BigRock Tells Its Customers Verisign’s Price Increase Is A LOT Higher Than It Is - BigRock.com is an ICANN Accredited registrar, that is one of the major tags used by SnapNames.com to catch domain names on the drop.
I just received an email from them today about the Verisign’s price increase which goes into effect January 15th.
“”Dear Customer,
As your account manager, I would like to inform you of an imminent change in Verisign Registry pricing.”
“From early January 2012,.COM/.NET domain prices will approximately increase by $2 USD.”
“I urge you to take advantage ... read more ...
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Fri 30th December 2011
Despite Push Backs, ICANN Announces Just 13 More Days Until Applications Are Open For New gTLD’s - Despite last-minute push backs from the FTC and Senator Rockerfeller it looks like ICANN is pushing ahead with the opening of the application period for new gTLD’s on January 12th.
ICANN announced on its Facebook page today:
“In just 13 days, the application window for new generic top-level domains opens! ”
“Check out the new gTLDs tab on our Facebook page for more details on the benefits, risks and application process.”
“Click share to help spread the word!”
If if you think everyone ... read more ...
Thu 29th December 2011
Arizona Bar Rules Lawyers Can Use .Org’s - Wow talk about being a little behind the times.
According to a story in azcentral.com, the state bar of Arizona has just issued an opinion allowing attorney’s in the state to use .org domain names.
Yes up to now attorney’s in Arizona have been prohibited from using .org domain names in their practice.
“”The ethics panel a decade ago ruled that firms that have websites must set them up with a “.com” suffix. That was based on the conclusion that a for-profit law firm’s use of the “.org” ... read more ...
1&1 Takes a Stand Against SOPA & PIPA & Asks Customers To Join The Fight - 1 and 1, one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and a domain name registrar, this morning sent an email to it current customers telling them why they oppose both the Protect-IP (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and why customers should join the fight against the current bills.
Its a much different tactic taken than other registrars that have taken Godaddy former support of the bills to encourage Godaddy customers to transfer domains out with discount codes.
This email was ... read more ...
Afternic.com Sells $1.1 Million In Domain Names, $430K of Those Owned & Operated Domains - Afternic.com just posted its sales for the week selling just short of $1.1 Million
Afternic.com changed its report of reportable sales this week and broke out the sales of the domains owned by its parent company NameMedia, which they refer to as owned and operated domains, from those domain owned by third parties which were sold in the Afternic Domain Listing Service.
Out of the reportable sales about $430,000 were Owned and Operated domain names and $260,000 were sold through the Domain Listing ... read more ...
GoDaddy releases matter about “spike” in domain transfers due to SOPA -
Company says outbound transfers are up due to prior support of controversial bill.
Responding to inquiries from Domain Name Wire and other news outlets, domain name registrar GoDaddy.com has issued a statement about an increase in domain transfer activity due to the company’s prior support of Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA):
“We have observed a spike in domain name transfers, which are running above normal rates and which we attribute to Go Daddy’s prior support ... read more ...
Apple “wins”, though plays whac-a-mole with counterfeiters -
Company wins domain name dispute, but it won’t do the company much good.
Apple has won a domain name dispute against what it alleges to be an outfit selling counterfeit Apple products. But it might have to continue chasing the perpetrators.
In May the company won a domain name dispute for apple-downloads.com and apple-oem.com. The company alleged at the time that both domain names were used to sell what were likely pirated our counterfeit copies of its software.
Fast ... read more ...
USDA, NHRA and EverBank put domain names underneath a Christmas tree -
Which end users put domain names under the Christmas tree this week? Here’s Domain Name Wire’s weekly list.
Before getting to this week’s end user domain sales report, I wanted to report an observation about Afternic. For those that argue that Afternic only sells its own domains, it appears 40% of the reported .com sales this week were sold on behalf of clients. That’s pretty darn high.
OK, on to the sales (all sales at Afternic unless otherwise noted)…
U.S. ... read more ...
Google bats .740 opposite YouTube typosquatter -
Google wins 37 of 50 typo domain names.
Google has won rights to 37 typo domain names of its YouTube brand, but it won’t be happy with the results.
That’s because the National Arbitration Forum panelist who decided the case also determined that the typosquatter could keep 13 infringing domain names, including youtubr.com and youtbue.com.
Google filed the case against the owner of 50 domain names that all forwarded to “survey” sites that mimicked YouTube. These ... read more ...
Wed 28th December 2011
PCWorld Puts Demand Media On Its “Top 10 Dumbest Tech Moves Of 2011″ & Marchex Hits 52 Week Low - Two public companies in the domain space are in the news today
PCWorld.com put out a story entitled “The 10 Dumbest Tech Moves Of 2011“.
The story starts out:
“”I like to look back with a Grinch-like smile at the dumbest moves made during the past year in the world of tech.”
“As always, the competition in 2011 was intense. Here are 10 companies that deserve a big lump of coal in their stockings.”
In placing Demand Media in its top 10 story, the author says:
“”The purveyor of craptastic ... read more ...
DOMAINfest bonus ends Saturday -
Ticket price increases $100 on January 1.
The price of admission to Oversee.net’s DOMAINfest conference next month increases on Sunday.
Tickets are currently $1,195 and the price increases to $1,295 Sunday.
DOMAINfest kicks off January 31, 2012 at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel Bungalows in Santa Monica, California. Surprisingly, it appears there are still rooms available at the hotel, although it sells out every year for this event.
Admission includes three meals ... read more ...
Bidding for Righthaven.com domain adult to $1,850 with 10 days to go -
Domain already attracted attention with a long way to go.
[Update: domain appears to have sold for $3,300]. Domain auctions usually don’t attract much attention until the final hours. But bidding for the domain name RightHaven.com, which is being auctioned off to help settle a legal judgement, is attracting quite a bit of attention.
The auction at SnapNames still has close to 10 days to go before it closes, yet it has already attracted nine different bidders and ... read more ...
Top 10 Domain Name Wire stories of 2011 -
What a year in domaining. Here’s a look back.
Here’s a look back at the top stories on Domain Name Wire for all of 2011. These are ranked by number of pageviews.
1. Apple gets control over porn domain names – apparently Apple + Porn equals traffic.
2. .XXX launches national TV campaign and www.Buy.xxx – OK, so the top two stories have something to do with porn. Maybe that will change for story number 3.
3. ICANN Approves New .XXX Top Level Domain – guess ... read more ...
Tue 27th December 2011
cnet.com Chats About .XXX Domains & Gets It Wrong - Cnet.com just published an article about .XXX domain names chatting about what domain names were taken and which are still available.
The problem is the article is incorrect.
The article entitled “These .XXX domains are ready to Hook Up”
The article cites such domains like Alabama.xxx and Nashville.xxx “are available to be registered for $100 a year”.
However they are not.
Before we blame the author of the report or the reporter, it looks like ICM could have done a better job on its whois ... read more ...
Sedo.com Sells $2.5 Million In Domain Names - Sedo.com just published its weekly sales list and reported selling 706 domain names for $2.5 million dollars.
Of the reportable sales Viia.com sold for 45,000 Euro’s, AllYouNeed.com sold for $45k, My.net which we told you about last week sold for 49,000 British Pounds and Pay.Eu at 17,500 Euro’s
32% of all sales were “buy it now”
Here is the full list of reportable sales:
Google+Michael Berkens ... read more ...
Mike Mann: “I Am Buying 100,000 Domains Per Year” - Mike Mann posted on his Facebook wall today that he is planning on buying another 100,000 domain names a year;
“I am buying 100,000 .com domains per year one at a time for less than they are worth.”
“Same as at BuyDomains.com but now DomainMarket.com, about 300K and counting so far.”
“Pay the Mann.”
100K new domains a year is a lofty goal.
At 300,000 domain names Mann’s DomainMarket.com is already carrying an annual renewal fee of at least $2.4 Million at the prices which will go into ... read more ...
Accepting nominations for 2012 Domain Name Wire Survey -
Please help with this year’s domain name survey.
I’m pulling together then seventh annual Domain Name Wire survey and need your help.
Each year new domain businesses come on the scene, and I want to make sure they’re included in the survey.
With that in mind, please comment about new companies in the following sectors:
Domain Parking – I already added ParkingPlace, Voodoo, InternetTraffic, and ParkingCrew
Escrow – I already added eCop
Domain Sales Sites ... read more ...
Customers use GoDaddy to register anti-SOPA domains -
At least some of them were registered after GoDaddy changed its mind.
Oh, the irony.
A Houston, Texas man registered the domain name SopaBoycott.com on December 20 and promptly started creating a web site about the ills of the Stop Online Piracy Act.
But apparently he had not done his research yet for his section on “who supports it”.
He registered the domain name at GoDaddy and may even by using GoDaddy’s web hosting services.
Yet on December 20, when he registered ... read more ...
2011 Domain Dunce: ICANN complains about hotel (and afterwards takes it back) -
It’s the end of year, and that means it’s time for Domain Name Wire’s annual Domain Dunce awards.
Let’s kick things off with a smelly situation.
By all accounts the Hotel des Almadies, which housed attendees of ICANN’s meeting at its recent meeting in Dakar, Senegal earlier this year, was far from luxury.
Attendees complained of rats, security concerns, air conditioning issues, and non-working showers.
That prompted Barbara Ann Clay, ICANN’s Vice President ... read more ...
How Lamar Smith will respond to your SOPA complaint -
The form response Lamar Smith sends to opponents of SOPA.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I live in Lamar Smith’s district in Texas. His office is literally a couple miles from mine. Smith is the sponsor of Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
I wrote to him a week ago via his web site expressing how I didn’t like the SOPA bill because it reinforces the idea that America owns the internet.
Here’s the form response I received:
Dear Mr. Allemann,
Thank you for contacting ... read more ...
Do people know what SOPA unequivocally is? -
You can hate SOPA, but at least take a few minutes to educate yourself about it.
Let me start off by saying I’m opposed to Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). My House representative, Lamar Smith, is the sponsor of the bill and he offices just down the road from me. I have submitted comments to him letting him know I’m not in favor of the bill, primarily because of my concern that it suggests the internet belongs to America.
But after reading lots of criticism of ... read more ...
Mon 26th December 2011
RightHaven.com Domain Name Auction Starts On SnapNames.com - The court ordered auction of the domain name RightHaven.com started today on Snapnames.com
As many of you are aware, RightHaven.com isn’t just a ordinary domain name.
The story has been followed very closely by VegasInc.com which reported that Righthaven LLC, filed 275 lawsuits for copyright infringement seeking not only damages but the forfeiture of the domain name of the infringing site to them, RightHaven.
In one case they filed however, the defendant, was awarded costs of $63,720 against ... read more ...
New York Times Urges ICANN To Roll Out The New gTLD Program Slowly As A Pilot Program - In an editorial published today by the New York Times, it urges ICANN to follow the suggestion of the FTC and roll out the new gTLD plan slowly.
“”a plethora of new suffixes is just as likely to cause confusion for consumers and enable malefactors to use the new arenas for deception. Icann expects 500 to 1,000 applications in next year’s 90-day application window. Before it approves any of them, it needs to slow down and put in place better safeguards against consumer fraud. “”
“”The ... read more ...
US Justice Dept Now Said “Not To Oppose Online Gambling Other Than On Sports” -
The opinion said that the Act did not prohibit the states from accepting online lotto purchases from residents within the state.
According to the Times, In a separate request in July, Senators Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, and Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, asked the Justice Department to clarify its position on Internet gambling, seeking either to affirm that federal law prohibits gambling over the Internet or to make sure that Congress has a role in drafting any expansion of online betting.
Nevada ... read more ...
DailyChanges.com information is widely misunderstood -
Don’t look to DailyChanges.com to see how many domains GoDaddy has lost.
Ever since GoDaddy faced a boycott of its services over its (since changed) position on SOPA, people have been trying to quantify domain losses for the company.
A typical data source is DailyChanges.com, which monitors changes to nameservers.
This is a bad source in this case for two reasons:
1. Domain names typically take 5 or more days to transfer, so the full effect won’t be evident for ... read more ...