domain

Domains seized from Demonoid BitTorrent site up for sale

Three key Demonoid domains are now up for sale, less than two weeks after the BitTorrent site was taken down in a coordinated effort.

The Ukraine-based site was taken offline earlier this month apparently when local authorities contacted its Internet service provider, Colocall, and forced the ISP to shut down the service's servers. Demonoid was among the Web sites included in the U.S. government's "Notorious Markets List," which was created to identify "markets, including those on the Internet, which exemplify the problem of marketplaces dealing in infringing goods and helping sustain global piracy." … Read more

Top domains and passwords compromised by Yahoo breach

The breach of one of Yahoo's sites reignited concerns over the vulnerability of the favorite Web sites that we visit.

But in reality, roughly 450,000 login credentials were compromised -- a small number relative to the total users on the Internet. Yahoo said less than 5 percent of the accounts had valid passwords.

The following is a list of the top 20 e-mail domains and frequently used passwords that were hit, as compiled by CNET's Declan McCullagh:

Domains 1. Yahoo.com (137,559) 2. Gmail.com (106,873) 3. Hotmail.com (55,148) 4. Aol.com (25,… Read more

ICANN replaces CEO, head of massive domain-name change

ICANN, the organization in charge of basic Internet name and addressing technology, today announced a new chief executive, Fadi Chehade.

The move was expected since last August when outgoing CEO Rod Beckstrom announced his eventual departure (PDF) from the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

But ICANN also announced that the leader of a controversial change, the expansion of generic top-level domains (GTLD) to include everything from .google to .sucks, also is stepping down. Hundreds have applied to operate the new GTLDs, and ICANN now is evaluating the applications.

Chehade, a 50-year-old citizen of Lebanon, Egypt, and the United … Read more

Whoops! ICANN makes domain applicants' personal info public

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers, or ICANN, said it accidentally published the addresses of top-level domain applicants, but has since taken them down.

ICANN posted a notice yesterday indicating that it temporarily disabled viewing of the application details to remove the postal addresses of some primary and secondary contacts for top-level domain, or TLD applications. The addresses appeared as responses to questions on the application. The viewing was restored on the same day sans the personal information.

"We temporarily disabled viewing of the application details. We removed the unintended information and restored this functionality," ICANN'… Read more

Masters of a new domain

Today we're putting dots on everything!

Expect to see tons of new domain extensions crop up, like .app or .baby. Hundreds of companies, including Google, Amazon and Apple, have applied to oversee new domains. If there's more than one application for a word (Google and Johnson & Johnson are battling for .baby), then the two companies will have to duke it out or it'll go to an auction. There are also some controversial ones, like .sucks. You can really see how .sucks can, well, suck for brands. Hard to see a useful purpose for that domain aside … Read more

The strangest new top-level domain applications

Earlier today in London, ICANN released a list of thousands of applications for new generic top-level domains. The applications include plenty of brand protection moves like .google and .bentley, as well as some more generic speculation plays like .beer or the very popular .app, which received several applications.

There was also plenty of weirdness buried in the list of suffixes, applicants, and primary contacts.

For example, it looks as though Google might be interested in giving the Cheezburger network a run for its money with oddball applications for domains .lol, .wow, and .fun.… Read more

Guess who wants new military top-level domains? Not the military...

Among the thousands of applications for new generic top-level domains that ICANN released today are three to run new .army, .navy and .airforce domains. The applicant isn't the U.S. Department of Defense -- or any other government entity for that matter -- it's those masters of cheap, spammy content, Demand Media.

The military suffixes are three of 26 applications that list United TLD Holdco Ltd. as the applicant -- United TLD is a Cayman Islands-based subsidiary of Demand Media, which runs eHow.com and other sites. The company was part of the inspiration behind tweaks to Google's search algorithm last year that resulted in giving less weight to so-called "content farms" -- like Demand Media.… Read more

The most coveted domains, from .app to .home

In a sea of popular words, who would have guessed .app would be the most sought after domains?

"App" garnered 13 applications for a top-level-domain, also known as a string. The full details on the applications were revealed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers today. The introduction of new TLDs change the way consumers will type in URLs and open up new possibilities for Web addresses.

It's telling that .app was the most popular domain name, an illustration of the importance of having a solid app ecosystem, particularly in the mobile world. Among the … Read more

Apple, Google, Amazon: Give us our own domains

Get ready to be a bit more confused about Web site addresses.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers today revealed which generic top-level-domains that companies and organizations have applied for, a major step in the six-year-long process to expand the domain name system to create more competition in a world dominated by dot-com names. For consumers, it means a new way of typing in URL, moving beyond the standard .com or .url addresses.

"It's a historic day for the Internet," said ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom. "The internet is about to change forever."

For … Read more

Will we get a .lol or .google? ICANN's answer due June 13

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers will hold a press conference next week to unveil the generic top-level domains that companies and organizations have applied for.

According to ICANN's announcement today, the agency received over 1,900 applications before it closed registration on May 30. Major companies and organization, as well as startups and even geographical regions, applied for their own top-level domains, the organization said.

With the advent of GTLDs, Web users can expect to many more Web addresses to crop up beyond the common .com and .org. Last week, Google evangelist Vint Cerf said that … Read more