The Austrian registry, along with SBR Juconomy Consulting AG, has won the right to operate Bahrain’s Top Level Domain .BH in a competitive bidding process with registries from around the world, providing technical services provider for a state-of-the-art domain management system.

.AT domain names contributed €13.5 million to the Austrian economy in 2009, with the contribution growing each year, a study conducted on behalf of the Austrian registry has found.

Today, a Public Comment Forum is being initiated to seek community comments on the proposed permanent Charter of the GNSO's Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG).

Today, a Public Comment Forum is being initiated to seek community comments on the proposed permanent Charter of the GNSO's Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG).

Today, my company AusRegistry International signed an open letter to the United States House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet as a show of support for ICANN and its new Top-Level Domain program. I'm disappointed by the nature of the oversight hearing the Subcommittee has called and I believe it will only be a distraction.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) released a report on the findings from its national consultation on how the Internet is run. The report found that it was important for Canada to develop world class internet infrastructure and that the linkages between the development and deployment of the internet, along with economic development and digital literacy are major issues of public interest in Canada.

The Kenyan government has announced it will block access to the recently approved .XXX Top Level Domain with the Communications Secretary Bitange Ndemo saying Kenya will block .XXX websites from being accessible in the country.

The Chinese government is establishing a department to manage internet information that “will oversee telecom service providers in their efforts to improve the management of registration of domain names, distribution of IP addresses, registration of websites and Internet access” Xinhua reports.

The Chinese government is establishing a department to manage internet information that “will oversee telecom service providers in their efforts to improve the management of registration of domain names, distribution of IP addresses, registration of websites and Internet access” Xinhua reports.

ICANN has been summoned to appear before the House Judiciary Committee who will hold a hearing called ICANN Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Oversight Hearing. Getting the short straw from ICANN to appear has been Kurt Pritz, who will front a committee that seems mostly to have the ear of intellectual property interests.

The Council of Country Code Administrators (CoCCA) is rapidly picking up new clients with the announcement that .ZM (Zambia) and .BW (Botswana) have selected the CoCCA registry system for managing their ccTLDs. With the addition of the two ccTLDs and .GY (Guyana) recently completing a migration to the CoCCA NOC, meaning that close to one in seven country code Top Level Domains now use CoCCA registry services.

ICANN has previously published two Security, Stability and Resiliency (SSR) Plans, in 2009 and 2010. ICANN is today releasing the Fiscal Year 2012 version for public comment in 5 UN languages. This represents a new format for the FY 12 SSR Framework, which is being published to provide for community input prior to the ICANN 41 meeting in Singapore and publication of the FY 12 ICANN Operating Plan and Budget.

Guidebook and Public Comment Forum

ICANN posted the translations today for public comment on the April 2011 Discussion Draft of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook in the 5 UN languages:

• العربية
  
• 中文
  
• Français
  
• Español
  
• Русский

European registrars EuroDNS and Blacknight Solutions have hit out at domain name renewal scams warning registrants to be vigilant when receiving what appear to be renewal notices as they can turn out to be an expensive scam.

European registrars EuroDNS and Blacknight Solutions have hit out at domain name renewal scams warning registrants to be vigilant when receiving what appear to be renewal notices as they can turn out to be an expensive scam.

UPDATE: LACNIC has advised the proposal for .LAC is a possible fraud and they are investigating commencing legal actions.

It may not be as sexy as .XXX, but the proposed .LAC generic Top Level Domain for Latin America and the Caribbean has opened for free pre-registration with the grand total of nine pre-registrations with an anticipated launch date of mid-2012.

Purpose of this document

This document provides a background report on the progress of an active Global Policy proposal. It is intended as a background briefing for the ICANN Board and the wider community.

The Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne have expressed an interest in applying for the .SYDNEY and .MELBOURNE generic Top Level Domains with governments in both cities saying they will apply for the new gTLDs when ICANN commences the application process.