ICANN : New gTLD Applicant and GDD Portal Update
ICANN temporarily took its New gTLD Applicant and GDD portals offline on 27 February 2015 to investigate a reported security issue.
Access to, and data in, these portals is limited to New gTLD Program applicants and New gTLD registry operators. Under certain circumstances an authenticated portal user could potentially view data of, or related to, other users.
There is currently no indication that this issue resulted in any actual exposure of data to an unauthorized party. There is also no indication that anyone other than those authorized to access the portal did so.
We are working to implement a solution to the reported issue and bring the portals back online. We are also continuing to investigate whether any data was exposed to an unauthorized user.
As more information becomes available we will report on our findings and publish updates at www.icann.org/news and http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/announcements-and-media/latest.
This announcement was sourced from :
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2015-03-01-en
Those with .nz domain names urged to act before 13:00, 30 March deadline
[news release] There’s an important date coming up for thousands of people who hold .nz domain names. Those eligible to get the shorter .nz version of their name before anybody else only have until 1pm, 30 March 2015 to do so.
Most of those with existing .nz names – for example .co.nz, .org.nz, .net.nz, etc. – are able to register or reserve their name direct at .nz before anybody else. They have what is called ‘Preferential Registration or Reservation (PRR)’.
Importantly, however, if a person with PRR hasn’t acted on their registration or reservation options by 1pm, 30 March 2015, the shorter name will become available for first-come first-served registration.
Others with a ‘conflicted’ .nz name are not affected by this deadline, but the Domain Name Commission Limited (DNCL) is encouraging these people to also be aware of their status and options as soon as possible.
With the final countdown now on, Domain Name Commissioner Debbie Monahan says it’s important that all those eligible to register or reserve before anybody else consider their options soon.
“Over 50,000 shorter .nz names have so far been registered or reserved. However, there are tens of thousands of people entitled to get the shorter version of their name first who are yet to take action.”
Registering one of the new, shorter .nz names is done through any .nz domain name registrar. Reserving is a free service and can only be done at a dedicated website set up by the Domain Name Commission – anyname.nz.
Those with PRR can also choose to do nothing, which is fine. The most important thing, says Monahan, is that they’re aware of their preferential registration and reservation options.
“Whatever option a person chooses – register, reserve, or do nothing at all – their existing .nz domain name will continue as it always has – provided the existing name is kept registered.”
Some people may find that the shorter .nz version of their name is ‘conflicted’. A conflicted name is one that’s been registered in at least two ‘second levels’. For example, one person may hold the .co.nz version, while another may hold the .org.nz version.
Those with a conflicted name can make their views known at anyname.nz.
“For those with a conflicted name time is on your side and, though you’re encouraged to act as soon as you can, there is no specific deadline. For those with PRR however the countdown is on as the 1pm, 30 March 2015 deadline is fast approaching,” says Monahan.
To learn more about this change and the importance of 1pm, 30 March 2015 for those with Preferential Registration and Reservation (PRR), visit anyname.nz.
This NZ Domain Name Commissioner news release was sourced from:
dnc.org.nz/story/those-nz-domain-names-urged-act-1pm-30-march-deadline
Welsh Top Level Domains Open To All On St. David’s Day
As of today (1 March), St. David’s Day, anyone can register a .wales and .cymru domain name on a first come, first served basis.
Support has been strong in Wales with the Welsh Assembly being the first to switch on its new domains back in December. Others to have already taken the opportunity to register their .wales and .cymru domains include the Welsh government, S4C, Sport Wales, the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, the Scarlets rugby team, the Welsh Rugby Union, the Millennium Stadium, the Arts Council for Wales, Golwg360, Bloc, Gwalia, Atlantic PLC, Orchard and Portmeirion.
Wales is also one of the few countries in the world to have two top level domains as well as the option for using .uk that was their only TLD representing the country previously.
“These domains are about taking our Welsh passion, pride and provenance to the online world and as a consequence we all now have an opportunity both within Wales and around the world to do exactly that,” said Ieuan Evans MBE, Chair of the .cymru and .wales Advisory Group and former Wales rugby captain.
“I’m thrilled to finally be able to use my own .cymru and .wales web addresses and know that anyone with a connection with Wales will want to do the same and join me in making the web more Welsh.”
“The new domain names create a fantastic opportunity for Wales that support development of businesses, communities and the Welsh language online. It means we could use the top level domain names to establish a strong online presence, which truly reflects our national identity,” Carwyn Jones, First Minister, has previously said.
Google Files Complaint for Google-Status.com Domain
Google,has recently filed a complaint against the owner of Google-Status.com domain name,seeking control of it.
Google filed the complaint with the National Arbitration Forum on February 19,2015.
According to whois records, the domain name was first registered in December, 2008.
The National Arbitration Forum will examine over the next days if the domain name is confusingly similar to Google’s trademark,if the current owner has rights over it and if the domain is being used in bad faith . Google-Status.com will be passed over to Google if it falls under all three of these stipulations.
At the time of writing this article, the case is still pending compliance checks with the National Arbitration Forum.
Expire.com – A new Domain Name Sales Platform,Launched
A new domain name sales platform , named Expire.com , is being launched these days. The service is a unique 5-day “step-down” process that is best known as a Dutch Auction.
You can read the press release after the jump :
” TurnCommerce Inc., operators of brands NameBright.com (an ICANN accredited domain name registrar), HugeDomains.com (a domain name aftermarket), and DropCatch.com (a domain back-order service) announces the launch of Expire.com, a Dutch-style auction service that will sell between 15 and 30 premium domain names per day on a first-come first-served basis. A Dutch auction is a type of auction where the initial price starts off at a pre-determined amount and is lowered until a bidder accepts the current price.
Expire.com will list valuable domain names at $500, and the price will be lowered by $100 each subsequent day if it does not receive a bid. After an auction starts for $500, and if it does not sell, it will drop in price to $400 on the second day, $300 the third day, $200 the fourth day and $100 on the final day before the auction ‘expires’.
Initial inventory of domains will be provided by HugeDomains, which include many high value domain names and are expected to sell quickly.
Andrew Reberry, co-founder of TurnCommerce, Inc., said, “Many domain investors will find some outstanding deals on the Expire.com platform, but you will have to act fast to win these highly sought-after domains.”
