Domain Name: Current issues, news and information regarding to the Internet Domain Name

Limitation of the use, and application of Domain Name in China

by Reuters

BEIJING - China has issued new Internet regulations, including what appears to be an effort to create a "whitelist" of approved websites that could potentially place much of the Internet off-limits to Chinese readers.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ordered domain management institutions and internet service providers to tighten control over domain name registration, in a three-phase plan laid out on its website (www.miit.gov.cn) late on Sunday.
"Domain names that have not registered will not be resolved or transferred," MIIT said, in an action plan to "further deepen" an ongoing anti-pornography campaign that has resulted in significant tightening of Chinese Internet controls.
Only allowing Chinese viewers to access sites registered on a whitelist would give Chinese authorities much greater control, but would also block millions of completely innocuous sites.
The rules did not specify whether the new measure applies to overseas websites, but local media reported the risk that foreign sites that have not registered could also be blocked.
"If some legal foreign websites could not be accessed because they haven't registered with MIIT, it would be a pity for the Internet which is meant to connect the whole world," the Beijing News said on Tuesday.
Chinese Internet controls currently follow a blacklist strategy, whereby censors block sensitive sites as soon as they discover them. Earlier this summer, MIIT tried to require that all new Chinese computers be shipped with the Green Dam filter software, but partially backed off after an international outcry.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2357428,00.asp#

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) Approves Non-Latin Domain Name Characters

The Internet's governing body has approved a new domain name process that will allow for non-Latin characters.
The Fast Track Process will launch on November 16, and will allow countries and territories to apply for domain names in their native language with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). If ICANN approves the application, those countries will then be able to start approving registrations.
"The coming introduction of non-Latin characters represents the biggest technical change to the Internet since it was created four decades ago," ICANN chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said in a statement. "Right now Internet address endings are limited to Latin characters - A to Z. But the Fast Track Process is the first step in bringing the 100,000 characters of the languages of the world online for domain names."
Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's President and CEO, speculated that the move could bring billions of more people online - people who have never used Roman characters in their daily lives, he said.
The effort has been in the works for years, ICANN said, but organizers had to get around technical issues, policy development, and global cooperation.
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2355068,00.asp

Ky. Appeals Court Overturns Domain Name Decision

By Chloe Albanesius (01.21.09)

A Kentucky appeals court on Tuesday struck down a September decision that allowed the state to seize 141 domain names it believed were being used for illegal e-gambling. State officials filed a civil complaint with Franklin Circuit Court last year, complaining that the domain names were being used for "unregulated, unlicensed illegal Internet gambling … in blatant disregard for, and in violation of, Kentucky law."
The court agreed with the state and allowed it to seize the domain names. The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) and the Interactive Gaming Council appealed the decision and were handed a victory this week. Kentucky law defines a gambling device as a "machine … manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling."
"It stretches credulity to conclude that a series of numbers, or Internet address, can be said to constitute a 'machine or any mechanical device … designed and manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling,'" Judge Michelle M. Keller wrote in her majority opinion "We are thus convinced that the trial court clearly erred in concluding that the domain names can be construed to be gambling devices subject to forfeiture."
Lawyers for iMEGA argued that domain names are nothing more than billboards for Web sites and not mechanisms for gambling, and that state authorities were trying to make a civil case into a criminal one.
"The judges clearly agreed with our interpretation of the law, and thankfully, this reverses what would have been a terrible precedent for our country and the Internet," Joe Brennan Jr., chairman of iMEGA, said in a statement.
Judge Jeff S. Taylor concurred with Judge Keller, but Judge Michael Caperton dissented.
"Little doubt can be cast upon the fact that a computer is built by a human being; thus, a computer is a device," Caperton wrote in his dissent. "Just as a wire placed into a computer becomes part of the computer, so do the Internet domain names that link remote computers for purposes of gambling become part of the gambling device." Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2339321,00.asp

Web Defacements by Domains, Q1(1st Quarter) 2009 in Malaysia

The following graph shows the breakdown of domains defaced in Q1 2009. Out of the 303 websites defaced in Q1 2009, 60% of them are those with a com and com.my extensions. Defacers generally target web applications that are prone to SQL injection or sites that are not secured properly.

Web Defacements by Domains Q1 2009

Malware Tracking

Malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, most root kits, spyware, dishonest adware, crime ware and other malicious and unwanted software.

Malware is not the same as defective software, that is, software which has a legitimate purpose but contains harmful bugs.

Top 10 Source of Malware