Not in San Juan? Don't worry. #ICANN61 remote participation is available >> https://t.co/nhWX0c4Llz pic.twitter.com/t3mMJtEODE

— ICANN (@ICANN) March 10, 2018

The ICANN 61 meeting is being held in Puerto Rico for the next several days. While hundreds of people with domain name interests from around the world will be making the trek to Puerto Rico, there will be many others who didn't travel who will be participating remotely.

One of the neat things about ICANN meetings is that they are broadcast online. People can observe and/or participate in the meetings from around the world.

On the ICANN.org website, there is a section for the ICANN 61 meeting. Visitors can view the schedule and click on discussions and panels that are of interest to them. They can then connect to the session in real time by clicking on the Adobe Connect link. For instance, people with an interest in the GeoTLD Group Planning Session meeting can visit the meeting page on the schedule and connect using the Adobe Connect link.

For those people who → Read More

Speaking of ICANN, I thought you might find this video from Vice to be fascinating. I have heard of the ICANN key signing ceremony before, but I haven't seen one nor did I know what a production it is with great importance.

Although this ceremony is not directly related to domain name investing, if it weren't for this event, we probably wouldn't have an industry:



Thanks to Andee Hill for sharing this! → Read More

If you have ever done a Google search for a person or company in the domain name business, it is very possible you came across ICANNWiki, a website community with a ton of information about ICANN and the domain name industry. According to a tweet from the company, ICANNWiki might lose its primary funding source:

**IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM ICANNWIKI** Please read, share, comment and support. https://t.co/b68eo8Gddx

— ICANNWiki (@ICANNWiki) January 3, 2018

Here's an excerpt from the blog post announcing the news:

"ICANNWiki was recently informed that ICANN might choose not to renew its contract, which accounts for 60% of our annual revenue. The contract began in 2015, with an initial three-year term, which enabled us to bring on two full-time co-directors to steward the project and improve its services. ICANN has stated, 'At this time, while it is highly unlikely that ICANN will be renewing its contract with ICANNWiki, we have not come to a final determination.'”

Losing a revenue source that accounts for 60% of the total → Read More

Kevin Murphy of Domain Incite wrote about the suggestions made by an ICANN working group on how ICANN should spend the $240 million the organization generated from auctions of new gTLD extensions. One idea that seems to be popular with the operators of new gTLD extensions is for ICANN to spend some of the money on marketing activities to educate the general public about the extensions.

Today’s daily poll question is Should ICANN Use New gTLD Money for Marketing? You are invited to vote in the poll below and are welcome to share additional thoughts in the comment section.


→ Read More

Over the weekend, I saw that Andee Hill announced that she has left Donuts. Andee worked there for two years as Director of Business Development at Donuts. Prior to Donuts, Andee founded (and sold) an escrow service and got her start in the domain business at Escrow.com.

Of her time at Donuts, Andee said she is "Honored to have worked at a smart company and with smart people.” Her last day at the company was July 31.

After reading the news about her departure from Donuts, I reached out to Andee to see if she is staying in the domain name industry and ask what her plans are. Andee told me she has accepted an offer from ICANN to become its Registrar Services & Engagement Programs Director.

"I'm very excited to start the position and feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to (more…) → Read More

Did you know there is a new domain name transfer and registrant change policy that is being implemented by ICANN on December 1, 2016? You can read the full transfer policy on ICANN's website.

In addition,  OpenSRS published a blog post about the policy change. Here is how the company stated that these changes will impact its customers:

Any changes to first name, last name, organization or email address fields for the owner of any gTLD domain name will now start a trade process
The process involves obtaining explicit confirmation from current and new registrants before a change can be completed
After a change of registrant has been completed, previous and new registrant need to receive notifications about the change, with no option of reversing the change
After a change of registrant has been completed, the domain is by default locked for transfers to a new registrar for the following 60 days

I believe this change is going to impact many of us who regularly buy and sell domain names.

One of the most obvious ways this will → Read More