Monthly Archive for February, 2009

.ME Reaches 200,000 Registered Domains in Record Time

February 26, 2009

The Internet’s most popular new domain name extension, .ME, reached the number of two hundred thousand names registered worldwide.

This makes .ME the fastest growing new ccTLD launch on record.

OpenDoor.ME, registered in Japan, was the 200,000th .ME domain.

The .ME extension has become popular in the United States for both personal and business uses, but it is available and being registered aggressively in many other parts of the world, such as Germany, France, United Kingdom and China.

Some of the more than 181 countries representing the thousands of .ME registrations include Canada, India, Australia, Israel, Spain, the Netherlands and its originating country, Montenegro. Right now, more than 100 registrars offer the top level domain, which was introduced in April 2008.

“Having hit 200,000 registered domains in mere ten months signals to us that dot ME is seen as a valuable online asset”, said the registry’s executive director, Predrag Lesic. “The best part is there are still so many great names available, in every language.”

In October, the .ME Registry reduced the minimum requirement for a .ME domain registration to one year, instead of the previous two year commitment.

Swedish Businesses and Individuals Prefer .SE Domains

February 23, 2009

Statistics Sweden has recently published a report called Use of computers and the Internet by companies in 2008 which shows that 88% of all companies with more than ten employees that have a domain name select a .se domain and six out of ten private individuals choose .se over other top level domains.

A record total of 229,042 new .se domain names were registered in 2008, compared with 188,652 .se registered in 2007 and 204,830 during the previous record year of 2006. At the end of 2008, there were 834,000 active .se domain names, which correspond to growth of nearly 19%.

The report also showed nearly all major companies have their own domain names with 85% of all Swedish companies having their own domain names.

Among companies with fewer than ten employees and their own domain name, 85 % have a .se address and 75% of these companies use this domain name as their primary address.

Among individuals, the typical registrant who registers a domain name is a man with post secondary education, his own company, children and a monthly income of more than SEK 25,000 (US$30,700).

A total of 15% of Swedes have their own domain names, similar to the figures for the rest of the Nordic region and Europe. The majority of women with domain names are between the ages of 45 and 54 (21%) and the majority of men with domain names are between the ages of 55 and 64 (20%). Most private individuals who have their own domain names are self employed (38%). The most common top level domain is .se, which was registered by 60% of the individuals who registered a domain name.

New Domain Extension .CO.NL for Netherlands

February 6, 2009

A new domain extension is being launched for Netherlands: .CO.NL.

45 countries are actively promoting their .co.xx extension as the internationally accepted domain extension. Now you too will be able to internationally promote your presence in the Netherlands using a .co.nl domain.

Between February 10 and March 10, 2009, all holders of a trademark registered anywhere in the world can apply for the correspondent .co.nl domain name. Every applicant will need to submit the following information:

  • Registered trademark
  • Registration number
  • Registration locality

Capacity: in case the applicant is not the trademark holder, he will have to apply as assignee and indicate the link between him and the trademark holder.

In addition to this information, the authority may ask the applicant to provide supporting documents.

Note that the .co.nl domain will be assigned and registered after the authority has completed a verification procedure. Multiple eligible applications of the same .co.nl name will be assigned on a first come first served basis. In case the domain is not registered, there is a non refundable amount of USD 80.

.MX Available Soon

February 4, 2009

Since February 1989 (when .mx was created) the domain registrations directly under .mx were restricted only to universities and some other institutions. Then, in 1996 registrations directly under .mx were closed and there were available only extensions com.mx, gob.mx, edu.mx, org.mx and .net.mx.

In response to the interest of users to register domains directly under .mx, the authority has announced the release of its registration.

Registration directly under .mx offers important benefits for Internet users related to Mexico, such as registration of shorter names, the possibility of not restricting names to only one kind of organization, and the direct identification with Mexico in Internet, among others, this way allowing users to register domains like www.mycompany.mx.

The re launch of .mx is planned in different stages, giving priority to actual owners of domain names in the existing categories. The authority will reveal the details of each stage in February and will start the .mx re launch process in May. We will be updating the information.

.ORG Implements Domain Anti-Abuse Policy

February 4, 2009

.ORG Authority will implement a new Domain Anti Abuse Policy. The policy is effective from February 5, 2009 and will help .ch owners whose domain names have been compromised and used inappropriately. Includes, without limitation, the following:

  • Illegal or fraudulent actions
  • Spam: the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages.
  • Phishing: the use of counterfeit Web pages designed to trick recipients into divulging sensitive data such as usernames, passwords, or financial data.
  • Pharming: the redirecting of unknowing users to fraudulent sites or services, generally through DNS hijacking or poisoning.
  • Willful distribution of malware: the dissemination of software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent.
  • Fast flux hosting: use of fast flux techniques to disguise the location of Web sites or other Internet services, or to avoid detection and mitigation efforts, or to host illegal activities.
  • Botnet command and control: services run on a domain name that are used to control a collection of compromised computers or “zombies,” or to direct denial of service attacks (DDoS attacks).
  • Distribution of child pornography
  • Illegal Access to Other Computers or Networks: illegally accessing computers, accounts, or networks belonging to another party, or attempting to penetrate security measures of another individual’s system (often known as “hacking”).

The Authority reserves the right to deny, cancel or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain name(s) on registry lock, hold or similar status, that it deems necessary, in its discretion. The Authority also reserves the right to place upon registry lock, hold or similar status a domain name during resolution of a dispute.