Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/dn-news for
the latest domain news. Within 24 hours of this news
being posted, a more recent edition of the news will
normally be posted to the auDA web site. The domain
name news is supported by auDA.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Businesses gird for .eu address war
With Europe about to launch its own .eu Internet
domain extension, pundits expect a `gold rush' among
500 million candidates for the prestigious address

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2005/02/28/2003224954

http://metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050228-043120-5547r

http://beta.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=7&story_id=28871

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,12394716%5E15342%5E%5Enbv%5E15306%2D15319,00.html

http://www.servihoo.com/channels/kinews/v3news_details.php?id=69595&CategoryID=46

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSetId=265&fSectionId=565&fArticleId=2427440

nz: Domainz adds to profit
Wellington web company Domainz has turned in a solid
first year's performance under the ownership of
Australian-listed Melbourne IT, which bought the firm
from non-profit internet society, InternetNZ, for $2
million in 2003. Domainz contributed $A226,000 to
Melbourne IT's total profit of $A3.8 million in 2004.
 http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3201076a28,00.html

ph: CICT expects a new ‘.ph’ administrator before
year’s end
THE PHILIPPINES will have a new “.ph” Internet domain
administrator before the end of 2005, the Commission
on Information and Communications Technology (CICT)
told INQ7.net last week.

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=28851

ICANN Still Steal Your Domain
Opinion: Now that we know more about what happened in
the theft of the Panix.com domain, there's no cause
for relaxation. You can all be alarmed now.
 http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1770375,00.asp

ICANN Statement on IDN Homograph Attacks and Request
for Public Comment
ICANN is aware of the recent publicity regarding the
vulnerability of certain web browsers to URI and
domain name spoofing that relies on the use of
Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) resolution.

http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-23feb05.htm

http://domaintimes.net/newseng.php?mhnews_id=306&mhnews_newsid=5016&mhnews_page=1

WIPO CONTINUES EFFORTS TO CURB CYBERSQUATTING (news
release)
The WIPO continued its efforts to combat the abusive
registration of trademarks as domain names, or
cybersquatting, in 2004, when it received 1,179 cases,
or a 6.6% increase, over the number received the
previous year. WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center
has handled a total of over 7,000 disputes, involving
parties from 124 countries and covering over 12,500
domain names since the Uniform Domain Name Dispute
Resolution Policy (UDRP) – a quick and cost effective
dispute resolution procedure – went into effect in
December 1999.

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/prdocs/en/2005/wipo_upd_2005_239.html

nz: Implementation of ENUM
The implementation of ENUM, the convergence of
telephone numbering and internet domain naming, is
progressing around the world. InternetNZ is keen to
see ENUM operating in New Zealand and has formed a
steering group to ensure that happens. The group has
to date:

http://internetnz.net.nz/news/050301_Enum_Commission_Reports.htm

us: Talon News shuts down - Domain names for porn
sites tied to reporter now up for sale
Talon News, the website at the center of a scandal
linking one of its reporters to the White House, has
temporarily shut down its online operations, while
explicit Internet domain names allegedly used by its
reporter are now up for sale.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43057

http://news.com.com/Talon+news+Web+site+closes+amid+heavy+criticism/2100-1028_3-5591964.html

Google, Inc. v. Mohammad Jabbari (google.ir)
Respondent has not offered any explanation for his
registration of the disputed domain name except that
he wished to hold the domain name, without using it.
Despite Respondent’s assertion, Complainant has
documented that the domain name at issue has indeed
been used in relation to activities that in the
opinion of the Panel falls in under more than one of
the exemplifications of activities indicating bad
faith use, set out in the IRDRP Section 4(b) during
the time it has been registered with the Respondent.

http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2005/dir2005-0001.html

Domain hijack probe yet to release findings (reg
req'd)
Forty days have elapsed since the domain name of
Panix, a longtime ISP in New York, was hijacked from
the registrar Dotster and ended up at Melbourne IT.

http://smh.com.au/news/Breaking/Domain-hijack-probe-yet-to-release-findings/2005/02/24/1109180024253.html

Domain Hijacking Story Still Unresolved
According to reports, an investigation into the
hijacking of the domain name of New York-based ISP
Panix (panix.com), launched on January 18 by the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN.org), has yet to make its findings public.
 http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/dom022405.cfm

AfriNIC Transition Moves to Phase 2
With NRO support, and in anticipation of ICANN´s final
recognition of the African Network Information Center
(AfriNIC) as a Regional Internet Registry (RIR) in
April 2005, AfriNIC has begun operating as a fully
functional RIR. The three RIRs previously serving the
AfriNIC region (APNIC, ARIN, and the RIPE NCC)
transferred all RIR services to AfriNIC on 21 February
2005.

http://nro.net/archive/news/afrinic-transition-phase2.html

RIPE NCC Roundtable Meeting March 2005
The RIPE NCC is holding a Roundtable Meeting for
Governments and Regulators on Wednesday, 30 March 2005
in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

http://ripe.net/meetings/roundtable/march2005/announcement-20050210.html

AfriNIC Transition Completed (news release)
AfriNIC is the emerging Regional Internet Registry
(RIR) for the African and Indian Ocean region.
 http://ripe.net/news/afrinic-transition2.html
 http://ripe.net/news/afrinic-transition.html

.In registration is about getting the name of your
choice
Domain is a friendly name of a network address for a
server or a website. If we all had to remember the
network address numbers for our favourite sites, it
would be a nightmare. So the DNS (Domain Naming
Service) was devised. Domains are categorized by their
different extensions.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=83831

.IN is the in-thing in webworld now
Ever since the real time launch of .IN domain names in
cyberworld on 16 February by the National Internet
Exchange of India (NIXI) the registrations have
already crossed 75,000 numbers and many Indians across
the world have evinced interest to acquire .IN names
for their internet addresses.
 http://newstodaynet.com/22feb/BU1.HTM

DNSMON to Become Production Level Service from March
2005 (news release)
The RIPE NCC DNS Monitoring Service (DNSMON) provides
a comprehensive, objective and up-to-date overview of
the quality of the service offered by high-level
Domain Name System (DNS) servers. It is an active
measurement service.
 http://ripe.net/news/dnsmon-changes-200502.html

GNSO Council Election for ICANN Board seat 14

http://gnso.icann.org/announcements/announcement-18feb05.htm

APTLD STATEMENT ON THE ICANN STRATEGIC PLAN
Members of the APTLD, meeting in Kyoto, Japan on Feb
20-22, have reviewed the draft Strategic Plan,
released for public comment by ICANN.

http://www.aptld.org/newsite/meeting/2005/02_Kyoto/file/icann-plan.html

CENTR Comments on ICANN Strategic Plan
The Council of European National Top Level Domain
Registries, CENTR, wishes to take the opportunity to
comment on the ICANN Strategic Plan 2003-4 to 2006-7.

http://www.centr.org/docs/2005/02/comment-icannplan.pdf

Cybersquatting cases increase again (reg req'd)
The World Intellectual Property Organization is
becoming an increasingly popular forum to settle
domain name infringement disputes, with cybersquatting
cases continuing to rise

http://www.legalmediagroup.com/default.asp?Page=1&SID=15124&CH=5&CN=&CountryName=&Type=News&LS=EMS38132

us: Domain Name Conference Launches in Seattle - May
2005
The world's brightest domain name owners will gain
valuable insight at the Domain Roundtable Conference.
We will bring together the Domain Name community of:
Domain Entrepreneurs, Technical Administrators, Domain
Registrars and Resellers, Affiliate Program Managers,
Industry Insiders, Search Engine Operators,
Intellectual Property Community, Domain Brand
Portfolio Managers, Press and Media.
 http://domainroundtable.com

"Domain pulse" 2005 Deals with Internet Governance,
ENUM and Spam (news release)
Following the invitation from the Austrian registry,
nic.at, experts from several countries and various
disciplines attended the "Domain pulse" conference
held on 3 and 4 February 2005 in Vienna to discuss
various themes and trends concerning the Internet.
Once again this year, the event was co-hosted by two
other domain administrations, DENIC (Germany) and
SWITCH (Switzerland/Liechtenstein), who were pleased
with the turn-out of more than 150 specialists,
including, once again, numerous Internet providers.
 http://www.denic.de/en/denic/presse/press_68.html

Search-Optimized Domain Portfolio Sells for $164
Million
Internet marketing firm Marchex Inc. has finalized a
deal to pay a whopping $164.2 million for Name
Development Ltd., which displays keyword advertising
across a portfolio of more than 100,000 domains. The
deal, along with the recent sale of a misspelled
domain name for $112,000, offers evidence that
mistyped URLs and other "accidental traffic" have
become big business.

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2005/02/22/searchoptimized_domain_portfolio_sells_for_164_million.html

Mozilla Warns of Firefox Security Holes
Foundation releases an updated browser that includes
fixes to many flaws. ... One of the changes made in
Firefox 1.0.1 is in the way the browser handles
international domain names (IDNs).

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119833,00.asp

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/25/mozilla_nixes_idns/

Domain Name Hijackings and Domain Theft the Topic at
Traffic West in Las Vegas in May (news release)
Domain Hijackings are occurring at record levels and
registrars are doing little to prevent this illegal
activity, TRAFFIC WEST will be held in Las Vegas from
May 24th to the 27th at the Venetian and will focus
solely on the widening problem.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prwebxml211917.php

ISO Fails to Obtain Transfer of ISO 9000 Domains
A three-member World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) panel, has refused to transfer
four domain names that include the phrase 'ISO9000' to
ISO, in the International Organization for
Standardization v AQI case.
 http://news.webhosting.info/t-4549

.CN domain name registration fees drop
.CN ccTLD logoAfter last week's Chinese Domain Name
Registrar Conference held in Kunming by the China
Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), many
domain sellers have dropped their prices for .CN
domains by as much as 40%.

http://domaintimes.net/newseng.php?mhnews_id=306&mhnews_newsid=4941&mhnews_page=1

*****************
WSIS & GOVERNANCE
*****************
Second Meeting of WGIG - 14-18 February 2005 
The Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) held
its second meeting at the United Nations in Geneva
from 14 to 18 February 2005. The Meeting included a
round of consultations open to all stakeholders on
15-16 February.  The Chairman of the WGIG, Mr Nitin
Desai, transmitted a Preliminary Report to the
President of the WSIS Preparatory Committee,
Ambassador Janis Karklins, and ITU Secretary-General
Yoshio Utsumi in his capacity as WSIS
Secretary-General. The report will be discussed by the
Preparatory Committee on 24 February 2005. See below
for the report:
 http://wgig.org/docs/PrelimReportPrepCom.pdf

UNDP-APDIP announcing major regional survey on
Internet governance
Priorities: All stakeholder groups are encouraged to
participate, the online questionnaire is available in
twelve languages: take a few minutes to register your
views and support the survey outreach.
 http://internetnz.net.nz/news/070205undp.htm

Call for Comments on the WGIG Draft Working Papers
The WSIS requested the United Nations
Secretary-General to establish a WGIG.
 http://ripe.net/news/wgig-drafts-200502.html

RIPE Special Edition on the World Summit on the
Information Society and “Internet Governance”
This special edition of the Member Update is devoted
to the ongoing “Internet governance” debate. It has
been several years since the discussion of different
models of “Internet governance” began and this
discussion has gained momentum during the course of
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It
is difficult for the Internet community to be directly
involved in this, as the main participants in the WSIS
are governments and governmental organisations like
the ITU.

http://ripe.net/membership/newsletter/2005/special-edition-200502.pdf

Comments to WGIG on Draft Working Papers Identifying
Issues for Internet Governance
Draft WGIG Issue Paper on the Administration of
Internet Names and IP Addresses (pdf)
 http://nro.net/documents/nro19.html

WGIG submits preliminary report on internet governance
The Preliminary Report of the Working Group on
Internet Governance (WGIG) serves as the consultation
document for the open Internet governance consultation
at the Preparatory Committee meeting on 24 February
2005 in Geneva.

http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/view/103828/1/76

Internet Governance: Analogue Solutions to Digital
Problems
This is an overview of the booklet, "Internet
Governance: Issues, Actors and Divides," recently
published by DiploFoundation and the Global Knowledge
Partnership. "Internet Governance is not a simple
subject. Although it deals with a major symbol of the
DIGITAL world, it cannot be handled with a digital -
binary logic of true/false and good/bad. Instead, the
subject's many subtleties and shades of meaning and
perception require an ANALOGUE approach, covering a
continuum of options and compromises." Update: This
article was reposted with additional information and a
new title.
 http://www.circleid.com/article/950_0_1_0_C

Group agrees on voluntary digital solidarity fund
Negotiators at a meeting in Geneva last week appear to
have defused one of the contentious issues looming
over the second phase of the WSIS later this year.
They agreed to make contributions to a "digital
solidarity fund" voluntary and not mandatory as
demanded by a number of developing countries at the
first phase of the summit in 2003.
 http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;462951542

Net tug-of-war to end?
A UN-sponsored panel aims to settle a long-running tug
of war for control of the Internet by July and propose
solutions to problems such as cyber crime and e-mail
spam.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/story/0,4136,83727-1,00.html
 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7011503

UN edges closer to "internet governance"
The United Nations came fractionally closer to
defining "internet governance" this week, publishing
documents it says highlight the strengths and
weaknesses of the current meshwork of internet
management groups.

http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=342AF548-3042-4EC4-BD15-58FAF1398E41

WSIS - Paving the Way to Democratic Communication?
Will history recognise the WSIS process as the first
step in creating an entirely new model of
international negotiation? One of many who believe so
is Professor Wolfgang Kleinwächter of Aarhus
University in Denmark.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200502250069.html

http://www.sabcnews.com/sci_tech/internet/0,2172,98718,00.html

Israeli Prime Minister Invited to Tunis Summit On
World Information Society
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been invited
to attend the WSIS, said today Tunisian official news
agency Tunis Afrique Presse.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200502250755.html

Criticism of Government Not Allowed At UN Meeting
The Secretariat of the WSIS will not allow civil
society to distribute a report at the PrepCom 2
meeting currently taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200502240550.html

Gender Issues Sidelined At WSIS
Gender activists at the preparatory conference for the
Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information
society (WSIS) are bitterly disappointed because their
recommendations being ignored.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200502240547.html

ITU Raises N295,448,660b for WSIS-05
INTERNATIONAL Telecommunication Union (ITU) has
confirmed the raising of over CHF 2.7 million, about
N295.448,660 billion for the second phase of the WSIS.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200502240429.html

Freedom of Expression Under Siege in Tunisia
If the Tunisian government is to host, peacefully and
successfully, the second and final phase of the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in November
2005, it will have to beef up efforts to improve its
poor human rights record.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200502230438.html

Tunis ‘Summit of Solutions’ Takes Shape at Second
Preparatory Meeting (WSIS News Release)
The second Preparatory Meeting (PrepCom 2) of the
Tunis phase of the WSIS finished its work with
agreement on what substantive issues need to be
negotiated for the output of the Tunis phase of WSIS.
PrepCom-2 also agreed on the financial mechanisms — a
critical component of the Tunis output to support ICT
development and the WSIS goals outlined in the Plan of
Action adopted by 175 countries at Geneva Phase of the
Summit.

http://www.itu.int/wsis/newsroom/press_releases/wsis/2005/25feb.html

Over CHF 1.3 million in new WSIS contributions
confirmed (WSIS News Release)
ITU Secretary-General, Yoshio Utsumi confirmed that
the WSIS-2005 Fundraising Campaign has brought in more
than CHF 1.3 million in new financial contributions to
fund core preparatory activities of the Tunis phase.

http://www.itu.int/wsis/newsroom/press_releases/wsis/2005/17feb.html

Working Group on Internet Governance to discuss policy
issues and priorities, Internet security, access for
all (UN Press Release)
The WGIG will meet at the United Nations Office at
Geneva from 14 to 16 February to discuss issues such
as domain names administration and Internet Protocol
(IP) addresses, administration of the Internet Root
Server system, telecommunications infrastructure,
broadband access, and competition policy,
liberalization, privatization and regulations.
 http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/pi1633.doc.htm

Second Preparatory Committee Meeting for WSIS Tunis
Phase (WSIS Information Note)
The second Preparatory Committee Meeting (PrepCom-2)
of the Tunis Phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS) will be held in Geneva,
Switzerland, 17-25 February 2005. The meeting will
focus on preparations for the Summit that will take
place in Tunis, Tunisia, 16-18 November 2005. It will
also evaluate progress made on the WSIS Plan of
Action, which was agreed to by 175 countries in Geneva
in December 2003.

http://www.itu.int/wsis/newsroom/press_releases/wsis/2005/04feb.html

PrepCom2 ends with long “to do” list
The WSIS PrepCom ended this evening after some
wrestling over the work between now and PrepCom3 in
September. Civil Society groups at their last meeting
discussed the state of the whole process and agreed
that the vision has been lost somewhere, but that the
road to actually changing reality is also very long.
 http://worldsummit2005.de/en/web/732.htm

PrepCom debate on Internet Governance
Today the focus of PrepCom debates moved from finance
to internet governance. Markus Kummer presented the
preliminary report of the Working Group on Internet
Governance (WGIG), and many government delegates took
the opportunity to comment on the report, uncovering
some of the deep lines of conflict from the first WSIS
phase. The final report will be presented in mid-July
and will be thoroughly discussed at PrepCom3 in
September.
 http://worldsummit2005.de/en/web/730.htm

For more stories throughout February from the World
Summit 2005 site, see:
 http://worldsummit2005.de/en/nav/14.htm

India pushes for changes in Net governance
India will push for dilution of control of
US-supported ICANN over global Internet governance. It
will also suggest setting up an inter-government
organisation to co-ordinate issues related to Internet
and IP-based services at the UN-sponsored Working
Group on Internet Governance meeting to be held in
Geneva between February 14 and 16. (see page 6)

http://www.markle.org/weekly_digest/weeklydigest_vol.4_issue9.pdf
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and
BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(c) David Goldstein 2005


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