• Can't Name Your Kid With A Dot Com In China
  Well, it appears that China really doesn't like people naming their kids after internet related things. Not only is the "@" out, but so is naming your kid with a .com.
  .... full story

• Mobile Message Providers Must Submit Domain Names For FCC Database
  ...CMRS carriers will have until January 21, 2004 to submit to the Commission all of their electronic mail domain names used for wireless messaging
  .... full story

12/22/2004

• Registries Vie for .Net Domain
  Internet registries around the world are preparing to submit their bids on one of the oldest, and most popular, domain extensions
  .... full story

• .Mobi's Contentious Ride
  The .mobi domain name extension will hurt the Internet, according to a number of industry folks opposed to its potential approval. The Device Independence Working Group (DIWG) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is just one group making noise amidst .mobi negotiations
  .... full story

12/20/2004

• Afilias, NIXI To Create .IN Domain
  Domain name registry service provider Afilias Limited (afilias.info) announced on Monday that its subsidiary, Afilias India Pvt. Ltd., has signed an agreement with the National Internet Exchange of India to provide registry services for the .IN country code Internet domain
  .... full story

• The return of the stealth tax
  Five years ago ICANN's plans to levy a $1-per-domain charge were foiled, but their trying it again. Is this right, and is there anything any of us can do about it?
  .... full story

• ICANN partying like it's 1999
  It's been five years since Internet users had to worry about paying an extra $1 or so annual fee--akin to a tax--for each .com, .net or .org domain name they own.
  Now the international organization that oversees domain names has rediscovered the idea. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) believes it needs a fatter budget funded by domain name fees--and plans to start charging domain name owners in a process that will begin next year
  .... full story

• Dutch companies fined €7k for eBay typosquatting
  Dutch graphic design company JustDesign and customer J. van Dalen have been ordered by The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to pay a fine of €7000 for registering the domain name e-bay.nl. The name was used for a website with information on Van Dalen, a company which inspects buildings
  .... full story

12/17/2004

• Why ".mobi" is Bad for the Web
  On December 14, ICANN gave the go-ahead to the ".mobi" top level domain. Does it stand for "more odious business interests" or "might obnoxiously break the Internet?"
  .... full story

• Gooooal! Ronaldinho scores his own domain name
  Brazilian and Barcelona football star Ronaldinho has won his namesake domain name, www.ronaldinhogaucho.com
  .... full story

12/16/2004

• ICANN Stands To Reap Windfall from New Domain Fee
  In the short term, the tax could add US$4 million annually to ICANN's coffers, an amount that could skyrocket to more than $30 million if it is extended to additional domains. That fact is not lost on ICANN's many critics, who say the group already operates with little oversight and at times acts in a manner that hinders growth of the Internet
  .... full story

• ICANN proposes new Net tax
  The international organisation that oversees domain names has levied a 75-cent-per-domain charge, to come into effect next year
  .... full story

• ICANN Proceeds with .job and .mobi
  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (icann.org) said earlier this week that it has moved its commercial and technical negotiations with the .job and .mobi sponsored top-level domains to the next phase. The .job domain caters to the human resources community, while the .mobi domain accommodates the mobile device industry and users
  .... full story

• Unnoticed fee could raise Net domain costs
  Internet users may soon be required to pay an additional annual fee for each domain name they own, thanks to a virtually unnoticed requirement that will begin to take effect next year
  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the international organization that oversees domain names, is moving forward with a 75-cent annual fee for .net domains starting next year and is expected to expand the levy to other generic suffixes such as .com and .biz in the future
  .... full story

12/15/2004

• Domain name vigilance is vital for ecommerce
  IT directors are not being sufficiently vigilant about online processes, according to the organisation responsible for co-ordinating internet addresses.
  And they are inadvertently putting the reputation of their business on the line by not ensuring timely registration of domain names
  .... full story

• Microsoft halted in phonetic domain crusade
  Microsoft has been knocked back in its increasingly bizarre domain name grab by Spanish company Mocosoft
  .... full story

• Domain name registrar loses appeal
  A domain name registrar with a trail of angry customers has failed in its appeal against a court decision that could cost its licence.
  The Federal Court in Sydney last week refused to overturn a previous verdict that allowed the .au Domain Administration (auDA) to request business operations documents from TotalNIC, a generic top level domain (gTLD) registrar
  .... full story

12/14/2004

• ICANN goes domain crazy
  Internet overseeing organisation ICANN has rediscovered its love of top-level domains, announcing this week that it has put another two through to final approval stages, as well as approving the document that will be used to decide the new owner of all .net domains next year
  .... full story

• ICANN enters negotiations on .mobi, .jobs domains
  Two new top-level domain names moved closer to approval this week, as the body charged with overseeing the Internet's technical matters moved into negotiations with the companies applying to set up and run the ".mobi" and ".jobs" domains
  .... full story

• ICANN gives preliminary OK to two Web domains
  Sponsored by leading mobile phone and technology companies, including Nokia, Microsoft and T-Mobile, the ".mobi" domain would set apart Web sites and other services that are specially designed to work around the limitations of cell phones, including their smaller screen size and data capacity.
  The ".jobs" suffix, meanwhile, would go to members of the human resources community.
  .... full story

12/13/2004

• ICANN Gives Preliminary OK to 2 Domains
  The Internet's key oversight agency gave a preliminary nod Monday to new domain names targeting mobile services and the jobs market.
  .... full story

• picturephone.com - Speculation on Cellular Phone Giant Purchasing picturephone.com Domain Name May Indeed Pay Off!
  The "picturephone.com" domain name auction heats up faster than expected! The existing PicturePhone website has hundreds of domain name shoppers looking at the offering
  .... full story

12/09/2004

• Government to cut .es prices
  The Spanish industry, tourism & trade ministry will cut the price of ‘.es’ domain names to EUR 27.59, down 71 percent from EUR 94.83 currently, in an effort to boost the development of the information society, reports ABC
  .... full story

• Harry Potter author's magic domain win
  J K Rowling, author of the world famous Harry Potter books, films and merchandising, has conjured up domain name success in a UDRP dispute
  .... full story

12/08/2004

• Meet Frank Fowlie, ICANN Ombudsman
  It would be very easy to paint the newly appointed Ombudsman to Internet overseeing organisation ICANN as a heroic figure. The fact that he hasn't been is either a missed trick or a reassuring sign that substance is more important than style - we can't be sure which
  .... full story

12/07/2004

• Apple Goliath meets UK David in domain name spat
  Apple is attempting to wrest control of a domain name from a UK entrepreneur, but faces a tough fight from the current owner of the Web address
  .... full story

• Icann seeks new domain registrar
  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) is to choose a new registrar for the .net domain next spring
  .... full story

12/06/2004

• German Supreme Court rules in favor of 'generic domain grabbing'
  The German Supreme Court has ruled that merely registering generic terms as domain names does not constitute an unethical intent to cause damage, online magazine Heise Online reports.
  The court says that registering domain names is typically based on a first-come, first-served principle. The resulting advantage for the person who registers first can thus not be seen as unethical, the Court argues
  .... full story

• Apple threatens iTunes.co.uk owner
  Apple has accused the owner of iTunes.co.uk of being a cybersquatter, and taken him to UK registry Nominet demanding to be given the domain.
  Unfortunately, the owner happens to be one Benjamin Cohen, the "dotcom millionaire" of lore, whose father is a solicitor, and Apple doesn't have a leg to stand on
  .... full story

• ICANN rules out ITU merger
  Extending the mandate of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) could do irreparable harm to it and Internet governance in the future, says ICANN CEO Paul Twomey
  .... full story

12/04/2004

• Adsense Contributes To Highest Ever Domain Registrations
  programs like Google's Adsense has spured many recent registrations in surprising rates
  .... full story

12/03/2004

• The space warrior, the witch and ICANN
  Leaders of ICANN, the Internet's controversial ruling body, are getting a visit this week from a witch-in-training and a space warrior from centuries in the future, according to the organization's Web site
  .... full story

• Travel industry to have its own web address
  Companies in the travel and tourism industry are to have their own internet address.
  The '.travel' top level domain (TLD), which should launch in the second quarter of 2005, will provide a new variation to the continuing demand for new web addresses
  .... full story

• ICANN selects its wardens
  The Internet Coporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has selected the two independent wardens of its activites after a two-year delay
  .... full story

12/02/2004

• Search ads drive growth and debate in domain business
  The massive growth in pay-per-click advertising is producing better than expected growth in the domain name industry. However, as Kevin Murphy explains, this week has also seen considerable debate about how to best divvy up the revenue
  .... full story

• Website registration reaches record levels
  Over five million new domain names were added to the internet in the third quarter of this year - the highest growth in registrations ever
  .... full story

• ICANN selects its wardens
  The Internet Coporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has selected the two independent wardens of its activites after a two-year delay
  .... full story

• Website registration reaches record levels
  Internet governance is skewed in favor of developed countries that initially set up the structures, South African Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said on Thursday.
  South Africa, with the largest number of Internet users in Africa, fought and won a long and controversial battle for state control over the .za country domain name, which had been administered by independent group NameSpace ZA
  .... full story

• Over five million new domain names were added to the internet in the third quarter of this year - the highest growth in registrations ever
  .... full story

• ICANN works Harry Potter magic on net
  Internet overseeing organisation ICANN has a difficult task ahead persuading people to let it run the whole network when its contract ends in 2006. And it is willing to try anything to get there - including, it would seem, magic
  .... full story

• ITU head: Arabic domain names coming to a computer near you
  Internet domain names may soon be available in Arabic, according to Yoshio Utsumi, the secretary-general of the International Telecommunications Union
  .... full story

12/01/2004

• Ad Programs Drive Record Domain Name Growth
  VeriSign (Quote, Chart) is reporting the largest quarterly growth in new domain names in Internet history, 5.1 million, in its latest report, officials said Wednesday
  .... full story
  
• Domain registration hits record levels
  In a record-breaking spree, over five million domain names were registered in the third quarter of 2004, according to a report from VeriSign
  .... full story
  
• VeriSign Issues Quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief; Overall Domain Name Registration Tops Past Record at 66.3M
  Report Shows Domain Name Registration Increased Three Percent Over Q2 2004; Overall Improvement in Global Economy and Pay-Per-Click Advertising Market Driving Growth
  .... full story
  
• ICANN Registrar Announces Pre-Registrations for .PW Spam-Free Email and Domain Names
  Trademark Owners Have Two Weeks to File Defensive Registrations Before .PW Land Rush Starts December 15, 2004
  .... full story