Corporate domain name management - eBrand Services

Welcome to E-Brand Services monthly update of news regarding updates to country code and generic

Top Level Domains (ccTLDs and gTLDs). 

Asian Content Providers & Online Service Providers Associations Join Forces to Curb Online Content Theft

Twelve leading Asian internet associations, including the .ASIA registry, from the content industry and online services industry signed a Letter of Intent committing them to work together to combat online content theft using through the use of technical measures.

Record Number of New .BE Registrations: DNS.be Annual Report

After a relatively modest increase in new registrations in 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis, new .BE registrations rebounded strongly in 2010 with another record in the number of new registrations according to the 2010 annual report. There were more than 257,000 new .BE registrations in 2010, almost ten per cent better than in the previous year.

.CN’s Tightened Registration Policy Sees Phishers Go To CO.CC And .TK

The tightening of registration policies for .CN domain names by CNNIC has seen a rapid decline in the number of phishers using .CN domain names and an increase in the use of other top level domains and services, and in particular the CO.CC sub-domain and .TK country code TLD. In a report from the Anti Phishing Working Group titled Global Phishing Survey 2H2010: Trends and Domain Name Use, the APWG found that millions of phishing URLs were reported in 2H2010, but the number of unique phishing attacks and domain names used to host them was much smaller. As a consequence, Google removed over 11 million .co.cc websites from its search engine results.

Malware: SWITCH Needs To Block Fewer .CH Websites

For six months now, SWITCH has been blocking Swiss websites that spread malicious software and infect Internet users’ computers with malware as they surf. In the second quarter of 2011, SWITCH only had to block half as many websites as in the first quarter – thanks SWITCH says to excellent cooperation with the Swiss hosting providers. Since November 2010, SWITCH has been regularly checking up on indications of malware on .CH and .LI websites. The aim is to clean up the website as rapidly as possible, working together with the holders and the hosting providers, so as to ensure that the malicious software does not spread any further.

Chinese Website Numbers Drop Dramatically in 2010

The number of Chinese websites dropped by 401 per cent in 2010 to 1.91 million websites according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The dramatic drop was attributed to stronger regulation. But while the number of websites dropped, the number of webpages increased in 2010 by 60 billion, an increase of 78.6 percent over 2009.

VeriSign Ups .COM & .NET Registry Fees By Maximum Allowed

The registry fee for .COM and .NET domain names will increase from $7.34 to $7.85 and $4.65 to $5.11 respectively on 15 January 2012 VeriSign, the registry for both TLDs, announced. The increases are a smidgen under the maximum possible under the registry agreement with ICANN - seven per cent for .COM and ten per cent for .NET.

.EU Business Continuity Exercise Successful

EURid, the registry for .EU, successfully tested its disaster recovery plan yesterday during a business continuity exercise in July. During the exercise, the .eu registration systems were transferred from the registry’s data centre in Brussels, Belgium, to an alternative data centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Growth Of .IE Continues with Highest Quarter and Single Month

The IE Domain Registry (IEDR),the registry for .IE, reported that registrations for .IE reached their highest ever total for a three month period. 10,812 .IE domains were registered in Quarter 2 2011, a 6.8per cent increase on the corresponding quarter in 2010. This growth was aided by the highest ever single month for registrations (May 2011), with over 4,000 new .IE domains being registered.

Changes To .HU Domain Registration Rules

New registration policies for .HU domain names came into effect on 1 June 2011 with the main change seeing a shortening of the registration procedure for the Hungarian ccTLD’s domain names.

.ME Celebrates Exceptional Growth In Domain Registrations

It’s been three years since the .ME Registry first launched open registrations of the Montenegrin ccTLD on July 17, 2008. There are now more than 530,000 .ME domains registered in 200 countries with more than half (52.92%) of .ME registrations based the United States. Another 7.68% of registrants were from

the United Kingdom, 3.82% registered in Germany, 3.81% in Canada, and 3.63% in Japan.

Norwegian Registry Considers Quota Increase

Several large Norwegian firms have raised issues with the Norwegian registry regarding the 20 domains per registrant quota. When they wish to promote projects or brands through corresponding domain names, the quota is a hindrance to them. Norid has announced they are now looking at various solutions to mitigate the problem.

South Sudan To Get .SS Country Code

The newly created country of South Sudan has been allocated the .SS country code by an International Telecommunications Union special council of Ministers resolution. South Sudan came into being as a nation on 9 July when it officially separated from the Republic of Sudan following a referendum of people in the former Sudan.

Registration Of Two-Character .SU Domain Names Available

A new version of Rules and Regulations for Registration of .SU Domain Names came into effect on 11 July, 2011. The new rules will cancel the restrictions on registration of two-character .SU domain names. From 11 July anyone will be able to register a .SU domain name consisting of only two characters (letters, numbers, or letters and numbers). Before that, the minimum length of a .SU domain name was three characters.

Nominet Launches .UK DNSSEC Pilot

Nominet have introduced a free pilot DNSSEC Signing Service to simplify the signing of zones and help encourage the introduction of the improved security measure in the .UK ccTLD. This new product from Nominet allows registrars to hand-over the process of DNSSEC signing their zones to Nominet.

ICM Extends .XXX Sunrise As Applications Approach One Million

As it approaches the one million mark for .XXX domain name expressions of interest, ICM Registry has announced it will be extending its Sunrise period, running for 50 days from 7 September, due to the volume of prelaunch interest in the domain. ICM Registry has received nearly 900,000 expressions of interest for .XXX domain names during its pre-reservation process.