|
Written by Domainer's Magazine Staff
|
|
Wednesday, 08 October 2008 15:20 |
|
Judge Wingate, the Judge in the Kentucky domain seizure case, said today that he needs seven days to decide whether to dismiss the case or to move forward with a forfeiture hearing.
The Governor’s attorney attacked the “owners” of the domain names subject to the seizure order repeatedly, accusing them of operating illegal casinos in Kentucky. This he justifies because the websites, which operate and are regulated in other jurisdictions, can be accessed from Kentucky. However, he didn’t comment on the defense’s statement that by that principle, TwinSpires.com, which is operated in and regulated by Kentucky, could be seized by other states.
- The hearing lasted for 3 1/2 hours, from 9:30 AM until 1 PM. Just by sheer numbers, the defense dominated the time before the Judge. I lost count, but about a dozen attorneys spoke for the defense and three for the Governor.
- Plaintiff’s counsel, representing the Governor, continuously raised objections to the court hearing any statements from those claiming to represent defendant domain names on the grounds that they were “surrogates” and did not directly represent any of the entities owning the names covered by the seizure order. He said that only the owners should be able to present a defense and that the owners must subject themselves to Kentucky jurisdiction and stand up to cross examination by the plaintiff (the Governor). The judge did not acquiesce and let opposing counsel speak.
- In fairness, the defense argued that the personal injury attorney representing the Governor and the Justice Department did not have standing in the court.
- Plaintiff’s counsel argued for the position that a domain name/website is subject to jurisdiction anywhere in the world from which it can be viewed. He said domain names are virtual “property” and that they are anywhere and everywhere. (Note: This is an absurd position and contrary to US case law.)
- Defense argued that the domains are not in Kentucky and that they are not property, that they are just letters and numbers that enable people to find websites, like the letters and numbers that make up the address of a house. Taking away the address doesn’t take away the house or the ability for someone to visit it to gamble.
- Online gambling is not implicitly illegal in the commonwealth of Kentucky. The defense gave TwinSpires.com as an example of online gambling that operates legally in Kentucky. Defense then went on to categorize the Governor’s actions as a protectionist measure to remove out of state and foreign competition of Kentuckian worldwide. This would be in violation of the US Constitution Commerce clause.
- Lawrence Walters addressed one of the most important issues to most of our members, since I don’t know of any ICA members are operating gambling sites. He addressed the fact that many of the domain in the seizure order were not operating gambling sites, but were being seized only because they contained advertising for online gambling. He characterized this use as constitutionally protected commercial speech that this seizure is in violation of First Amendment rights. By the way, I have long admired Walter’s domain name, FirstAmendment.com.
- Network Solutions had two attorneys present objecting to the seizure; they were the only registrar whose legal representatives addressed the court. I am not sure that any other registrar even had any representatives present. ICA thanks Network Solutions for taking a stand against this unreasonable order.
- The ICA amicus brief received praise and appreciation from all the other defendants’ counsel.
- In addition to fair treatment of all parties, the judge’s oral statements indicated that he understood that this was an important case with implications that went far beyond Kentucky and gambling.
- The judge took the matter under advisement and indicated that he expects to rule in seven days (Tuesday, October 14th).
In one light moment in the hearing, Timothy Hyland, Attorney for Network Solutions suggested that the Judge might want to register JudgeWingate.com. The Judge replied “I already did, in (2000 something, not sure of year). Someone said that it might help me get elected and apparently it did.” This got a laugh from both sides. Wouldn’t you know it. I decided to do a whois lookup to try to nail down when he registered JudgeWingate.com. The domain was not registered; it had expired. Well, I could not in good conscientiousness publish this story without first acquiring the domain for the Judge. I know what happens when unregistered domain names are published in reports like this one. Does anyone know the Judge’s email address so I can return the domain to him? Do not tell me something at JudgeWingate.com.
Honorable Judge Wingate, if you read this, I acquired the domain name as a courtesy and out of respect for your office. If you are interested in the domain, I ask you to reimburse out of pocket cost. If you no longer have an interest in the domain, it will be used to the benefit of the internet commerce community by pointing to news about this case.
|
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 07 July 2007 09:54 |
|
Written by Michele Neylon :: Blacknight
|
|
Wednesday, 01 October 2008 16:23 |
Michele Neylon on the IE registry:
I've written extensively about the IE namespace and its current registry operator - IEDR in the past. While I've always tried to be fair and balanced in my coverage of the issues facing the IE namespace I'm afraid my patience with the current registry operator has worn thin.
While things may have improved over the course of the last few years it is becoming abundantly clear that the current registry operator is probably not the best organisation to manage the ccTLD in the future.
Comreg (the Irish Communications regulator) organised external consultants to conduct a comprehensive review of the IEDR's operations at every level. Although the report was submitted to Comreg before Christmas 2007 it still has not been published and is unlikely to see the light of day at this juncture.
More recently Comreg requested feedback based on the unpublished report's points (the logic behind this kind of thing escapes mere mortals, so you're not alone if you thought that was a weird thing to do!), yet nothing has been published.
Of course Comreg's track record in terms or regulating the various industries within its remit hasn't exactly been stellar, so maybe we shouldn't be so surprised.
So what is the current situation in IE?
If you were to rely on their annual report for that kind of information you'd probably end up with a rather twisted version of events.
At present there is no policy development process within IE.
While policy can change there is no clear way for stakeholders to propose changes or follow their development.
If a policy proposal is made and in many cases this appears to be provoked by something "upsetting" the registry operator, then the IEDR may pay lip service to consulting stakeholders. However consultation in their eyes and consultation for everyone else are often at odds with each other.
One recent change that has had a very negative impact on stakeholders was the registry's unilateral decision to practically do away with "conditional acceptances". That a domain could be "provisionally accepted" in the first place is a reflection of the archaic and unwieldy rules and procedures in place.
If you query how things operate you are most likely to get a rather inane response about how things have always been that way or that nobody "considered" a particular issue to be important enough to deal with.
Most of the ccTLD's registration rules are ambigous and open to subjectivity.
Since the "awarding" of a domain name relies almost entirely on the registry's staff subjective interpretation of the policies the end result is that prospective registrants and registrars are constantly locked in an unending game of "Russian roulette", though in many respects it's even worse, as you don't know how many chambers have been loaded.
In this kind of environment, with vague rules and no policy development, the incumbent registry operator now wants to introduce even more bureaucracy.
According to a small note in their most recent newsletter they intend to introduce an "appeals process":
The IEDR will shortly begin a consultation with the local internet community on the formation of a formal appeals process.
This formal appeals process would allow persons to:
a) appeal the IEDR's decision to reject an application for a new .ie domain name
b) appeal an already registered domain name
c) appeal the suspension or deletion of a .ie domain name
We will be circulating a consultation document for your consideration over the coming days
Eventually the IEDR provided more information on their proposal:
The IEDR would like to receive your views on the formation of a formal appeals process.
This formal appeals process would allow persons to:
a) appeal the IEDR's decision to reject an application for a new .ie domain name
b) appeal an already registered domain name
c) appeal the suspension or deletion of a .ie domain name
We would like to suggest adopting a two stage approach to the process. The purpose of this
approach is to reduce the number of inquiries escalated to a formal appeal and minimise the costs incurred by the appellant and/or the registry. The first stage of this approach would involve the IEDR being given the opportunity to review the appeal internally and respond. Our aim is to address the appellants' issue wherever possible at this stage, however if this is not possible or the appellant remains dissatisfied with our response they could then choose to initiate the second stage of process by opening a formal appeal which would be brought before an expert/panel of experts for a decision.
Currently, the IEDR receive very few appeals and do not feel that the introduction of a formal
process should increase the number received in any way (see (1) below). The purpose of this
consultation is to ensure that the formal process is structured to reflect the needs and
considerations of the local internet community.
While the idea behind this is obviously inspired by the Nominet DRS and similar solutions there is no way to easily transplant that kinf of sytem into the IE namespace. Other ccTLDs are much more member-driven ie. the stakeholders have some say in how the organisation is developed and run (AFNIC, Nominet, DENIC etc.,) while IEDR is a private company with zero accountability. The lack of clear and unambiguous rules and processes mean that both registrants (end users) and companies fulfilling the registrar role (there is no such role currently defined) face a very high degree of uncertainty. If any appeals process were to be introduced it would be a fiasco.
Fundamentally the IE namespace is in serious trouble.
The organisation currently in charge of managing the namespace may have muddled along for the last few years, but it is showing itself to be severely lacking on both technical and non-technical aspects of the ccTLD's management.
The archaic rules and procedures are stifling development not only of the namespace but of online business in Ireland.
This morning, for example, all public facing web services related to the IE namespace were completely unavailable for a period of approximately two hours. During this period whois, the API and all other web services were completely unavailable.
At no time did the registry make any effort to contact its registrars to explain the downtime and when an "explanation" was finally provided it was incredibly vague and unhelpful. A gTLD registry operator has to meet SLA requirements. Why doesn't this kind of thing exist for a ccTLD?
For a ccTLD registry in a developed country this kind of technical ineptitude is worrying.
So what could, or should, be done?
The main area of contention is in regard to the rules and regulations. At present those rules and regulations are not helping anyone, least of all the user community that the ccTLD is meant to serve. It would make a lot more sense to do away with all registration restrictions apart from maybe an admin contact address restriction.
The IEDR has long argued that its position as a "managed" registry gave it certain advantages, however most registrants do not gain any tangible benefits from these supposed advantages.
With simpler rules there would be less manual intervention required by both the registry operator and the registrars which would improve the turnaround time on new registrations and also help reduce the cost to end users significantly (the average cost at present is approx 25-30 euro before sales tax). The cost that end users pay for a domain registration will always be affected by the amount of manual intervention (if any) that the registrar's staff has to make to get a domain registered and / or manage it on an ongoing basis.
The other area that needs to be addressed urgently is the total lack of properly defined relations between the registry, registrar and registrant. At present there are no official "registrars", as the IEDR has not drafted any form of registrar contract. This puts all three sides in a legal minefield and issues can and will arise, although querying this sort of legal issue with the registry will not get a favourable response.
Maybe things will change dramatically if and when Comreg publish their report, however if they don't then maybe it is time that the management of the registry be put up for public tender or simply redelegated entirely.
|
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 07 July 2007 09:54 |
|
Written by Domainer's Magazine Staff
|
|
Friday, 29 August 2008 15:54 |
|
The domain industry is relatively new compared to other industries. Nevertheless, no one can say – at least not truthfully – that domaining is still pioneer territory. The word is out: people can and do make money from domaining. Consequently, more and more hopefuls have joined the fold so it is no longer possible to pick up a premium domain name for a song. Now, anyone who wishes to make money in domaining has to do more than hope to buy low and sell high on the basis of the domain name’s potential value alone; he now has to develop his domain property so that money can be made on its actual value instead.
Domain development, simply speaking, is associating a domain name with a fully operational, functional and useful website, instead of a landing page with lines and more lines of ads. In other words, domainers now have to start thinking like webmasters. What kind of website will I put up? How will I earn money from it? How will I get traffic to it? What kind of traffic do I want on it? These are just some of the questions that the new crop of domainers has to consider.
Domain development, as you can readily surmise, is a laborious task requiring a lot of study, planning, time, and energy. Turning yourself into a webmaster is no easy feat – especially if you are a weekend domainer or someone who thinks bits of html code are encrypted messages giving terrorists the go-signal to attack.
Whether you fit in either of the above categories or are someone on the lookout for more efficient web development tips, read on. This is your guide to development tactics that will help you put up a website in no time.
1. Buy a website
This is definitely the easiest way to develop your domain properties. Look around the web for websites that you wish to associate with your domain. Evaluate their profitability – not only current but, more importantly, potential profitability; typically, evaluation is done according to the site’s business model or monetization scheme as well as traffic quantity and quality. You can, in fact, search for websites at Sedo and other domain marketplaces where not only domain names are being traded but also domains that come with fully operational websites.
After making your selection or selections, make your offer to the publisher or owner of that website; if you bought not only the website but also the domain that came with the website, you will have to redirect the traffic from the old domain to your new domain name, although the ultimate destination – the website that you bought – remains the same.
This tactic is, by far, the easiest way to develop a domain. However, this can be rather expensive.
2. Buy an online business
This is similar to the above strategy. In this case, though, you will actually buy an existing online business; this includes not only the site but also the products/services inventory and the back-end support/framework. Alternatively, you can get a franchise of an existing online business and associate it with your domain name.
Like the first strategy, this can also be an expensive undertaking.
3. Hire a web development consultant
If you don’t have the know-how to develop your own domain, ask someone else to develop your domain for you. This is not simple web development, mind you. Your consultant will make all the necessary research as to what kind of website should go with your domain name. Only after that has been decided will the actual website building take place. Since you’re not going to be doing the actual work, this still qualifies as one of the easiest and quickest ways of developing your domain.
4. Use a web template
There are lots of web templates you can use to build your site to start with; some are free and some require a fee. The free web templates are great, but you can’t probably expect support and detailed explanations from their providers. Paid templates are better in this regard, and they are not all that expensive.
Before you choose a web template, though, be sure to have a clear idea about what kind of website you’d like to put up. Web templates differ according to their purpose.
5. Use idiot-friendly web platforms like WordPress
You can start publishing in minutes (hours if you’re a total greenie) with a web platform like WordPress. Simply download the platform, upload it to your web host and customize your site. There are extremely specific guides at WordPress.org that will teach you what to do to set up your site. WordPress and other platforms like it also have modules or plug-ins as well as themes that you can readily and easily integrate into your design to customize your website.
6. Use a web host with an inbuilt WYSIWYG website editor
If you are thinking of putting up an ad site with useful content – nothing fancy – then simply choose a web host that provides a good “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) editor. This functionality will help you create a simple website for your domain. You won’t even have to know coding language; the way your site looks to you at the editing pane is how your site will look to your visitors.
7. Buy content or hire a content writer
If you are planning to put up a site that earns money through advertising, you will need content that internet users will find useful. For this purpose, you can buy ready-to-post content, buy private label content or hire a content writer.
Ready-to-post content refers to original pieces that you can immediately post on your site. Private label content, on the other hand, refers to articles that require some rewriting so they won’t be tagged as duplicate content by search engines.
Of the two, the latter is the more affordable option; you can get a private label article for a few cents then pay a rewriter a few dollars to make the copy unique. However, the former will give you more credibility. Your site will offer something truly new to your target visitors, not something they have seen countless times, albeit in slightly different words, in other sites. This can, in the long run, win you a regular stream of recurring and referred traffic. It’s up to you which among the two – affordability and credibility – is your priority.
You can also hire a content writer to provide you with original content. This option is not as inexpensive as buying private label content but it is still more affordable than shopping for ready-to-post content.
8. Syndicate content
Another option you have for filling your site with content is to syndicate articles and posts from all over the net. You can set up a site that shows relevant content syndicated from other sites. For instance, you can syndicate content from premiere news providers online or from blogs. However, be sure to respect applicable copyright laws or you’ll find yourself in trouble.
|
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 07 July 2007 09:54 |
|
Written by Frank Michlick
|
|
Friday, 15 August 2008 04:10 |
|
Many companies tend to focus on the perceived cost savings of becoming an ICANN accredited registrar, even though they are not fully aware of the actual cost involved.
For smaller domain portfolio holders becoming an ICANN accredited registrar may initially increase the cost of holding the domains. However, there are other advantages that should be taken into consideration, such as the improved security & control for your premium domain holdings held with your own registrar.
|
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 07 July 2007 09:54 |
|
Read more... [Can becoming an ICANN accredited Registrar save you money?]
|
|
|
Legal News
