Release of two letter domains within .com.au

Under current auDA policy it is not possible to register a domain name that matches an existing gTLD or ccTLD. Last year the auDA board decided to lift the restriction on TLDs, on the recommendation of the Name Policy Review Panel. Examples include: au.com.au, ad.com.au and bo.com.au.

The release date for TLDs is Sunday, 21 May 2006. The exact time of release will be notified by AusRegistry closer to the date. TLDs will be released on a first come, first served basis under normal policy rules and at the normal registry/auDA fee. Please note that many TLDs were registered as domain names prior to 1 July 2002.

For more information contact Domainz www.domainz.net.nz



.eu stampede

The first day of public registration for the new .eu top level domain (TLD) appears to have caused a stampede. More than one million people and organisations with an address in the European Union have applied for a website address since Friday, 7 April and the European Commission has announced that Britain is leading the way in new .eu registrations, followed by Germany and the Netherlands.

Public bodies were allows to start bidding for addresses four months ago, marking the start of the so-call 'sunrise' period of registration, while businesses and trademark holders started applying for .eu addresses in February this year.

Private individuals based on the 25-nation EU can now apply for a .eu domain name and all EU institutions will switch to the new .eu domain name on 9 May this year.

Public registration for .eu domain names opened on Friday, 7 April at 11:00am. More than 300,000 applications for .eu addresses were recorded in the first hour of public registration.

EU information society and media commissioner, Viviane Reding, said: "Today, Europe's competitive knowledge society becomes very visible to the world on the Internet. Europe and its citizens can now project their own web identity, protected by EU rules.

Domain prices rise 

The median domain name aftermarket resale price rose by 24 percent in 2005, compared with 2004, while average price increased by just 8.5 percent over the year. Research from Zetetic based on over 16,000 domain name sales transactions from more than 70 resale sources since 2003.

The research shows that the resale market for web addresses in booming, with a host of new brokers entering the market last year. Zetetic senior analyst Keith Pieper commented: "We all know the domain name market is hot. But even though the supply of domains available for purchase has increased in 2005, buyer demand is very strong for value priced domain names.

"Premium priced names have not shown the same annual price appreciation, likely because the new influx of domain names are mostly value priced names from many new, main stream exchanges." Mr Pieper added that the resale market has attracted new entrants, including a growing number of small, casual sellers, in addition to established exchanges. back to top

Phishing grows in Asia

Cybercrime is an evolving issue for most companies worldwide and is becoming a growing problem in emerging Asian economies, a leading expert claims. Phoenix Technologies president and CEO, Albert Sisto, suggests that cyber criminals are using bogus emails and websites to launch increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks and many companies are being forced to use software and hardware devices to protect the identities of their employees.

Speaking to Reuters in Hong Kong, the technology boss suggested that global corporations were being forced to ramp up technology to remain one step ahead of gangs of web criminals. Asked about corporate outsourcing moves to countries such as China and India and the effects of cyber crime there, Mr Sisto said there had been serious incidents in Hong Kong, Korea and China as a result of rapid economic growth and soaring Internet usage.

The Phoenix chief added: "The economies here and the rate of growth of Internet usage is really why this is one of the markets for criminals that have huge promise." Describing cybercrime as "an action that has no boundaries", he said that critical information had been stolen or leaked in a number of cases and it was important that there was an international approach to tackling online fraud and identifying cyber criminals and terrorists. back to top

A new kind of domain .Mobi

The .mobi domain launches in late May 2006 with a Sunrise Registration Period and then followed by a General Registration period in late August. The Sunrise Period is an opportunity for trademark holders to register their trademarks as dotmobi names. The Sunrise Period is divided into two time periods, Limited Industry and Trademark.

Limited Industry Sunrise
Members of industry trade associations GSMA, CTIA, MMA, CWTA and MEF have an exclusive opportunity to register their trademarked names starting 22 May 2006 for eight-days. The Limited Industry Sunrise will continue until 29 May 2006. Additional information is located at
http://pc.mtld.mobi/switched/sr_periodlmtd.html

Trademark Sunrise
On 12 June 2006, all other trademark holders can register their trademark as .mobi domain names. Trademark Sunrise will continue until 21 August 2006, a period of 70 days.

General Registration
Beginning on 28 August 2006 .mobi registrations are open to the public on an ongoing basis. General Registration commences with a two week registration period known as Landrush, which is followed by the ongoing registrations starting on 14 September 2006. back to top

Tiny island cries foul over .nu domain

The tiny, poor island of around 1,200 inhabitants has benefited from sales of the .nu suffix, after Mr Semich, 62, paid for it to become the first nation in the world with free Internet access for all citizens, the Wall Street Journal reports. However, islanders now insist that they were cheated out of a national asset and are calling for control of the domain name and a larger share of the profits.

Richard Hipa, managing director of Telecom Niue, told the journal: "This is a huge issue of national development for us. This is something that we should have run, and we were robbed of that."

Mr Semich, from Medfield, Massachusetts, has marketed the .nu web address through his company .NU Domain and it has proved immensely popular in Sweden, where ‘nu’ translates as 'now'. He insists that the voluntary services provided to Niue, one of the most remote places on Earth, are "unprecedented" and worth more than money.

One South Pacific island nation that has profited from a popular country code domain name is Tuvalu, which negotiated a contract in 2000 leasing the domain name .tv for $50 million in royalties over 12 years. A number of other islands and territories have regained control of their domain names in recent years. back to top

.xxx and security key for ICANN

The non-profit Internet oversight body has been the subject of DoS attacks, which started in January, and is becoming understandably concerned about the security and stability of the Internet's domain name system. The attacks use the international domain name server to alter the IP addresses of websites to www.xxx.xxx and have caused widespread traffic congestion.

ICANN president and CEO, Paul Twomey, has revealed that two recommendations to stop the DoS attacks will be heard at the New Zealand meeting, according to eWeek. DoS attacks have been carried out against websites and servers since 2002 and the problem appears to be worsening.

Approval for the proposed .xxx domain for adult websites was delayed by ICANN following pressure from the Bush Administration and the Christian right in the United States. However, supporters of the application have continued to lobby for ICANN approval. ICANN's governmental advisory committee will provide feedback to the meeting on the .xxx issue and officials will also re-examine the possible introduction of internationalised domain names (IDNs) using non-western characters and letter back to top