October 2009 Archives

ICANN staff informed the Registrar Stakeholder Group at the meeting in Seoul, Korea, that 638 registrars have either signed the new RAA or are in the process of signing it.

While it may prove difficult to encourage all registrars to signup voluntarily ie. prior to contract expiry it's encouraging to see that the bulk of domain registrations are now covered by the new contract.

What is unfortunate, however, is that the registrant rights and obligations document still has not been drafted. Work on this document has begun, but it could be several months before the final document is made public and incorporated into registrar agreements.

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• ICANN Has Seoul (blacknight.com)

ICANN's website contains a LOT of information. Some of it is useful, some of it is fascinating, but it's all valuable (to someone)
The problem with the current site is that has grown so much over time that it is practically unusable. Unless you spend a silly amount of time using it (and I do!) it's nigh on impossible to find anything. Even when you spend a lot of time using the site you may still find yourself going round and round in circles trying to find information that you know exists (or does it??, maybe you were simply imagining it?)
So a few months ago ICANN started a process of revamping the site.

They've published some of the screenshots and background studies that led them to to this change on their blog.

So how does it look?

Crisp and fresh are words that spring to mind.

When will we get to see it?

That, unfortunately, is the BIG question and with the upcoming departure of Kieren McCarthy you'd have to wonder if the organisation will have the energy and impetus to forge ahead with such a dramatic change. Yes, it is needed, but whether or not Kieren's replacement(s) will have the same drive and devotion remains to be seen.
I for one hope that they do manage to "get it together", but I won't hold my breath. Don't get me wrong - a lot of ICANN staff would welcome a new and more usable site, but you need someone with energy and drive to ensure that it happens.

The independent review of the ICM Registry bid for .xxx was held towards the end of September in Washington and the documents from this are now available online

I'd love to summarise them, but there is a very large volume of information (hundreds of pages)

If you have the time to read over them all they include witness statements from Vint Cerf, Milton Mueller, Paul Twomey and several others.

PIR, which is behind the .org (dotOrg) registry, has issued a call for statements of interest from people interested in joining their board.

According to the announcement on the ISOC site PIR is looking for two directors for the period covering July 2010 to July 2013.

Full details of what they're looking for and the application process may be found here

While the announcement does go into plenty of detail about what is required, it's a bit lacking in terms of compensation details.

Are PIR board members renumerated?

Presumably the expenses associated with travelling to the various meetings are covered, but again, there are no details.

AFNIC, which runs the .fr registry, has published its Action Plan for 2010.

While the "old chestnut" of DNSSEC is on the agenda (no surprise there!), there's also reference to a change in the registration rules.

Under the current registration rules registrants need to supply an address in France.
The proposed change is intended to open up registration to all French nationals regardless of their place of residence.

So does this leave the door open for a wider change?

Are we likely to see non-French nationals being able to register .fr domains without having to "jump through hoops"?

The current situation is more than a little frustrating. If a non-French company or individual wants to register a .fr domain, regardless of their motives, the registry rules render the registration incredibly difficult. While other ccTLD registries may have restrictive rules, in most instances there are relatively "sane" ways to navigate them.

It's not clear from the document that has been published what the registry's exact plans are in this area, but any change and progress in this area should be welcomed.

According to the document the plan would need to be voted on by the board in November.

The original text is available via the AFNIC site.

Afilias are running a competition with a prize fund of $7500 for the first prize.

Full details of the competition and the entry form are on the official competition site

PIR, the organisation behind .org (dotOrg), has released its first biannual domain report - The Dashboard.

The report, which runs to 10 pages, goes into detail on the type of websites that opt for .org as their domain extension. Not surprisingly a lot of non-profit or non-commercial sites are using .org.

What's also interesting to see, and will come as positive news to industry insiders, is that registrations have continued to grow even while global economies have faltered.

PIR are reporting an 11% growth in registrations, which is very positive news indeed.

Press release and report are available on the PIR site.

ICANN has published the 3rd version of the applicant guidebook  and it is now available for comments.

The texts (more than one!) are available here.

Jothan Frakes has posted some initial observations as well

Due to the sheer size and complexity of the guidebook it will probably take time for people to fully digest it and come up with sane critique.