ICANN to discuss changes in domain name market
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is due to hold its latest meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. One of the key issues being discussed at the latest meeting of the Internet oversight body will be control of ICANN, as the organisation's memorandum of understanding with the US Government expires this September. Other topics on the agenda in Morocco include the future of ICANN, the budget and operations plan and changes in the way that domain names are bought and sold.

The corporation has increasingly faced calls for international regulation, possibly by the United Nations, rather than by the US government. Calls grew stronger after ICANN agreed a contentious new contract with .com registry VeriSign this year.

A meeting of ICANN in March this year, in Wellington, New Zealand, was dominated by controversial proposals for a .xxx domain suffix for pornographic websites. ICANN ditched plans to approve the .xxx web address in May 2006 and is now concentrating its energies on future policies.

ICANN estimates that the global domain name market is now worth around $500 million, while the domain after-market is worth a further $1 - $2 billion a year.

European institutions switch to .eu domains
From this week, all the European Union's institutions will change their web addresses to new .eu top-level domain names (TLDs). As of 9th May 2006, all EU institutions will have a website address ending in europa.eu, though the current .eu.int addresses will be used for around a year to ensure a smooth transition.

The .eu domain name was officially launched on 7th April 2006 and all European citizens and organisations with an address in the EU can apply for a web address. Europe Day is 9th May is and the EU institutions will use the new .eu TLD from this week to protect their online identities, with the europa.eu address forming the single online entry point for the European Union.

European Commission vice president and commissioner for institutional relations and communication strategy, Margot Wallstrom, said: "The new web identity of the institutions is symbolic. The EU should focus less on '.institutions' but more on '.Europeans'. The .eu domain will make EU more visible on the Internet, also to its citizens."

More than one million .eu domain names have been registered to date, with the domain name proving immensely popular within the 25 member states.

UK registry Nominet signs up with ICANN

The registry for the UK country code top level domain (ccTLD) has announced that it has signed up to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The domain name registry has exchanged non-contractual letters with ICANN, outlining a working framework for Nominet, and has joined the Internet oversight body's country code Names Support Organisation (ccNSO).

The organisations claim that the new relationship will be closer and more stable, with ICANN now officially recognising Nominet as the owner of the .uk registry, and Nominet in turn recognising ICANN as the Internet's global technical body.

Under the terms of the exchange of letters, Nominet will remain fully responsible for the .uk domain suffix, which is the fourth most popular web address in the world after .com, .de and .net. Analysts are predicting that the decision by Nominet will result in more country code domain registries signing up to ICANN.

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