How do you cut online crime, tackle child pornography, halt crippling viruses and get rid of spam? The answers could lie in a £200m successor to the internet that computer experts are already referring to as the next rendition of the virtual world.Researchers in the US want at least US$350m (£175m) to build the Global Environment for Network Innovations (Geni), touted by some as the possible replacement for today’s internet. In Europe, similar projects are under way as part of the EU’s Future and Internet Research (Fire) programme, which is expected to cost at least £27m.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/01/news.internet

ICANN is asking for the public’s input as it revises its accreditation process for registrars, the companies that register and sell domain names.
ICANN wants to improve oversight of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement to offer increased protection to people who register domain names, according to a statement.”The need for this review is clear. The current RAA is more than six years old. We’ve seen the number of accredited registrars grow to more than 900. And we’ve seen the incredible difficulties that can be unleashed with the collapse of a registrar,” said Paul Twomey, ICANN’s CEO and president, in the statement. Twomey sought the review in March, and said that the process was moving into the “active consultation phase.”
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9028399
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,135263-pg,1/article.html
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id%3B1588008493&cid=1118736373Also see:
ICANN opens registrar reform up to public comment
The time for reform at ICANN has come. Long overdue changes to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement are now open for public comment on the ICANN website, as the aftershocks of the RegisterFly failure continue to ripple through the organization entrusted with the technical stability of the internet we all know and love.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/30/icann_registrar_reform/ICANN wants your feedback on registrar reform
ICANN is making progress on revamping its contract to better protect customers from registrar meltdown and is now asking the public for feedback. The organization launched its public consultation on the Registrar Accreditation Agreement late last week, which solicits feedback via e-mail on a number of possible amendments to the RAA.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070730-icann-wants-your-feedback-on-registrar-reform.html

Go Daddy and Afilias have announced a joint venture aimed at taking over the management of the usTLD. This news release says they have created The Domain Name Alliance Registry (“Alliance Registry”). It’s a joint venture seeking to assume stewardship of the usTLD, America’s sovereign space on the Internet. Continue reading Go Daddy & Afilias Announce Joint Venture Creating Alliance Registry in Support of usTLD Bid →

[news release] Alliance Registry, a joint venture between Afilias and Go Daddy, combines the best in secure technology and marketing capabilities to revitalize the usTLDGoDaddy.com, Inc. and Afilias USA, Inc., have teamed up to create The Domain Name Alliance Registry, LLC (“Alliance Registry”), a joint venture seeking to assume stewardship of the usTLD, America’s sovereign space on the Internet. Yesterday, Alliance Registry submitted a proposal in response to the request for quotations issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for a registry operator for the usTLD.”Today, the usTLD ranks 9th among the world’s country code domains, despite America’s leadership of the Internet and the most robust domain growth market in history. Now is the time to change usTLD leadership and put it on a growth track,” said Roland LaPlante, Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias. Added Warren Adelman, Go Daddy’s President and Chief Operating Officer, “We believe Alliance Registry pools the strengths of its partners, Go Daddy and Afilias, to offer usTLD superior technology, enhanced marketing, and focused administration to improve this critical national resource.”The bid submitted by Alliance Registry includes several key elements that would improve the .us domain registry, both in technological security and marketing tactics. Over the past 6 years, the .us domain has underperformed relative to its international competition and Alliance Registry has the resources and the capabilities to make major improvements. Some of these improvements include:

• Reduced pricing for usTLD registrations to make them more affordable and deliver greater value to the usTLD community
• Greater volume, growth, and usage of the usTLD stimulated by registry enhancements and marketing programs that have been proven to work by Alliance Registry’s joint owners
• Enhanced Locality space support to enable every city and town in America to have its own dedicated space within the usTLD (e.g. anytown.us)
• World class stability and security of the registry platform and DNS services supporting the domain
• Expanded administration services to facilitate oversight and provide better counsel for the DoC
• Enhancing kids.us so it becomes the feature-rich, safe online environment for America’s children it was envisioned to be

In addition, the proposal outlines a proven plan to ensure a smooth transition, based on the experience of its partner Afilias in transitioning numerous top-level domains and with Go Daddy’s experience in ensuring harmless data transitions for consumers. DoC is expected to award the new contract by September, with the administrator taking full responsibility of the usTLD when the contract with the current provider expires on October 26, 2007.During a news tele-conference earlier today, Brian Cute, Alliance Registry’s new Director of .us activities said, “This is an exciting opportunity for us to work closely with DoC to realize the full potential of the usTLD.” He continued, “We believe it’s time for a change, and Alliance Registry is uniquely positioned to take usTLD to its rightful position as a leading country code domain.”To hear a replay of today’s news conference and to learn more about Alliance Registry’s bid, please visit http://www.dnalliance.us/pages/ustldTo see the news release on Afilias, Go Daddy’s or the Alliance Registry websites, see:
http://afilias.info/news/press_releases/pr_articles/2007-07-31-01
http://godaddy.com/gdshop/pressreleases/Alliance_Press_Release_7_31_07.pdf
http://dnalliance.us/archives/000032.htmlAlso see:
Go Daddy & Afilias Announce Joint Venture Creating Alliance Registry in Support of usTLD Bid
GoDaddy and Afilias have teamed up to create The Domain Name Alliance Registry to seek to manage the usTLD. Their news release outlines reasons why they should manage usTLD including the underperformance of .us, they would reduce prices, enhance the registry leading to higher registrations and enhance kids.us. AP notes there are 1.3 million .us domain names, up from 17,000 in 2001 and that Neustar “is seeking a contract renewal and believes quality rather than quantity is what counts.” It is claimed in several outlets that .us has underperformed compared to other TLDs with domainnamenews.com providing graphs showing .us market share declining, while registrations are treading water while other ccTLDs are increasing. Computer Business Review quotes Roland LaPlante saying .us had a 3.5% of the country-code domain market three years ago, and that this has now slipped to 2.5%. Computer Business Review notes Neustar’s application is focussing “on improving the reliability and security of the domain through accurate Whois enforcement and anti-phishing measures.”
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/02/1185648006141.html [AP]
http://www.circleid.com/posts/neustar_losing_us_domain_name/
http://cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=D6593B1B-19D4-4E3C-B5CA-E827E9465D77
http://domainnamenews.com/editorial/godaddy-and-afilias-created-joint-venture-in-order-to-bid-for-us-tld/786
http://domainnamewire.com/2007/08/01/are-godaddy-and-afilias-the-right-combination-to-run-us/

Peter Macaulay has been elected InternetNZ’s new President, for a two-year term following recent elections. Macaulay is a former InternetNZ Councillor and has served in the past as Executive Director. Other results from the elections were long-standing InternetNZ Councillor and Fellow of the Society Frank March has been elected Vice President and will hold this position for a two-year term. Continue reading Peter Macaulay — InternetNZ’s new President →

A couple of domain disputes involving the domain names babcockandbrown.com.au, abt.com and qe2.com. Continue reading Domain disputes – babcockandbrown.com.au & qe2.com →

A couple of domain disputes involving the domain names babcockandbrown.com.au, abt.com and qe2.com.

Babcock and Brown, the Australian global investment and advisory firm, have taken legal action against the registrant of babcockandbrown.com.au. According to News.com.au,  Babcock and Brown have asked for legal action to be taken to reclaim the domain name babcockandbrown.com.au, which “currently provides links to a range of financial services, including products distributed by troubled mortgage investment provider First Capital Securities.”

Meanwhile, Carnival has won exclusive rights to the domain name qe2.com after the firm that registered the Internet site was found to have no link to its most famous ocean liner according to a Reuters report in The Age. The original registrant was found by a WIPO panel to lack the “rights or legitimate interests in respect to the domain name” and did not contest the dispute.

For more information on the Babcock and Brown dispute, see http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22161664-664,00.html

For more information on the qe2.com dispute, see  http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/08/01/1185647945522.html

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