The Estonian Internet Foundation, the .ee registry, Estonian Internet Foundation, has launched a simple three-in-one personal identification service.
Estonian companies that offer customers software solutions that inevitably require the country’s electronic identification of end-users in Estonia or other EU countries will now be able to use the new eeID service, which allows them to interface with 3 services at once (Smart-ID, Mobile-ID and ID-card). This is not a separate new electronic identification solution, but it is a convenient way to consolidate existing services into a single environment.
.SPA General Availability
The .spa new gTLD is about to kick off its general availability. From 12 October, any organisation or individual with a connection to the spa and wellness industry is entitled to register a .spa domain name. The landrush period finished on 1 October.
UK-IGF Happening in October
The UK Internet Governance Forum (UK IGF), the national IGF for the United Kingdom, will be held virtually from 20 to 21 October. IGFs are an initiative led by the United Nations for the discussion of public policy issues relating to the Internet.
A key distinguishing feature of IGFs is that they are based on the multi-stakeholder model – all sectors of society meet as equals to exchange ideas and discuss best practices.
The purpose of IGFs is to facilitate a common understanding of how to maximise the opportunities of the internet whilst mitigating the risks and challenges that the internet presents.
To register or to find out more information about the UK-IGF, click here.
Lebanon’s LBDR Taking Registrar Applications
The Lebanese (.lb) ccTLD Registry LBDR is taking applications from registrars interested in becoming an accredited registrar. More information and the application form is available here.
.KZ Celebrates 25 Years
Kazakhstan’s ccTLD .kz turned 25 years old on 19 September.
To celebrate, the Kazakhstan Network Information Center (KAZNIC) announced the test launch of the email service supporting internationalised domain name (IDN) characters of the national alphabet поштареле.қаз/mailrelay.kz, capable also to serve any domain names of national domains. KZ and. ҚАЗ.
.CAT Celebrates 15 Years
Another TLD to celebrate a birthday in September was .cat, which celebrated 15 years with an event in the Palau Robert Garden in front of the entities, governments and people who promoted and have supported .cat in recent years.
.CAT was delegated on 16 September 2005 and was the first top-level domain of a language and culture in the world.
auDA Foundation Taking Applications
The auDA Foundation Board, with support from Australia’s ccTLD regulatory body auDA, announced a new $200,000 round of competitive funding.
Five grants of $40,000 are available for new education or research projects that enhance the utility of the Internet across three key areas: inclusion, cyber security for small business and internet access for young Australians. Applications are open until 15 October.