DomainIncite

The US Food and Drug Administration has escalated its beef with ICANN, warning that inaccessible Whois data is making it harder to tackle bogus Covid-19 “cures” and the country’s opioid crisis. Catherine Hermsen from the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations wrote to ICANN CEO Göran Marby last week to complain …

ICANN has announced its picks for chair and chair-elect of its influential Nominating Committee, raising questions about the latter role for not the first time. The board of directors has picked Vanda Scartezini as chair and Amir Qayyum as chair elect, according to a newly published resolution. It’s the third …

ICANN’s CEO and several top executives are to receive pay raises amounting to tens of thousands of dollars. The Org’s board of directors has approved a 4% raise for Göran Marby and four other of the top brass, with CFO Xavier Calvez getting an extra 4.5%. The board also approved …

ICANN has confirmed that the current phase of preparation for the next round of new gTLDs will last six weeks longer than previously expected. The new deadline for the delivery of the Operational Design Assessment for the project is December 12, almost certainly pushing out board consideration of the document …

The next round of new gTLD applications will be delayed by ICANN’s work on Whois reform, ICANN chair Maarten Botterman confirmed today. In a letter to his GNSO Council counterpart Philippe Fouquart, Botterman states that the new gTLDs Operational Design Phase, which was due to wrap up in October, will …

ICANN has softened the language in the legal waiver it requires all of its public meeting attendees to agree to. The waiver for ICANN 75, due to take place in Kuala Lumpur in September, no longer requires you to absolve ICANN from blame if you get sick due to the …

Whois or new gTLDs? Whois or new gTLDs? Whois or new gTLDs? It’s the question ICANN has been pestering the community with since early May. ICANN can’t work on developing the proposed Whois Disclosure System (formerly known as SSAD) without delaying work on the next round of new gTLDs, Org …

Boris Johnson announced he is to resign as UK prime minister after a series of scandals last week, and as of this evening 11 of his former friends have announced their plans to replace him as leader of the Conservative party and therefore UK PM. I’ll spare you the details …

Even as CEO Göran Marby was accepting an ambassadorship from the Universal Acceptance Steering Group last month, ICANN was quietly approving a registry’s plan to drop support for several languages, potentially putting dozens of domains at risk. It seems portfolio registry XYZ.com was having problems migrating the 10 gTLDs it …

Registrars based in the US, Philippines and Bangladesh have lost their ICANN accreditations for non-payment of fees. ICANN recently sent termination notices to Domainia, HOAPI, and Innovadeus, which the Org says have breached their contracts by not paying and in some cases failing to provide required information and services on …

Verisign is reporting that the total number of registered domains worldwide topped 350 million in the first quarter, under its new reporting methodology. The company’s latest Domain Name Industry Brief states that there were 350.5 million names across (almost) all TLDs, up by 8.8 million or 2.6% compared to the …

ICANN’s board of directors is apparently worried about the rise of blockchain-based alt-roots. Its Board Technical Committee voted in May to make blockchain a permanent agenda item going forward, according to just-published minutes. “After discussion, the Committee decided to have a standing topic on the agenda to address Blockchain Names,” …

The .gdn gTLD registry, Navigation-information systems, is facing more trouble from ICANN Compliance, but this time it’s because its largest registrar has got itself suspended for non-payment of fees. ICANN has suspended the accreditation of Dubai-based registrar Intracom for failing to cure an April breach notice demanding money, not implementing …

The next round of new gTLDs is getting real. ICANN has selected a communications firm to promote the next round ahead of its launch, and authorized a wedge of cash to pay for it, according to a resolution of the board of directors. The resolution does not name the firm …

What is it with domain name companies and their terrible brands? Donuts is now Identity Digital Inc, the company said today, with the Donuts and Afilias brands being retired. The new name was chosen “to reflect better the commitment to helping customers find, grow and protect their authentic digital identities” …

The CEO of domain broker VPN.com is threatening to sue an online safety advocacy group after a report was published alleging the company trades in names that could be used for illegal activity. Michael Gargiulo said he will take action against the Digital Citizens Alliance unless it removes a report …