30th May 2006 Domain names update

• 70 million domains
• Bad faith names up
• .Xxxx domain names
• .Tel considered
• FREE Domain Name appraisal

.tel being considered

ICANN has announced that it is considering allowing the usage of a .tel domain name. The domain would be used as a place where people can store their contact information, allowing others to text message or call them directly from the Internet. In a business capacity, the domain could be used to determine where customers are located and, for example, which specific call centre they should be connected to.
It is reported that a UK-based group called Telnic would run the domain, if it ever gets given the go-ahead. However, various issues have arisen that could cause problems for the domain - such as two people having the same name, the industry has so far found it unclear as to how it would all happen.

More than 70 million domains registered

There are now in excess of 70 million unique domain names registered worldwide, according to a new report. Research by a US domain registrar suggests that the number of active web addresses on the Internet broke through the 70 million barrier last month.

The US domain registrar claims that small businesses are driving growth in the domain names market, expanding the scope of companies and boosting their ability to compete. The company's chairman, Kevin Kilroy, said:
"While more and more businesses are taking advantage of the innovation and power offered by the Internet by registering domains, an equal number of individual users are registering for domain names as well.

"In fact, with the Internet becoming such a ubiquitous part of everyday life and commerce, one can imagine a day when every individual and every corporation will have a domain name just as they do a social security number or corporate tax ID."



Bad faith domains on the up

The number of people registering domain names in "bad faith" has increased, according to the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP). Such registrations are when a person deliberately and unlawfully registers a domain name in order to benefit personally.

This would include names containing associated trademarks or other party's business names, reports Australian IT. In a report the ACIP stated that it was a misconception that registrars check for existing rights to names.

"The result is that business owners conduct inadequate checks for common law and registered trademarks before embarking on a business activity," it said.

Due to the lack of regulation in this area, the ACIP is recommending that searching of trademarks becomes mandatory in order to prevent any conflict of interest.



ICANN ditches plans for .xxx domain

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has decided to reject plans for a new .xxx top-level domain (TLD). The Internet regulator has denied approval for the application to create a 'virtual red light district' on the Internet, claiming that the decision taken was not a 'political' one.

The idea for the .xxx suffix for sites carrying adult and pornographic material first surfaced six years ago and ICANN was expected to grant approval last year for the proposal under its sponsored domains scheme after it passed the initial stages of the process. However, the proposal met with strong resistance, particularly from the US government and conservative lobbyists, and ICANN has now rejected it in its current state.

Supporters of the plans claimed that it would help consumers both locate and avoid adult material online and make the sector easier to regulate, while opponents said it would encourage and legitimise pornography.

Nine out of 14 members of the ICANN board, including president and chief executive Paul Twomey and chairman Vint Cerf, voted against the proposed agreement. The views of all the ICANN members will be released next month.

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