Blog Articles

Hostnet: finding success with new TLDs
Founded in 1999 by two students offering web-design services, Hostnet has grown into one of the largest and most customer-friendly hosting providers in the Netherlands. Today, they offer domain names, website hosting, a website builder, and other business services to a growing number of customers. Since 2000, they’ve used OpenSRS to power domain registrations and […]

ICANN66 recap
Montreal in November is not as bad as it sounds; the weather is crisp and clear, the snow isn’t too deep yet, and it doesn’t get dark until a reasonable time in the evening. It’s still not my top choice for a travel destination at this time of year, but the ICANN conference definitely made […]

Tiered access data disclosure update
It has been more than a year since Tucows launched our Tiered Access Compliance & Operations portal, sometimes called “Gated Whois,” and it’s been around six months since we shared our first set of statistics on how and by whom this platform is being used. Today’s update brings our statistics current through mid-October 2019. We […]

Reaffirming our commitment to combatting DNS abuse
Abuse is a significant problem on the Internet today and, as a provider of Internet infrastructure services, we constantly consider what role we should play in combatting this issue. We actively investigate and respond to reports of abuse, but like other registrars and registries, we’ve been alone in developing our approach—until now. Abuse has been […]

Meet the new .ORG
.ORG has a new look! It’s the same trusted domain you know and love, but with a new, bold visual identity. We sat down with PIR, the registry behind the .ORG TLD, to learn a little more about their rebrand and how they’re gearing up to make .ORG even more impactful. There are quite a […]

The importance of authentication in SSL
Update: Our latest Digicert Webinar covers the importance of authentication in SSL, and how it’s a key factor in properly marketing and selling certificates: Browsers have evolved to offer a better user experience and greater attention to security. Perhaps most importantly, they now display a security warning to users when they land on a […]

The evolution of the domain transfer process
ICANN’s Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy (IRTP) defines the procedures and rules for domain name transfers. When it was first introduced in 2004, the Policy was limited to inter-registrar transfers. Over the years, it has been revised by Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Groups and expanded to include governance of domain ownership transfers and a transfer dispute […]

We’ve refreshed our webmail
As our hosted email service grows, we’re working to continually improve the platform while maintaining high availability. One essential component of our white-label email solution is our Webmail, which resellers can customize and brand as their own. So today, we’re excited to share that we’re launching a new Webmail, with improved workflows and a clean, […]

Updates from ICANN64 – Kobe, Japan
A small delegation from Tucows attended ICANN64 in Kobe, Japan, and we want to share a few quick highlights about the progress made in some key areas. RDAP working group RDAP, everyone’s favourite new registration data access protocol, is now in the implementation phase. This means that registrars and registries must implement RDAP according to […]

ICANN updates: EPDP phase 1 final report
ICANN’s Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) team has issued their Phase 1 Final Report, marking the end of this stage of the project. The recommendations from this Report will become mandatory as of February 29, 2020, but contracted parties (registrars and registries) are permitted to implement them sooner. We’re still determining what specific changes we’ll […]