iEstates.com

Domain Guardians provide protection and management of domains in the event of death or disability

Domain name industry experts Mike Robertson, Jen Sale, Bill Vanderent, Adam Strong and Paul Keating have partnered to establish Domain Guardians, an ICANN accredited registrar providing domain estate planning and management services to domain professionals. The team will be launching the company and services at the upcoming ICANN Silicon Valley meeting in San Francisco, CA, USA from March 13-18, 2011.

The combination of Dark Blue Sea alumni, Robertson, Sale and Vanderent, along with Strong and Keating, offers over 50 years of combined experience in the domain industry. “Working with a group of this caliber is humbling, and we’re all very excited to offer the domain community a comprehensive suite of services that provide real value,” stated Robertson of this opportunity.

Domain Guardians has developed Domain Legacy to technically and legally protect and manage domain assets in the event of a portfolio owner’s death or disability.

Paul Keating, prominent domain lawyer, recognizes the complicated nature of managing a portfolio, “No one lives forever, and most domain investors are not planning enough for the future. Managing domains across multiple registrars and monetization providers is a daunting task. It requires a great deal of skill developed on the back of years that may include lost opportunities, missteps and other failures. What will happen to the asset base and income streams when the manager is no longer “there” because of a death or disability? How will our survivors cope in an industry where contacts and experiences are shared by word of mouth?”

Veteran domain professional, Adam Strong, addresses the importance of Domain Legacy for your loved one’s protection and peace of mind, “Like other domain investors, I’ve thought, ‘Who’ll take care of my domains when I’m gone?’… I’ll be transferring my assets to my loved ones, who unfortunately don’t have the skills or desire to continue managing my business. It gives me peace of mind to know that they can trust the expertise of Domain Guardians to do this for them. Every domain investor with a valuable portfolio should protect the future of that portfolio.”

For more information, and to arrange a meeting with the team at ICANN, please email hello@domainguardians.com.

Disclaimer: Adam Strong is also Managing Editor & Owner of DNN.

[via Press Release]

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (1)

The LA Times is reporting that Los Angeles health officials have discovered the Legionella bacteria in a water source at the famous Playboy Mansion.  In case you haven’t been following the story, hundreds of Domain Fest attendees reported symptoms similar to those common in cases of Legionnaires and Pontiac Fever after attending Domain Fest events.

Speculation from conference attendees centered around activities at the Playboy Mansion because of it’s array of water sources including a pool, the famous grotto and fog machines used on the dance floor.

An attendee from Europe was one of the first reported on DnJournal to have been diagnosed with Legionnaires.  As the reports started mounting a health department investigation began.  As you can expect if you put the name Playboy and disease together, you’re sure to instigate a media frenzy, not to mention a few stand up comedy bits.

Early on in the investigation, Playboy officials and even Hugh Hefner himself came out stating “There is no truth in the rumor that anyone caught anything at the Playboy Mansion. Nor is there any evidence.” It’s good to see that they’ve isolated the source and that this can be fixed.

Elliot Silver has pointed out that the CDC did not confirm that the illness attendees experience was a result of the reported Legionella bacteria found at the Mansion.

This does not however confirm Legionella as the source of the illness, as Legionella bacteria are commonly found in moist or wet environments. “We are still considering several possible causes of illness,” said Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, Director of Public Health and Health Officer.

Ok, so they found the source and they’re not going to say that this is what caused the illnesses.  Fair enough but it appears that the deductions are already being made by LA Times.

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (7)

The Sale of Sex.com has now been entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. The entry is currently listed online only, but will be included in the next print edition. The domain name was sold for $13 million USD by Escom LLC to Clover Holdings Ltd on 17 November 2010. Sedo brokered the sale.

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (5)

According to an email just sent out by SnapNames the pricing for backordering deletion domain names will increase from $59 to $69 starting tomorrow.

See the full text of the email below:

On February 15, SnapNames will raise the starting bid for backorders for all deleting domain names from $59 to $69. This starting bid increase applies only to orders for names that are deleted from their respective registries (not the expiring or privately held names listed from registrar partners or sellers).

This change applies exclusively to new orders—any previously placed deleting domain name backorders will be grandfathered in and remain at a starting bid amount of $59; thus, $59 will be the opening bid if the name enters our system. (Note, if you are the only bidder in this scenario, like today you will be the buyer at $59. If another party backorders the same name after February 15, that party’s opening bid will be at $69 and the system will alert you to raise your bid if you so elect.)

As is the case today, all non-deleting domain names will enter our system at the starting bid price specified by the listing party. Opening bids for those names will stay at the amounts originally set.

There is no change to auction procedures. If there is only one bidder for a name at the time of its availability, the name will be awarded to that bidder. For names with more than one interested party, the names will go to auction and the highest bid at or above the starting bid amount will prevail.

Questions can be directed to the SnapNames support team:

E-mail: support@snapnames.com
Web: http://support.oversee.net/login.php

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (8)

According to Bloomberg Demand Media plans to raise $120 million selling shares for $14 to $16 in their IPO scheduled for January 25th, 2011. The company, run by co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer Richard Rosenblatt, has now cleared its final SEC hurdle and set the IPO date and pricing. The IPO had stalled in December when the SEC was waiting for responses on the company’s accounting practices. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the $7.5 million offering. The shares will be offered at the New York Stock exchange under the DMD symbol.

Demand Media is parent company to many companies such as registrars eNom and Bulk Register, many websites such as eHow and domain parking company Hotkeys.

[via Bloomberg]

(c) 2011 DomainNameNews.com (7)

In a story on ZDNet this week, adult website YouPorn.com is being sued for “browser history sniffing”.  ZDNet points to a study conducted by University of California, San Diego of the global to 50,000 sites on the internet. In the study the researchers claim to have “confirmed that 46 websites used browser (history) sniffing to see which sites users visited before they arrived, and noted 326 sites they deemed “suspicious” in history tracking practices.”  Of the 46 sites mentioned, Namepros.com was one that the researches found to be engaging in this ‘suspicious’ browser history sniffing and “actually doing history hijacking”.

Browser history sniffing typically uses javascript to allow the site operator to gain access to information about site users.  Much of the information can be used to improve user experience. Typically online aggregators, social bookmarking services and ad networks use code that sniffs browser histories.

The UCSD report also mentions other sites such as Youtube and Microsoft were also performing some covert behavioral sniffing of site visitors.  Many more sites are likely involved in browser history sniffing or some form of behavior tracking, some may not even be aware that they are doing so.   Ad networks, browser tools and other services provided by companies like Interclick and Meaningtool reportedly are the source of most of these “suspicious activities”.

The plaintiffs in the case claim YouPorn is violating the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as well as California computer laws as well as deceptive and unfair business practices and competition. We suspect that NamePros was using scripts from an ad network Feedjit, as owner Ron James points out in our comments section, and was caught up in what looks like a privacy-witch-hunt.  We’ve emailed NamePros.com owner Ron James about this story and have not heard back from him yet.

If you want to protect yourself from browser history sniffing, there are some things you can do . According to an article on About.com , you can delete your browser history cache frequently or change the way that your browser handles visited links.  If you click on a link in most browsers it changes color. The sniffers compare your cache to see what links in your cache you have clicked, if you set your “visited link” color to the same color as a “non-clicked” link this may block the sniffer from know where you visited.  DNN provides no guarantee that this will protect you from browser history sniffing.

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com (8)

Siter.com announced today that they have launched a free smartphone application (available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry) that allows users to call companies and other website owners based on their domain name and URL. The company, whose identity is hidden behind whois privacy, claims to have 25 million names registered in their system. The website at Siter.com also allows users to register numbers for their own sites, URLs and email addresses.

Siter.com from Siter.com on Vimeo.

This service/app sounds like something that could be an excellent addon to .TEL domains, or potentially could even used contact information provided in DNS records similar to how Telnic operates .TEL.

CNET has learned details on a limited beta release of AOL’s mail update, called “Project Phoenix” which will update AOL’s email interface. The new system, expected to be available to all users some time in 2011, will also offer users a number of choices from different domains instead of the dreaded AOL.com domain: ygm.com (an abbreviation of its classic “you’ve got mail”), love.com, wow.com, and games.com. AOL said in the announcement that mail accounts for 45 percent of its page views. Facebook is said to announce a new email service today, as reported by TechCrunch, going hand in hand with their purchase of fb.com.

[via Gizmodo, CNET]

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

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Upcoming Domain Industry Events, Conferences & Auctions

Corporation Service Company (CSC), which also is an ICANN accredited registrar serving many large corporations, announced this morning that they are now offering a “Domain Recovery Service” in conjunction with Alias Encore.

Alias Encore was founded in 2008 by Graham MacRobie, who also founded the similar Company Citizen Hawk. Both companies recover domain names on behalf of trademark owners who then in return allow them to monetize the domains through their own affiliate/CPA offers. Both also use automated processes to file high-volume complaints and to email domain owners of potentially infringing domain names.

See the full press release after the jump.

CORPORATION SERVICE COMPANY AND ALIAS ENCORE LAUNCH NEW DOMAIN RECOVERY SERVICE

Santa Barbara, CA: Corporation Service Company® (CSC®) and Alias Encore, Inc., announced today that the two companies have entered an exclusive partnership to offer best-in-class domain recovery services to brand holders worldwide. The announcement coincides with the beginning of the Commission Junction® CJU 2010 conference, where the topic of digital brand protection will be on many attendees’ minds.

Since the mid-1990s, brand owners have faced the daunting challenge of dealing with unscrupulous registrants who seek to profit from Internet domain names that include company trademarks or misspellings thereof. Called “cybersquatting” or “typosquatting,” this problem has grown to encompass millions of potentially infringing domain names – a scope most companies can’t possibly address on a case-by-case basis. Brand owners lose untold millions in revenue every year when Internet traffic is surreptitiously redirected to competitors or other third parties by way of advertisements displayed on Web sites reachable through cybersquatted domain names.

CSC has been at the forefront of the digital brand management industry since becoming an ICANN-accredited registrar in 2000, and today is one of the largest corporate registrars serving Global 2000® companies. A trusted advisor to intellectual property and legal professionals for more than 100 years, CSC offers an unparalleled suite of Internet-related services, including both domestic and international (ccTLD) domain name management, trademark and brand monitoring, phishing protection, and domain strategy. A recent survey by World Trademark Review ranked CSC #1 in customer approval for domain and online services.

Founded in 2008, Alias Encore has established itself as the technological leader in the rapidly maturing field of high-volume, automated domain recovery. Alias Encore’s systems allow for the efficient, simultaneous recovery of thousands of infringing domain names, freeing companies to focus on their business rather than playing cat-and-mouse games with cybersquatters. Both firms expect that Alias Encore’s platform and expertise will reinforce CSC’s industry-leading position from the standpoint of scope and sophistication.

“We evaluated the domain recovery industry thoroughly and came to the conclusion that Alias Encore stands head and shoulders above the competition,” said Mark Calandra, vice president at CSC. “In particular, we were impressed with the deep analytics, transparency, multivariate testing, and other advanced platform features that other providers don’t even begin to offer. Also, the speed at which Alias innovates and develops new technology is remarkable.”

Graham MacRobie, Alias Encore’s president and CEO said, “Increasingly, companies are demanding that their domain recovery provider execute with a degree of professionalism that can be challenging for a small firm to achieve. Working alongside CSC, I’m excited to decisively settle the ‘size matters’ debate with our competitors, allowing us to focus on building the technology and expertise that powers our world-class domain recovery solution. I consider it a privilege to work with CSC – a venerable institution with deep and pervasive connections throughout the Internet and legal communities.”

The new domain recovery service is available immediately. For more information, please contact sales@aliasencore.com.

About CSC

Corporation Service Company provides matter management, corporate compliance, and trustee services for companies and law firms worldwide; domain name and trademark services for top global brands; and due diligence and transactional services for the world’s largest financial institutions. It is one of the largest registered agent providers in the United States.

Founded in 1899, CSC is a privately held organization headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A. CSC works with more than 75 percent of the Fortune 500® and more than half of the world’s best brands as ranked by Interbrand®. To learn more about CSC, visit www.cscglobal.com, or follow CSC on Twitter at twitter.com/cscglobal.

About Alias Encore, Inc.

Alias Encore is squarely focused on helping companies increase highly qualified traffic to their Web sites through the strategic acquisition of misspelled domain names. It is no longer sufficient for a company to own only the domain name that exactly matches their trademark. This is because significant revenues are being surreptitiously diverted to competitors through literally millions of “typosquatting” sites that seek to improperly capitalize on the accidental keystrokes of unsuspecting Internet users. Alias Encore puts a stop to this domain name fraud, dramatically increasing revenues as a direct result.

Alias Encore was founded in 2008 and is privately held. The company’s headquarters are in Aliso Viejo, California. For more information, please visit www.aliasencore.com, or follow Alias Encore on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aliasencore.

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

Verisign Publishes New Domain Industry Brief for Q2/1010

Verisign, the company that is now more focused on the domain name space than ever before, since selling their security unit to Symmantec, has published their September issue of the the quarterly Domain Industry Brief (PDF).

• The second quarter of 2010 closed with a base of more than 196.3 million domain name registrations across all Top Level Domains (TLDs), an increase of more than 3 million domain names, or 2 percent over the first quarter. Registrations grew by 12.3 million, or 7 percent over the past year.
• The combined base of .com and .net domain names surpassed 100 million, finishing the quarter with an adjusted zone size of 101.5 million
• New .com and .net registrations totalled 7.9 million during the second quarter, an increase of 13 percent from a year ago, and continued to show signs of the larger economic recovery.
• Consistent with recent trends, .cn (China) experienced a second-quarter decline in base registrations, dropping the domain from fourth to sixth largest among all TLDs.
• This changed the respective positions of .uk and .org, which became the fourth and fifth largest TLDs, respectively.
• VeriSign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load during the quarter was 62.5 billion, with a peak of 83.6 billion. The daily average increased 16 percent and the peak increased 32 percent over the previous quarter. Compared to the same timeframe in 2009, the daily average grew 28 percent and the peak grew 43 percent.

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

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