ISNIC Suspends .IS Domain Linked To Islamic State Website
The .is (Iceland) registry ISNIC has suspended a domain name due to being linked with the terrorist organisation Islamic State.
The khilafah.is domain was suspended yesterday as it was used “for the website of a known terrorist organisation. The majority of ISNIC’s board made the decision … on the grounds of Article 9 of ISNIC’s Rules on Domain Registration, which states: ‘The registrant is responsible for ensuring that the use of the domain is within the limits of Icelandic law as current at any time.'”
Never before, the registry notes, has ISNIC suspended a domain on grounds of a website’s content.
ISNIC head Jens Petur Jensen told Iceland’s media that this was the first time they had suspended a domain because of its content.
“We have no experience with this… we have always pointed out that it’s none of our business. That the Islamic State had their domain under ‘.is’ was something we feared because of the abbreviation,” Jensen said.
According to New Zealand’s Stuff website “documentation for the web listing shows it was registered to Suite 4551, 17B Farnham St, Parnell, Auckland. Its owner is described as Azym Abdullah.”
“On the New Zealand Companies Office listings, the suite is the registered office for at least 63 companies, including a number that have been struck off.
“Under New Zealand’s company system, registration can be done online with virtual offices providing a legal entity for mail drops.
“It is not the first time New Zealand virtual offices and shell companies have been caught up in international security.”
Sedo’s Premium Auction .JETZT Is Now Underway
Sedo is hosting these days its premium auction .JETZT. The auction ends October 16,2014 and features 45 .Jetzt domain names.
So far, none of the domain names included in the auction received bids,even though there are some valuable domain names included in the auction.
The auction features doamain names from all price ranges,including :
Immobilien.jetzt
Auktion.jetzt
Geschenke.jetzt
Cash.jetzt
Chat.jetzt
Filme.jetzt
Kaufen.jetzt
Reise.jetzt
You can see the entire inventory and place your bids here.
Donuts Registers Its One Millionth New gTLD Address
Donuts registered recently its one millionth Internet address, making the company the first one the reach this total.
You can read the press release after the jump :
“Donuts Inc., the world’s largest registry for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), today registered its one millionth Internet address, making the company the first new gTLD provider to reach that total.
Heavenly.COFFEE became the one millionth address registered across all Donuts gTLDs. The milestone registration comes less than ten full months after Donuts opened its first new gTLDs for general registration in January. The brisk pace of registrations reflects not just interest in and usage of Donuts gTLDs, which has been substantial, but in the new gTLD program as a whole, which now tallies almost 2.7 million registrations globally. More than 1,000 registrations in Donuts gTLDs are ranked in Alexa’s top one million most visited sites.
“It’s exciting to reach such a major landmark so soon, but what’s even better is what those million addresses represent,” Donuts co-founder and CEO Paul Stahura said. “Each one of those names represents countless opportunities for engagement, outreach and branding in a digital world free from artificial scarcity. With new gTLDs, users choose the names that are meaningful to them, their audiences and their customers, rather than picking from a short list of virtually meaningless options.”
The widespread adoption of new gTLDs has come during what are still the early phases of the global new gTLD program. Many of the most popular pre-launch gTLDs continue to work through the contention resolution process established by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the domain name industry’s technical coordinator. And growth is still in its infant stages—a recent forecast by the investment banking firm B. Riley & Co. projected that new gTLD registrations could top 20 million by 2016, accounting for 15 percent of the worldwide market.
“This is a real achievement not only for Donuts, but for the new gTLD program,” said Chris Pacitti, a general partner at venture capital firm Austin Ventures, an early investor in Donuts. “The Donuts team is well out in front of the market, which has been starving for valid Internet identities for years now. We expect significant growth to continue.”
“As rewarding as the past ten months have been, the best days of the new gTLD program remain ahead,” Stahura said. “Internet users have had only a taste of the full range of choices that will be available within the next year.”
Jonathan Robinson Recognised with 2014 ICANN Leadership Award
Jonathan Robinson has been awarded the 2014 ICANN Leadership Award for his contributions to the effectiveness of ICANN ‘s multistakeholder model.
Robinson received the award in recognition of his devotion to the multistakeholder model, his extraordinary generosity of time, energy, knowledge and expertise, friendship and leadership, and his collegial leadership style that has increased civility and effectiveness within the community.
Assuming the role as Chair of the Generic Names Supporting Organization Council in 2012, Robinson has worked closely with the other 22 members of the Council to strengthen collaborative work within the GNSO and together with other ICANN bodies. These efforts to further open channels of communications between ICANN ‘s diverse participants are critical to the effective functioning and development of the multistakeholder organization. Introducing innovations such as initiating the first induction and development session for the GNSO Council has helped to ensure the well-informed involvement and early success of others as leadership participants within the multistakeholder environment.
Robinson is an experienced company director and entrepreneur with a focus on business development in the domain name services and related sectors. He is co-founder of Group NBT (now NetNames) and served as a Board Director and Chief Operating Officer of the London listed Group for 10 years until 2009. Since 2010, he has continued to work actively in the domain name industry, including through his involvement and board position with domain registry operator, Afilias Ltd.
ICANN gave its first Leadership Award at ICANN ‘s 48th Public Meeting in Buenos Aires in November 2013 to Lesley Cowley, then-CEO of Nominet, the .UK top-level domain registry.
The ICANN staff leadership team selects the winner of this annual award unanimously, based on an individual’s leadership in protecting and promoting the multistakeholder model.
This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2014-10-13-en
U.S. Commerce Secretary Pledges to Protect a Free and Open Internet
[news release] Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, addressing attendees at the opening ceremony of ICANN’s 51st public meeting in Los Angeles, declared unwavering support for the United States government’s decision to transfer stewardship of the IANA functions to the global multistakeholder community and not to any one single organization.
“Let me be clear about this. The United States will not allow the global Internet to be co-opted by any person, entity or nation seeking to substitute their parochial world view for the collective wisdom of this community,” said Pritzker.
More than 2,300 members of the global multistakeholder community have come together in Los Angeles, California, for ICANN’s 51st public meeting to discuss the future of the organization.
“If we don’t strive to improve our governance and accountability at all times, and especially this time, we will not gain and maintain the confidence of the world,” said Fadi Chehadé, President and CEO of ICANN. “ICANN’s leadership, the ICANN board and the ICANN community are committed to the best possible governance and accountability mechanisms there are.”
ICANN Board Chair Dr. Stephen Crocker spoke about ICANN’s priorities, saying, “Throughout the organization we are sincerely concerned about transparency, about accountability, and we work assiduously trying to improve.”
The IANA Stewardship Coordination Group (ICG) will be meeting during the week to continue their discussion on how the NTIA will go about transitioning its stewardship of the IANA functions to the Internet community.
“We have to get this transition right,” said Pritzker. “Make no mistake: I stand by ICANN. I am all in when it comes to the global debate over Internet governance. And we will preserve and protect a free and open Internet.”
Those attending ICANN51 or participating remotely are highly encouraged to join and watch the ICG’s meeting. Details for doing so can be found at http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/fri-icg.
ICANN also announced the winner of the 2014 Leadership Award – Jonathan Robinson, Chair of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). The Leadership Award recognizes ICANN community members who demonstrate leadership in protecting and promoting the multistakeholder model.
The GNSO recommends changes to existing policy and develops new policy for generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs). To learn more about the GNSO, go to http://gnso.icann.org/en/.
