There is a very interesting video posted on YouTube.com from Matt Cutts of Google who answered the question about how ccTLD's are viewed by Google especially when they are being used as domain hacks. Here is the question: ""We have a vanity domain (http://ran.ge) that unfortunately isn't one of the generic TLDs, which means we can't set our geographic target in Webmaster Tools. Is there any … [Read more...]
Nominet Haults Plan For .Uk Domain Names, For Now
According to a post on its blog, Nominet.org.uk, is stopping with its plan to sell the shorter, "direct.uk, domain names for now. Nominet says there will be studying the issue over the coming months. The plan which would have allowed Nominet the company that runs the .UK ccTLD to start selling domains ending in just .UK rather than the current .co.Uk came under attack by domain holders and … [Read more...]
Microsoft Releases ccTLD Registry Security Assessment Service To Find & Fix Security Vulnerabilities
Microsoft released the Microsoft Country-Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) Registry Security Assessment Service at the RSA Conference today in San Francisco: The new service was designed to help ccTLD registry operators find and fix security vulnerabilities before they are exploited. The offical annoucment was made on technet.com. "The exploitation of vulnerabilities specific to country-code … [Read more...]
Moniker/SnapNames.com To Auction Off “Premium .Dm” Domains At Webfest
Although the WebFest conference got underway today, there is a late addition to the live and extended auction. Today Moniker.com/SnapNames announced that it will be conducting an auction of premium .dm domains as part of the live auction conducted from the Webfest Global Conference being held in Santa Monica, CA on Wednesday, February 6, 2013, starting at 4:00 pm Pacific Time. The domain … [Read more...]
US Government Opens Comment Period On .US ccTLD: Contract Expires On 8/31
The United States Department of Commerce's (Department) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) which administers the contract for the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States, “.US” (usTLD) has opened up the comment period on the contract to run the .US extension. The current contract expires on August 31, 2013. Neustar, Inc (NSR) operates the … [Read more...]
Thanks To The TM Lobby Even The Tiny Island Of Vanuatu (.Vu) Is Worried About Cybersquatters
I just read a story about the tiny pacific island nation of Vanuatu which is discussing what shall become of its Top Level Domain name (ccTLD) .vu It was pretty shocking to me how the trademark lobby message of "cybersqautting" has reached to the point where the issue of a .Vu domain name being used to abused trademarks of brands and famous people. Anyone who reads thedomains.com with any … [Read more...]
CIRA: Launches .IDN’s For .CA Domains & Holding Networking Event Tuesday In Montreal
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA.), the organization that manages the .CA Internet domain, now supports the use of all French characters in .CA domain names, allowing Canadians to register their .CAs correctly in both official languages for the first time". "Previously, the only characters that could be used in a .CA domain name were the letters a-z, the numbers 0-9 and … [Read more...]