedro Veiga, President of FCCN, said that he was pleased with the results and that from now on .PT was now aligned with international registration standards for domain registration.

“At a time when ICANN opened doors to the registration of new generic domains, ccTLD’s have to stay competitive and, if possible, assume its role of ex libris in each of the countries to which they correspond. In this line, and by way of example, it makes sense that a Portuguese company has its domain under .PT.”

While the registration rules are liberalised, there are still some words and phrases that are excluded that are considered abusive and contrary to the law, public order and morality. In addition geographic names and words or phrases that might mislead are also not allowed.

To register your .PT domain, check out Europe Registry here.

AFNIC Submits Applications To Manage 11 French TLDs

David Goldstein — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:34:14 +0000

On 11 May, AFNIC submitted its applications to manage the 11 French country code top level domains (ccTLDs) with the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry.

Following the publication in the Official Journal of the French Republic on 20 March calling for applications to manage the ccTLDs for France and its overseas territories, AFNIC officially applied to act as the registry for the following:

.FR for France;
.BL for Saint-Barthélemy;
.GF for French Guiana;
.GP for Guadeloupe;
.MF for Saint-Martin;
.MQ for Martinique;
.PM for Saint-Pierre and Miquelon;
.RE for Reunion Island
.TF for the French Southern and Antarctic Territories;
.WF for Wallis and Futuna;
.YT for Mayotte.

AFNIC also announced they received support from more than 660 parties for its applications to act as the registry for the ccTLDs, including:

305 individuals
172 companies
104 registrars
38 registries
8 legal experts and intellectual property specialists
19 representatives from academia and research
14 political representatives.

More information on the AFNIC proposal to manage the 11 ccTLDs is available from the dedicated campaign website (only in French) at je-soutiens-afnic.fr.

To register your .FR domain, or for many of the other French ccTLDs, see Europe Registry here.

Sedo IDNX indicates dip in April, after March’s record-highs

David Goldstein — Sat, 12 May 2012 09:14:38 +0000

Prices decline 2.1%, but domain market remains stable

According to IDNX, the domain name price index, April experienced a decline of 2.1% in the domain market. Although this is a dip as compared the record high prices of March 2012, the domain market has experienced nearly 22% growth over the past six months, meaning that April’s figures are still among the highest since summer 2011.

The stability of the domain market is further evidenced by the fact that domain value has decreased less than most other stock indices this month. The NASDAQ 100 fell by 3.1%, Apple lost 2.5%, and internet giant Google gained only 0.4%, the smallest increase they have seen in some time. Given the declines in the economy at large, it is only natural that we would see small changes in the domain market too, further proving that domains as investments are closely tied to the economy at large.

Overall, domain owners should be able to look forward to a healthy, stable market for the coming months!