The APWG (Anti-Phishing Working Group) has released their report for Q4 of 2014. It makes for fairly depressing ready, as you'd expect, but it's worth taking the time to have a look over it. So which TLDs are most (ab)used in phishing and malware attacks? It's hardly surprising that .com is the most (ab)used (46%) - it's also the most popular domain extension. What is a … [Read more...] about APWG Phishing Report Reveals Crimeware Increase
ICANN Board Member and Former GAC Chair To Give Evidence in .Africa Case
The controversy over the competing .africa TLD applications has been going on for some time. A recent decision by the International Centre For Dispute Resolution (ICDR) said that ICANN had breached its own by-laws and has questioned why ICANN won't allow a current board member and the former GAC Chair to speak to them and provide evidence. A letter that was published on the … [Read more...] about ICANN Board Member and Former GAC Chair To Give Evidence in .Africa Case
Carly Fiorina Fails To Protect Her Personal Brand
Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of HP, has announced that she's running for the US presidency. Unfortunately, for her, she hadn't secured all the obvious domains that she should have. I stress for her, as the person who registered carlyfiorina.org has given the internet a rather humorous gift. The subject isn't that humorous - how many people Fiorina laid off during her … [Read more...] about Carly Fiorina Fails To Protect Her Personal Brand
HostingCon Europe Early Bird Special
HostingCon is returning to Europe this September. The event will be held in Amsterdam's Passenger Terminal on September 22 - 23 The organisers are currently offering "early bird" tickets for a mere EUR40, which is very good value. Full details on the official site. … [Read more...] about HostingCon Europe Early Bird Special
DotSucks Takes The Prophylactic Metaphor Further Than INTA Member Might Like
This week INTA, the International Trademark Association, is meeting in San Diego. As can be expected with any trademark show a lot of domain industry companies are in attendance. What, however, seems to be catching more attention than many others is the presence of the .sucks registry. As others have mentioned, Vox Populi have a big billboard on the side of a truck near … [Read more...] about DotSucks Takes The Prophylactic Metaphor Further Than INTA Member Might Like
Which Domains Are The Campaigners Using In the Marriage Equality Referendum?
I'm obviously fascinated by domain names, hosting and related topics, so I thought I'd do some digging into the current marriage equality referendum in Ireland. The country goes to the polls on May 22nd and a yes vote is being supported by all the Irish political parties. (Disclosure - I've also made it pretty clear where I stand on this and where my company stands) With … [Read more...] about Which Domains Are The Campaigners Using In the Marriage Equality Referendum?
IP Rights Enforcement Gone Wrong: MarkMonitor Pursues UK Village Over Its Own Name
IP rights enforcement might be seen as a necessary evil. It depends who you ask. However sometimes the companies who do the rights enforcement for big brands screw up and screw up badly. A recent case involves the village of Copthorne, which is located in Sussex, England. The village has a population of about 5 thousand and has been around for about a thousand years (it's … [Read more...] about IP Rights Enforcement Gone Wrong: MarkMonitor Pursues UK Village Over Its Own Name
GoDaddy Dumps NASCAR From Marketing Mix
GoDaddy's marketing has evolved over the last couple of years. In the process of the evolution we've seen them switch their messaging around quite a bit and try to dump their "old image". A new casualty of this shift is NASCAR. For years the hosting and domain company was associated with the motor sport and its spokesperson Danica Patrick was also a well known and relatively … [Read more...] about GoDaddy Dumps NASCAR From Marketing Mix
Governments Send Yet Another Salvo Across ICANN’s Bows
The relationship between ICANN and the governments of the world could be best described as "interesting". Or one could be slightly more explicit and call it "tense". While at an individual level many governments hold different views of how ICANN should be managing the roll out of the new top level domains (new TLDs), when the group as a whole speaks there is often both a … [Read more...] about Governments Send Yet Another Salvo Across ICANN’s Bows
DotCat Fastest Growing TLD in Spain
The .cat registry has released some figures for domain growth in Spain during 2014 and .cat has emerged as the overall winner. The data is based on research conducted by the .es registry oddly enough! El .cat és el domini que més va créixer al conjunt de l’Estat espanyol durant el 2014, amb un increment del 17% en el número de dominis actius. El citat increment contrasta … [Read more...] about DotCat Fastest Growing TLD in Spain