Tag Archives: .DK

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

Danish ccTLD Enters Partnership With Police In Fight Against Cybercrime

dk-hostmaster-logoThe Danish registry DK Hostmaster has entered into a partnership with authorities and private internet companies in the fight against financial cybercrime. Following consultations in April that were aimed at cutting crime involving .dk websites, a number of initiatives were identified including increased collaboration, knowledge sharing and optimisation of processes.

One of the challenges identified, especially for smaller police districts, was identifying information about who is behind a website and who has registered the domain name. As a result DK Hostmaster created a guide to what information they hold and how to find it.

The guide for Danish police, in Danish, on what DK Hostmaster provides is available for download from:
https://www.dk-hostmaster.dk/en/release-data-police

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

ccTLD Updates: .DE, .EU, .IE, .RO, .IT and .DK

DENIC logoDENIC is warning .de domain registrants of German-language emails coming from the forged email address of info@denic.de. The emails claim to acknowledging a domain transfer and have the subject “DENIC eG – Domain-Transfer Bestätigung”. DENIC is advising the emails have nothing to do with them and contain a ZIP file that contains malware.

EURid currently has open the .eu Web Awards. The awards are an online competition where .eu and .eю websites can be nominated for a chance to win a prestigious award to be presented at a stunning ceremony in Brussels.

There are numerous categories including “The Better World”, for ecologically minded websites, and “The Laurels”, for websites that promote ongoing education/Pan-European projects. For more information see webawards.eurid.eu.

The IE Domain Registry has published their annual report for 2015. The report includes a large amount of information for those interested in .ie stats, such as there were 35,225 new .ie registrations in 2015, an increase of 13.4 percent when compared to 2014 (31,072). Accounting for .ie non-renewals or deletions, there was a net increase in registrations of 12,929, an increase of 48 percent on 2014 net registrations.

Turnover increased five percent to €2.86 million. The company registered an operating loss of €517,082 in 2015. The loss is principally accounted for as a result of expenditure of €508,000 on activities under the company’s Strategic Development Fund.

Commencing on 6 July, .ro domain registrants have the option of signing their domain names with DNSSEC the Romanian registry RO TLD has announced.

And get ready for the three millionth .it domain name under management. During May and June there were around 20,000 new .it domain names added to the base meaning they are 40,000 registrations short of the three million milestone. The .it is the ninth largest ccTLD.

Have you ever wondered about what the .dk registry should do about severe violations and misuse of .dk domain names? If so, DIFO invites you to participate in the consultation that extends over the Danish summer.

On 6 June, DIFO held a successful hearing which started a debate about when a domain name can be suspended, how the registrant is validated and what personal information DIFO may pass on.

A large number of representatives from the Danish internet community, from government authorities and the Copenhagen Police to a wide range of IT suppliers participated.

Issues to be considered include should the process of suspending a domain name become faster than it is today? One proposal is to create a special suspension board with responsibility for the suspension of domain names. Can you thereby ensure efficient treatment of cases of evident crime on Danish domain names? What about the legal certainty?

DIFO’s validation of the identity of registrants behind a domain name is currently carried out by letter but perhaps the current validation model should be tightened up? A more restrictive solution with forced NemID validation for Danes and an activation code by post for foreign registrants gained great support at the oral hearing. However there were strong voices against increased control and concerns that domain registration will become too difficult for the customers.

Should DIFO disclose information about anonymous registrants to authorities and individuals quicker and easier than today? DIFO looks forward to see the right holders participate in the written hearing.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry, ICANN and Governance, New gTLDs

Daily Wrap: Patent Troll Takes Aim At Registrars, NamesCon 2017 Discounts,.SUCKS Registrars Claim Being Gagged, New .DK Self-Service Option And Privacy And Proxy Services To Be ICANN Accredited

DK HostmasterA patent troll is taking action against registrars, according to a Domain Incite report. According to the report, “WhitServe LLC, which beat Go Daddy in a patent lawsuit last year, is now demanding licenses from registrars that could add as much as $0.50 to the cost of a domain name.” The patent troll is demanding monies that could be as high as the millions from registrars on both sides of the Atlantic.

NamesCon 2016 has only just finished with around 1,200 attendees and the organisers have already announced the 2017 event with discounted early bird tickets for individuals. For those wanting to register in advance, there are a limited number of tickets available for $299 plus booking fee. That’s around $700 off the door ticket price. The 2017 NamesCon will be held again in Las Vegas from 22 to 25 January.

For those who like their news swinging way to the right, coming in the northern spring of 2016 is the .fox gTLD. But it won’t only be a home of the networks heavily slanted news programming, it will also be the home of all 20th Century Fox programming, films and sport. And it will showcase everything for your PC, tablet and mobile.

In another Domain Incite report, “registrars are ignoring new provisions in their .sucks contracts that they say amount to a ‘gag order’”. The report notes that “registrars ask for ICANN to convene a face-to-face negotiation between themselves and .sucks registry Vox Populi.” In an earlier report, Domain Incite said “Vox Populi is taking ICANN to mediation over a row about what some of its registrars call a ‘gag order’ against them.”

“Commercial entities will not be excluded from buying domain privacy services, ICANN’s GNSO Council has confirmed,” Domain Incite is reporting. The Council last week “voted unanimously to approve a set of recommendations that would make it compulsory for privacy and proxy services to be accredited by ICANN for the first time.”

The .dk registry, DK Hostmaster, is implementing a new “self-service” option on 31 January. The option was originally scheduled to be effective as of 18 January.

Information is a bit sparse, but it appears the self-service functionality means registrants will be able to update a number of details to do with their domain without going through their registrar using a user ID and a password.

When registering a .dk domain, registrants can designate the proxy or payer (billing contact) or subsequently by using DK Hostmaster’s self-service.

Services that can be performed using this new service include request for delegation, changes to contact information, transferring to a third party, termination of a registration agreement and registration of DNSSEC.

More information on all the above can be found by following the links.

Domain Name Registry

2015 CENTR Awards finalists revealed

CENTR small logo[news release] CENTR today announced the shortlisted candidates in each of the five categories of the 2015 CENTR Awards, which aim at highlighting ccTLD registry projects, teams and people that are making a difference in the industry.

Marketing category:
• AustriaLoves.at – “Darlinks” of the nation, NIC.AT (.at)
• Domain Pirates campaign, IIS (.se)
• “Without a name it remains a dream” campaign, Registro.it

Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) category:
• OPTIMISE Fund, IEDR (.ie)
• Browse in Catalan, Fundació PuntCAT (.cat)
• Community Investment Program, CIRA (.ca)

Research and Development (R&D) category:
• Zonemaster by Afnic and .IIS (.fr, .se)
• Knot DNS by CZ.NIC (.cz)
• turing by Nominet (.uk)

Security category:
• Rapid adoption of DNSSEC, Norid (.no)
• Collaboration on auditing the ISO27001 ISMS, Christa Falkensammer (SWITCH [.ch]), Boban Krsic (DENIC [.de]) and Christian Proschinger (NIC.AT [.at])
• Turris Project, CZ.NIC (.cz)

Contributor of the Year category:
• Lise Fuhr (DK Hostmaster, .dk) and Mathieu Weill (Afnic, .fr) (combined nomination)
• CZ.NIC (Registry as a whole)
• Marcos Sanz (DENIC, .de)
• Kristof Tuyteleers (DNS Belgium, .be)

All shortlisted nominations in the first four categories were forwarded to Jury members, who have until 18 September to submit their choices. “This shortlist is very promising”, says Carolina Aguerre, LACTLD General Manager and Chair of the 2015 CENTR Awards Jury. “We really look forward to diving into the details of each project.”

This year, the CENTR community will also be voting for the Contributor of the Year Award. Votes are open to full and associate CENTR members, with one ballot per member.

The winners this year’s edition will be announced at the 2015 CENTR Awards Ceremony in Brussels on 7 October.

Congratulations to all participants!

This CENTR news release was sourced from:
https://centr.org/news/centr-awards/08-25-2015/4343/2015-centr-awards-finalists-revealed

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

.DK Validation Process In Full Swing

DK Hostmaster[news release] DK Hostmaster has begun a big data cleansing of all our user database entries in order to insure valid contact details. Now, your name and address must match the CPR- or CVR register if you reside in Denmark.

Since March 1. DK Hostmaster has worked on validating all of its users’ name and address details. The requirement of validation is a result of a provision in the Danish Act of Domain Names that says that DK Hostmaster has to ensure accurate and valid name and contact details along with automatic anonymity to Danish registrants who are already anonymous in the CPR register.

Requirement for both existing and new users

DK Hostmaster has already reviewed several thousand .dk registrants from the Whois database. Their name and address details has been collated with the CPR- or the CVR register, and the registrants who could not be matched will be notified that they have to update their details.

New registrants with a Danish address who like to register a .dk domain name will be validated in relation to either the CPR- or the CVR register. If DK Hostmaster are unable to validate the registrant, the domain name cannot be activated and thus the registrant will not be able to obtain the right of use to the domain name.

An advantage for our users

The validation process brings several advantages for our users. Validated registrants for example only need to update their contact details in the CVR- or the CPR register after which the details in our database will automatically update itself.

The risk of missing important information about the user’s domain name will, after the validation process, be greatly reduced. DK Hostmaster expect a great reduction of domain names being suspended when registrants fail to react on warning letters from DK Hostmaster due to outdated contact details.

Furthermore, DK Hostmaster will be able to ensure anonymity more effectively. If a registrant is anonymous in the CPR register and with his phone company, this person will in the future automatically be anonymous in the public registrant database.

Do I need to do anything?

You only have to do something if you receive a letter from DK Hostmaster notifying you that your name and contact details could not be validated. In this case, you should follow the instructions described in the letter in order to validate your details.

If you experience problems with the validation process, you can call the phone number described in the letter from us. If you have any general inquiries and questions about the validation process you might be able to find the answer you are looking for in on our FAQ page here. Otherwise, you are more than welcome to contact our customer service.

This DK Hostmaster news release was sourced from:
https://www.dk-hostmaster.dk/english/news/news-single/artikel/validation-process-in-full-swing/

Domain Name Aftermarket

Three Week Run of Six-Figure Sales Comes to an End

Domain Name Journal logoA run of three weeks with six-figure sales topping the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported sales came to an end in the week ending 15 March. The top sale for the week was therecroom.com, which sold for $89,888 through Sedo’s marketplace.

Coming in second was videos.de, selling for €50,000 ($53,000), also through Sedo, while rsl.com came in third, selling for $45,000 through HeritageAuctions.

Overall there were 15 .com sales, two for .de and one each for .dk, .us and .me.

And there were 14 sales brokered by Sedo and three through Flippa.

To check out the Domain Name Journal chart of top reported sales for the week ending 15 March, go to:
www.dnjournal.com/archive/domainsales/2015/20150325.htm

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

Registrations Of .EU Domains Continue To Grow Healthily

EURid logoThe total number of .eu registrations grew by 4.7 percent in the third quarter of 2014 compared with the same quarter last year, according to the progress report released last week by the .eu registry EURid.

The increase for the quarter was 50,132 domain names under management, a net increase of 1.3 percent to 3.88 million. This made .eu the eleventh largest TLD in the world. The largest was .com with 114.576 million registrations followed by .tk (Tokelau) with 26.785m, .de (Germany – 15.794m), .net (15.083m), .cn (China – 1–.907m), .uk (United Kingdom) – 10.514), .org (10.399), .info (5.591m), .nl (Netherlands – 5.506m), .ru (Russian Federation – 4.895m) while .br (Brazil – 3.493m) followed.

“As the new gTLDs continue jostle for position in the changing TLD landscape, our healthy growth rate has further underlined that .eu has a firm foothold in the domain name market,” commented EURid General Manager Marc Van Wesemael.

Indeed, .eu registrations increased in 24 of the 28 EU member states. Malta, Greece and Luxembourg each saw growth of more than 5 percent.

The countries in the top ten list account for 87.6 percent of all .eu registrations. German residents have by far the most .eu domain name registrations, followed by residents of the Netherlands and France.

Residents in the European Economic Area (EEA) countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway became eligible to register .eu domain names on 8 January 2014. At the end of the third quarter registrants in Norway had registered 5,685 names, in Iceland 177 and Liechtenstein 78.

The survey also found the Netherlands has the highest density of domains registered of any European country, with 328.2 .nl domains registered per 1,000 people. Denmark was next with 226.2 .dk domains per 1,000 people followed by Germany with 196.1, the United Kingdom with 164.5, Iceland with 154.4 .is domains per 1,000 and Luxembourg with 154.0 .lu domains per 1,000.

The countries with the highest densities of .eu domains were Malta with 35.7 per thousand followed by the Netherlands with 30.2 and Luxembourg with 28.7.

The third quarter also saw EURid launch its new registration system. EURid implemented the new system to increase performance and to better meet RFC standards and so provide an improved service to the .eu registrar community and consequently to .eu domain name holders.

The full report is available for download at link.eurid.eu/reports.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

European ccTLD Growth Slowing But Still Higher Than gTLDs

It may have a reputation for being one of the TLDs with the most phishing domains, but the number of .tk (Tokelau) domain names under management continues to soar. Registrations grew by 13.9 percent in the quarter ending August, according to the latest Centr DomainWire StatReport, with total registrations reaching 19.1 million for the ccTLD whose domain names are given away for free.The report notes .de (Germany) continues to progressively grow and maintain its second place with 15.5m DUM while .uk (United Kingdom) comes in third with 10.6m. But .cn (China) continues to rapidly grow, again, and is now back to 7.8m.Within Europe, at the end of August 2013 there were just over 65.1m DUM while over the past 12 months, overall net growth is 5.9 percent – an increase of around 3.6m. The largest contribution to the increase came from .ru with 780,000.The ccTLDs with the largest growth rate within Europe were .me (Montenegro) where registrations grew by 5.2 percent in the quarter ending August, followed by .ru (Russian Federation – 4.1%), Cyprus (.cy – 3.8%), .pt (Portugal – 3.4%) and then .is (Iceland – 2.9%).The report also shows the number of domain names per person. This statistic is skewed by how the ccTLD is marketed, with .me ranking highly due to it being marketed more as a gTLD. The Centr report shows that .li (Liechtenstein) has the highest penetration with 181 domains per 100 people for the 37,000 people in the country, followed by .me with 116. Then follows .nl (Netherlands – 32), .ch (Switzerland – 23), .dk (Denmark – 22), .de (19) and then .uk (17).The report also notes that growth rates in European ccTLDs have slowed over the past 12 months. The growth rate for the year to August 2013 was 5.9 percent (compared to the 12 months to April 2012 whose growth rate was 6.6 percent) but this was on average 2.5 percent higher than for gTLDs globally. The average monthly growth of all European ccTLDs is 0.47 percent. Globally the number of ccTLD registrations grew by one percentage point in the 12 months to August 2013, while gTLDs share dropped by the corresponding percentage point.Marketing is also looked at in the report, with how ccTLDs are marketed. Registries use traditional as well as new marketing tools, as shows the below graph which is based on a June 2013 survey amongst CENTR members. The same survey shows that a large majority of the registries have, or are developing, a formal marketing plan. The traditional ‘offline’ channels such as printed media, TV and radio are used by several registries while others cooperate with registrars with sponsorship arrangements and co-marketing initiatives and programmes.The report is available for download from centr.org/system/files/share/domainwire_stat_report_2013_2.pdf.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

.ME Fastest Growing European ccTLD Shows Centr Report

The Montenegrin ccTLD .ME is the fastest growing of all European ccTLDs while there are there are roughly 59 million domain names registered in Europe the latest Centr DomainWire Stat Report shows.The report for the first half of 2012 contains a wealth of statistics including that 40 per cent of all domain names registered in Europe are for private purposes while 60 per cent are for business.There is also the average length of a domain name – 11.2 characters.The ccTLD with the highest number of domain names per person in Europe is.LI (Lichtenstein) with 192 domains per 100 people living in the country followed by .ME with 86 domains per 100 people. Third is .NL (Netherlands), which is the first of the larger ccTLDs with 28 domains per 100 people. Rounding out the top ten are .CH (Switzerland – 28), .DK (Denmark – 21), .DE (Germany – 18), .UK (United Kingdom – 16) and then .AT (Austria), .LU (Luxembourg) and .SE (Sweden), each with 13 domains registered per 100 inhabitants.The report also lists the top 20 ccTLDs globally using figures as of the end of April. The top ten are .DE first with over 15 million registrations, followed by .UK (10.09m), .NL (4.92), .RU (Russian Federation – 3.79), .EU (European Union – 3.60), .CN (China – 3.35), .BR (Brazil – 2.89), .AR (Argentina – 2.49), .AU (Australia – 2.40) and .IT (Italy – 2.39).To download the Centr report and check out many more statistics including on domain name renewal rates and world internet usage, go to https://www.centr.org/DomainWire_Stat_Report_2012_1.