Check out http://auda.org.au/domain-news/dn-news for
the latest domain news. By close of business Melbourne
time on 23 February, a more recent edition of the news
should be posted to the auDA web site.

The domain name news is supported by auDA.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Domain Firms Keep Up VeriSign Pressure

http://computerwire.com/industries/research/?pid=A8991397%2DD38D%2D4B7B%2DABF8%2D787A0C3E6491

The Malta Discussions on Internet Governance: Summary
of the International Conference

http://diplomacy.edu/Conferences/IG/presentations/Conference_Summary.pdf

Internet Stakeholders Gather To Discuss Internet
Governance Forum
 http://cdt.org/headlines/861

The Internet Society?s contribution on the formation
of the Internet Governance Forum

http://www.isoc.org/isoc/conferences/wsis/documents/ISOC_IGF_CONTRIBUTION.pdf

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
 http://intgovforum.org/index.htm

***************
RESEARCH PAPERS
***************
Cultural diversity in cyberspace: The Catalan campaign
to win the new .cat top level domain by Peter Gerrand
Abstract: In September 2005 ICANN approved the first
top?level Internet domain to be dedicated to a
particular human language and culture: ?.cat?. This
paper describes the history of the Catalan campaign to
win the ?.cat? domain against political opposition
from the former conservative Spanish government and
the reluctance of some decision?makers within ICANN
circles. While ?.cat? creates a precedent for greater
use on the Internet of ?minority languages?, there are
significant hurdles for other candidates for
language?based top?level domains. The paper discusses
the concomitant factors needed to support the greater
use of any minority language on the Internet.

http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_1/gerrand/index.html

Worm Propagation Strategies in an Ipv6 Internet
A recent paper called "Worm Propagation Strategies in
an IPv6 Internet", written by Steven M. Bellovin,
Angelos Keromytis, and Bill Cheswick, examines whether
or not the deployment of IPv6 will in fact provide a
substantial level of barrier against worms. Shared
below are the introductory paragraphs from this paper.
"In recent years, the internet has been plagued by a
number of worms. One popular mechanism that worms use
to detect vulnerable targets is random IP
address-space probing."

http://www.circleid.com/posts/worm_propagation_strategies_in_an_ipv6_internet/

The Truth in Domain Names Act of 2003 and a
Preventative Measure to Combat Typosquatting
(originally published 2004)
Abstract: This Note analyzes the Truth in Truth in
Domain Names Act of 2003, the first piece of
legislation to criminalize the registration of a
misleading Internet domain name with the intent to
deceive a person into viewing obscenity, and the first
case successfully prosecuted under the Act, United
States v. Zuccarini. Although the Truth in Domain
Names Act was lauded as a means of protecting
children, the heated floor debates in both the House
of Representatives and the Senate confirm that the
statute's broad language criminalizes conduct that
does not involve children or child pornography in any
way. Consequently, this Note concludes that the Act
has the potential to deter any form of typosquatting -
the deceptive registration of misspelled domain names
- even though that was not Congress's primary
legislative intent.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=754524

****************
DOMAIN NAMES
****************
Domain Firms Keep Up VeriSign Pressure
The world?s largest domain name registrars stepped up
their fight against price increases in the VeriSign
Inc?s .com namespace yesterday, calling on the
Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers to throw
out a proposal to pump up prices.

http://computerwire.com/industries/research/?pid=A8991397%2DD38D%2D4B7B%2DABF8%2D787A0C3E6491

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/16/registrars_reject_contract/

http://cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=94C2DB77-1CA4-4657-BAF3-DDD4DF6FCA98
 http://www.itworld.com/Net/3499/060216domainfee/
 http://www.out-law.com/page-6644

http://domaintimes.net/newseng.php?mhnews_id=306&mhnews_newsid=7567&mhnews_page=1

http://infoworld.com/article/06/02/16/75466_HNdomainnamefees_1.html
 http://internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3585456
 http://www.tophosts.com/articles/?002678.html
 http://www.sys-con.com/read/184112.htm

http://www.betanews.com/article/Registrars_Question_VeriSign_com_Deal/1140025548
 http://news.earthweb.com/bus-news/article.php/3585456

http://datamonitor.com/~30e9e8f7e98141dfba2d26797bc36e5c~/industries/news/article/?pid=94C2DB77-1CA4-4657-BAF3-DDD4DF6FCA98&type=NewsWire

Survey: Domain Name Owners reject ICANN/VeriSign
Settlement
A survey of domain name owners, registrars, and
service providers reveals that only 25% of the domain
name community supports a proposed agreement between
ICANN and VeriSign. The survey by DomainNameWire.com
included responses from 582 people in 81 countries.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20060216/bs_prweb/prweb347412_1

Network Solutions joins call for ICANN to make key
changes to .com proposals
Network Solutions joined other top registrars in
urging the Board of ICANN to approve a proposed
agreement on the future of the .com domain registry
operation only if certain changes are made.

http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/DotNet/Newsroom/Query.aspx?SiteName=NetworkSolutions&Entity=PRAsset&SF_PRAsset_PRAssetID_EQ=146084&XSL=PressRelease&Cache=True&Merge=

Microsoft supports Chinese domain names
Chinese can apply Chinese domain name for searching
enterprises and departments that they want online from
2006. Microsoft's IE7 browser supports "Chinese.cn",
which signals that Internet will greet the age of
all-new Chinese domain name, said Liu Zhijiang, an
official with the China Internet Network Information
Center (CNNIC) on Thursday in Beijing, according to
China News Service.

http://english.people.com.cn/200602/17/eng20060217_243670.html

The crackdown on cybersquatters
Luk?? Nov?k noticed an interesting thing while
studying for an international relations degree last
spring: Even though the domain names for all European
Union presidency Web sites follow the same format, the
domain name for the site of the Czech Republic's
future presidency, in 2009, was not registered.
 http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2006/Art/0216/news6.php

Cybersquatting and Domain Speculation Trends:
Strategies to Uncover Abuse and Take Action Against
Infringers - webseminar on 22/2/06
MarkMonitor is hosting a web seminar featuring
Lawrence Nodine of Needle & Rosenberg. The seminar
will include the domain registration practices
employed by domain speculators and cybersquatters, and
learn about best practices to manage, monitor and take
action against infringers. The presentation will
outline key facts, figures and trends in this area and
present leading strategies to protect valuable online
intellectual property. Be sure to come with all of
your domain management questions for our expert panel
-- the live event will conclude with a 15-minute Q&A
session.
 http://markmonitor.com/seminars/022206.html

ICANN At-Large Newsletter: (January 2006)
The latest newsletter is now available

http://alac.icann.org/announcements/announcement-08feb06.htm

ENom Hits 5 Million Domains
Domain name registrar eNom announced on Thursday that
it had surpassed 5 million domain names under
management.

http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/021606_ENom_Hits_5_Million_Domains.cfm

http://www.webhostdir.com/news/articles/shownews.asp?id=14747

*********************
WSIS & GOVERNANCE
*********************
The Malta Discussions on Internet Governance: Summary
of the International Conference
Conference discussions were divided into five panels,
each looking at different aspects of the future
Internet Governance Forum. In addition, DiploTeam
members and researchers presented Diplo?s Internet
Governance Capacity Building Programme and the results
of research on a number of topics, including the
protection of public interest with regards to the
Internet. The document includes some of the main
points which emerged from each panel?s deliberations.

http://diplomacy.edu/Conferences/IG/presentations/Conference_Summary.pdf

Internet Stakeholders Gather To Discuss Internet
Governance Forum
Internet stakeholders are gathering in Geneva this
week to discuss the future of the Internet Governance
Forum (IGF), an entity authorized by world leaders at
the conclusion of the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) last November. The forum is intended to
be a venue for stakeholders throughout the global
Internet community to discuss concerns relating to
Internet governance. Center for Democracy and
Technology believes the forum is a unique opportunity,
but one that poses significant challenges. In comments
submitted to forum organizers, CDT offered suggestions
for the scope and makeup of the IGF. For Center for
Democracy and Technology comments on the Internet
Governance Forum see:
 http://cdt.org/headlines/861

The Internet Society?s contribution on the formation
of the Internet Governance Forum
The Internet Society was pleased that WSIS ensured the
continued success of the Internet through its
commitment to build on the governance mechanisms and
organizations that have so clearly enabled the
Internet's incredibly successful growth. This broad
recognition of the achievements, the effectiveness,
and of course the legitimacy of these organizations,
was a clear endorsement of their continued vital role
in the further development of the Internet.

http://www.isoc.org/isoc/conferences/wsis/documents/ISOC_IGF_CONTRIBUTION.pdf

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
This website has been set up to support the process
started by the United Nations Secretary-General with a
view to convening a new forum for multi-stakeholder
policy dialogue - the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
The Secretary-General was mandated by the World Summit
on the Information Society (WSIS) to convene such a
Forum and he asked his Special Advisor for WSIS, Mr.
Nitin Desai, to hold consultations in this matter.
Consultations on the Convening of the IGF. The texts
of the realtime transcription of the 16 - 17 February
Consultations on the convening of the IGF are now
available for viewing:
 http://intgovforum.org/index.htm

Bret Fausett's ICANN Blog & IGF
Plenty of coverage including podcasts and links to
other websites of the IGF on Bret Fausett's ICANN Blog
 http://blog.lextext.com/blog/icann

Experts: Don't shoot messenger to protect Internet
Governments must not let debates over Internet content
affect the underlying interoperability of the global
network?s infrastructure, a panel of Internet policy
experts said yesterday.
 http://www.fcw.com/article92363-02-17-06-Web

Internet Governance: An Antispam Perspective
All those Internet Governance pundits who track ICANN
the way paparazzi track Paris Hilton are barking up
the wrong tree. They?ve mistaken the Department of
Street Signs for the whole of the state. The real
action involves words like rbldnsd, content filtering,
and webs of trust. 

http://www.circleid.com/posts/internet_governance_an_antispam_perspective/

Internet as Freedom Multiplier, Censor's Nightmare
(news release)
Statement on Internet as Multiplier for Freedom and
Censor's Nightmare: Ambassador David A. Gross, U.S.
Coordinator for International Communications and
Information Policy; Prepared Statement for Joint
Hearing, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights,
and International Operations and the Subcommittee on
Asia and the Pacific, Committee on International
Relations 
 http://scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0602/S00271.htm

WSIS Secretariat Freezes Web-Pages for Geneva, Tunis
Phases
The Executive Secretariat of WSIS has announced the
freezing of the web-pages of both the Geneva and Tunis
phases of the summit.
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200602160190.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sources include Quicklinks <http://qlinks.net/> and
BNA Internet Law News <http://www.bna.com/ilaw/>.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(c) David Goldstein 2006


David Goldstein
 address: 4/3 Abbott Street
             COOGEE NSW 2034
             AUSTRALIA
 email: Goldstein_David &#167;yahoo.com.au
 phone: +61 418 228 605 - mobile; +61 2 9665 5773 - home

Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com