Posts by Adam Eisner

We regret to inform you that CNNIC has announced an indefinite suspension of all .CN registrations from overseas Registrars, including our registration provider Neustar.

As a result of this action by CNNIC, we have no choice but to suspend new .CN registrations through OpenSRS. We are in the process of disabling new registrations and we expect to have suspended registrations by end of day today, Tuesday, January 5th, 2009 (EST).

Please note that renewals and transfers will continue to be supported. Availability checks for .CN domains via the API and Reseller Web Interface will continue to work, however, orders for new .CN domains will fail.

CNNIC says the suspension will allow them to implement a better methodology to verify registrant information from overseas registrations. You will remember that in mid-December, CNNIC put into place new requirements for supporting documentation required to be submitted with new registrations.

There is no timetable for the resumption of new registrations. We’ll keep you posted as new information becomes available.

Last week, CNNIC, the Registry operator for the .CN domain extension, unexpectedly set out new rules surrounding the registration of .CN domains.

Since that announcement, we’ve been working with Neustar, our .CN registration partner, to determine the exact impact that these new policies will have on .CN registrations through OpenSRS.

The news is not especially positive.

These new policies, as set out by CNNIC, have a direct, negative impact on the viability of continuing to offer .CN domain registrations through OpenSRS. If you are selling .CN domains through OpenSRS, please stay tuned over the coming weeks as we address the business impact and make further determinations about how we plan to address continued support of .CN domains.

New Policy Details

Beginning December 21, 2009, all new .CN domain registrations will require the submission of additional paperwork to CNNIC in order to ensure that the registration is completed. The full text of the new requirements is available at: http://cnnic.cn/html/Dir/2009/12/12/5750.htm

In summary:

• Documentation for new registrations is now required to be submitted, by email or fax, directly to CNNIC. Do not forward documentation to Tucows/OpenSRS. Complete information about what is required along with documents for download can be found at http://opensrs.com/resources/domains/policies/#cn
• Failure to submit the required documentation within five (5) calendar days of the registration will result in the domain being deleted.
• New domain registrations will not appear in WHOIS or begin to resolve until the audit of the documentation has been completed by CNNIC. That process could take up to three (3) days from when the documents are received.
• Currently there is no process to track the progress of the audit process.
• Any .CN Registrations that fail due to incomplete documentation will be refunded monthly by OpenSRS.
• Renewals are NOT affected.

We recognize the significant impact this will have on .CN domain registrations. We continue to support .CN registrations through OpenSRS, with the understanding that the onus is on the Reseller to ensure that the proper documentation is submitted directly to CNNIC.

Since returning from the ICANN meeting in Seoul, I’ve received a lot of good questions about the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) announcement made there.

The announcement garnered a lot of attention from our resellers and international media alike. It essentially approves the introduction of IDNs “after the dot” for country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs). Currently, IDNs are only available “before the dot”, so the extension “after the dot” (such as .CN or .IN) has to remain in latin characters. Not so under the new ccTLD IDN structure.

So the question is, what has changed since the announcement? The answer is: nothing yet. ICANN’s announcement only opened the door for applications, and did not actually result in any new extensions being introduced to the domain name system just yet. Individual country representatives and ccTLD operators still have to apply for their IDN extensions, and systems will need to be adjusted (both by registrars and registries) to make the names available. As a registrar, we will start evaluating them as the ccTLDs we support start introducing them, but there are few time-lines available just yet. As we get more information, we’ll definitely be providing details.

In the meantime, ICANN has more information on the IDN fast track process for those looking to learn more.

I’m back from Seoul, which played host last week to ICANN’s 36th International Meeting. As far as ICANN meetings go, this one was extremely busy, well-attended and led to several significant decisions on a policy level.

The decision which garnered the most international attention was ICANN’s approval of a “fast track” process for certain Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). This will allow certain ccTLDs to introduce internationalized versions of their extension in native language scripts. Historically, IDNs have only been available “before the dot”, while the actual extension had to remain in Latin characters. IDN ccTLDs, however, will allow the extension “after the dot” to be entered in native language scripts as well. With the approval of the fast track process, ICANN will now begin accepting IDN ccTLD applications. Stay tuned for more developments on this new process in the coming months.

For those interested in the approval of new Top Level Domain names, the Seoul conference had both positive and negative developments. On the plus side, coming away from the conference, it is very clear everyone is committed to new TLDs. However, it is also now clear that the original time-line, which would have seen the first applications submitted in the first quarter of 2010, is now obsolete. Instead, there are no longer any clear time-lines for the approval of new extensions. On a positive note, ICANN did approve a motion to explore allowing those interested in operating a new TLD to submit an “expression of interest”. These submissions would be accompanied by a deposit, and would theoretically allow ICANN to gauge how many serious bids currently exist and help them garner additional support.

The next ICANN conference takes place February 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya. By that time, we should have some additional clarity on just how long the new TLD process is going to take. But will we see dates and time-lines before then? If we do, you can be sure we’ll discuss them in this space.

Although ICANN’s 36th International Meeting here in Seoul has been underway for less than two days, it has already been quite eventful.

At Monday morning’s session on new gTLDs, a number of people voiced their frustration at a lack of definitive timeline around their launch (remember that applications were originally scheduled to be accepted in the early part of 2010, but it appears at this point that timeline is unlikely to be met). In the afternoon, representatives from Afilias, a registry services provider, and Demand Media, parent company of Enom, had a unique and spirited debate on the topic of Registry-Registrar separation. The session, held as a debate, addressed whether registrars involved in new TLD bids should be allowed to operate a registrar which sold the extension as well. An informal poll where participants were asked to shout their approval for one side over the other reflected the polarizing nature of the issue, as the room seemed split.

The final session I attended Monday was an open meeting of the Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery Working Group (PEDNR-WG), which is examining topics related to the abilities of registrants to recover domain names post expiration. This group is still in its early stages, with further updates expected in the coming months.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the workshop on Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), another highly-anticipated discussion topic at the meeting. During that session, it was announced that the IDN application process was expected to begin November 16 (subject to ICANN Board approval). This will allow ccTLD operators to offer their extensions in native scripts should they choose to do so.

All three sessions I attended were standing-room only, as was the IDN session. It is clear that this conference is touching upon a lot of hot-button issues that are going to have a significant impact on the future of the Internet.

Today (Tuesday) is Constituency Day, where various supporting organizations of ICANN get together to discuss relevant issues for a full day. Tucows’ CEO Elliot Noss and I will sit in the meeting of the Registrar Constituency alongside many other ICANN-accredited registrars, where we will discuss a wide range of topics affecting registrars industry-wide.

Editor’s note: For those not in Seoul, ICANN offers remote participation via its website that allows you to attend the meetings virtually, complete with a video and audio stream plus a chat window.

Thanks to ICANN for the photos on their Flickr page and for releasing them under a Creative Commons License.

ICANN’s 36th International Meeting, to be held next week in Seoul, Korea, promises to be an eventful one for a number of reasons.

The meeting will be the first under Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s new CEO. Beckstrom was confirmed as the CEO during the Sydney, Australia, meeting in June 2009, and has had a very busy few months since. Probably the most important development during his short tenure has been the Affirmation of Commitments announced in late September.

The Affirmation of Commitments is largely considered a very positive step in affirming ICANN as a global organization while solidifying its role in governing the Internet. For more insight into the impact of the Affirmation of Commitments, I highly recommend reading Tucows’ CEO Elliot Noss’ blog post on the topic.

gTLDs a “hot” topic

There will also be much discussion on the progress of new gTLDs at the conference. A few weeks ago, ICANN published a third version of the new gTLD Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG), which outlines requirements and procedures for those interested in applying for a new domain extension (ICANN plans to accept proposals for a round of new extensions in 2010). Anticipated time lines for the introduction of new extensions and proposed measures to protect trademarks, two issues related to new gTLDs which have not yet been settled, will also be “hot” topics.

IDNs on the agenda

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) will also be widely discussed. ICANN recently submitted a final proposal to “fast track” certain ccTLD extensions, and this proposal will be considered at the meeting by the ICANN board. If approved, the proposal will clear the way to introduce IDNs “after the dot” – that is, making domain extensions (and not just the name itself) available and operational in different language scripts.

I’ll provide some notes on the meeting once I’m on the ground in Seoul, as well as a wrap-up. Keep an eye on this space for updates.

Earlier this month OpenSRS sponsored and participated in Parallels’ EMEA roadshow, which traveled to seven European countries in order to connect with web hosting companies in each region.

Each stop was attended by several members of the OpenSRS team, including staff from both our EMEA office (based in Newcastle, UK) and our Canadian headquarters (based in Toronto, Canada). I attended three of the stops – Cologne, Paris and Madrid – and had the opportunity to give a presentation on the impact of hosting market developments in 2009 at each.

The presentation focused on a wide variety of topics, but among the points I tried to emphasize to the European hosting community were:

• The growth and success of ccTLDs are on the rise. Over the past several years, gTLD market share has dropped while ccTLD market share has increased. Many market-focused web hosting companies have adopted a good range of ccTLDs (including .EU, .CA, .UK, .ME and .DE) and are promoting them aggressively.
• Web hosting companies are getting in front of their brands. According to Mitch Keeler’s count over at The Web Hosting Show (www.webhostingshow.com) , almost 100 web hosting companies are on Twitter, engaging customers, prospects and promoting their brands. Virtually every popular web host is active on Twitter, operates a blog and is very transparent when it comes to how they operate (we’re there too: follow @OpenSRS on Twitter).
• There’s opportunity to be found in leveraging the growth of the ‘personal web’. Whether it’s end users using a domain to tie together their Facebook, Twitter and Flickr pages, or using a domain name and email address to brand oneself (think of the .ME or .NAME extensions, or our own Personal Names service), consumers are quickly finding many personal uses for domain names. Hosting companies that leverage this trend will have an excellent opportunity to introduce a new revenue stream before the competition figures it out.

In talking to attendees at each stop, it was obvious that the hosting companies which attended found it to be worthwhile and informative. If Parallels hosts a similar tour next year, I highly recommend attending. It’s a unique opportunity to connect with other hosts in your area, meet Parallels staff, learn more about the product and check out some potential vendors as well.

Last week a bunch of OpenSRS people, including Adam Eisner, Director, Domain Services, were in Sydney, Australia at the 35th International Meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). One of the big happenings at the meeting was the signing of a five-year extension of its Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) with ICANN.

All global top-level domains (gTLDs) sold through OpenSRS, the Reseller services division of Tucows, are governed by this agreement.

This new RAA has two impacts on OpenSRS Resellers:

1. The ICANN fee for gTLD domain purchases is reduced by two cents to USD$0.18 effective July 1st, 2009. Pricing in OpenSRS will be updated to reflect the change in the ICANN fee effective July 1st, 2009.
2. A change in how WHOIS privacy data is handled will impact a very small subset of Resellers who are operating their own WHOIS Privacy service apart from the Contact Privacy that is included in all eligible domains sold through OpenSRS.

We have put together a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for our Resellers, but if you have any questions about the new RAA which are not covered there, feel free to contact us as at newRAA@opensrs.com.

Original article

In my last post I discussed some of the planned proposals for new domain name extensions that had emerged here in Sydney. Although on the surface new domain name extensions are very exciting, the notion of potentially introducing hundreds of new gTLDs has created some polarizing issues. Many of these are being fervently discussed here at the conference.

At one session, a very animated discussion took place around the separation of registries and registrars. Domain name extensions are operated by organizations typically referred to as “registries”. VeriSign, for example, is the registry behind the operation of .COM and .NET. Per their agreements with ICANN, registries cannot sell domain names to the public directly; instead, they are required to use registrars (of which Tucows is one).

But what would happen if a registrar participated in a bid for one (or more) of these new gTLDs? Would registries and registrars really need to be fully separated? Is it a conflict of interest to operate as both? Although no decisions were ultimately made at the conference, the topic was hotly debated, and heated discussions on the issue are sure to continue.

Another issue discussed at length was the interests of trademark holders versus those of the larger Internet as it pertained to registrations of names under these new extensions. While new gTLDs will likely mean more choice, it could also open the window for exponentially more abuse by cybersquatters and other nefarious entities. Securing your company name in the popular .COM, .NET and .ORG forms can be difficult as it is. Now imagine potentially trying to secure it in dozens, or even hundreds, of new extensions. The notion has many in the community concerned, and a team was put together to recommend an approach. The team’s ultimate recommendation was a sort of centralized “clearinghouse” concept: a universal database containing trademark information for registries and registrars to consult. The recommendation was scrutinized and discussed at length during the conference, and it became immediately clear there were many both for and against the solution. This is another issue which is sure to be discussed and reviewed at length in the coming months.

Neither these nor many other issues related to gTLDs will be resolved at this meeting. In fact, ICANN doesn’t yet have a fully definitive timeline for they will be introduced to the market (best guesses at this point is late 2010). However, the purpose of these meetings isn’t to always come up with ultimate conclusions; rather, they’re for the Internet community to come together to discuss major issues at hand and collaborate on solutions.

Original article

I’ve arrived in Sydney safe and sound following a grueling two-leg, 21-hour flight from Toronto. The conference is now in full swing, and close to one thousand attendees from countries worldwide are discussing a wide range of Internet-related issues.

So far, as expected, one of the most popular discussion topics around the conference has been new Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), and the impact they will have on the domain industry and the Internet in general. As ICANN gets closer to accepting applications for new gTLDs (currently expected to begin in Q1 2010), all sorts of proposals for new extensions are emerging. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has been spotted here signing autographs in support of the bid for .FOOD. A video has popped up featuring basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal, who is adding his support to a bid for .BASKETBALL. And with many applicants still holding their cards close to their chest, expect even more bids and celebrities to come out of the woodwork in the coming months.

Today I’m spending the entire day in the meeting of the Registrar Constituency, a group within one of ICANN’s supporting organizations comprised of ICANN-accredited registrars both large and small. Today’s discussion topics will include ICANN’s budget, registrar compliance issues, domain name security and stability and more. It’s a great opportunity to discuss issues that are important to registrars as a whole, and to try to help influence the decision making process regarding key issues at ICANN.

The conference runs until Friday, and the rest of my week is jam-packed with sessions and meetings. Stay tuned for more updates, including a coming update to ICANN’s Registrar Accreditation Agreement that will impact many web hosting companies.