PALM BEACH, FL – This is a pretty interesting story all though it has come and gone just like yesterday’s old news – no one cares, no one is all that surprised, figuring it was non-sense to begin with, next story please. I suggest domain market participants not let it be forgotten and swept under the rug so soon, because it isn't at all good for the domain name industry as a whole - and clearly more should be done about it. Platforms that are used for … [Read more...]
CVS Pharmacy Files WIPO Against “CVS.inc” Domain; Reg Fees Headed Towards Earth
PALM BEACH, FL – It looks like CVS Pharmacy, Inc. isn’t too thrilled with the recent registration of the nGTLD domain name “CVS.inc” which looks to have been registered in May, 2019. The pharmacy company has filed a WIPO dispute (WIPO D2019-2615) which will likely result in a TRANSFER as the majority of their complaints follow that trend. The “CVS.inc” domain name is listed on the get.inc website under “Who's Buying” in the ”recent registrations section” for companies … [Read more...]
Trump Campaign Cyber-Squats on Biden by Snapping Up Domain Name, Social Pages
PALM BEACH, FL – Presidential hopeful Joe Biden created a new outreach ad-campaign targeting specifically Latino voters called “Todos con Biden” (Everyone with Biden) and it appears his campaign team is just about as smart as he is; they forgot it should include an Internet presence. This opened the opportunity for the Trump Campaign, which they immediately did, to register not just the domain name, but to scoop-up corresponding social media pages with it. Cybersquatting, … [Read more...]
Sources Say “Money.com” Sold for $20M; Net’s Seller Double Without Print Product
PALM BEACH, FL – The Internet domain name “Money.com” and its live website was all that was left when failed Money Magazine ceased printing its tangible physical copies last July. The entire business was for sale including its 400,000 or so monthly subscribers for $10 million by it’s owners Meredith Corp, publishers of newspapers, magazines, television stations and websites; with no buyer in sight, they ceased print and planned to focus only on its digital edition; lo and … [Read more...]
Two Year Investigation Leads to Take Down of File Hosting Site “Share-Online.biz”
PALM BEACH, FL – An investigation which began in 2017 has eventually led to the take-down and removal of a content hosting network using the domain name “Share-Online.biz”, which was particularly popular in Germany according to SimilarWeb. The site served up to 10 million visitors a month with millions of files stored across unknown number of servers which is expected to be in the hundreds Those 10 million visitors are now met with the following take-down notice: This … [Read more...]
Think Your Domains Are Safe by Using Two Factor Authentication? Think Again
PALM BEACH, FL – Sometimes I read stories that really make me think (and worry). For those who have great domains under management, you might feel super-safe by using “two factor authentications”, where your mobile device is used to verify each login you make to your registry account by sending you a text message for confirmation. I’ve often thought how horrible it might be if someone got control of my mobile device and was able to use it to verify an account change … [Read more...]
If Google Removes URLs From Search Results, Who Exactly Stands to Benefit?
PALM BEACH, FL – Last week I ran a story about Google’s obvious intent to remove URL’s from search. The story was titled “Google Determined to Remove URLs from Search Results; Replace with Breadcrumbs” and published on October 18, 2019. It was a follow up to “EVIL: Will Google Do Away with Domain Name and Extension Entirely Anyway?” There has been wide reaction from both the SEO and Domain community on the coming change and it warrants added thought and hopefully, added … [Read more...]
Numbers Reported for “.CLUB” Decline Due to Registry Quality Compliance & Cleanup
PALM BEACH, FL – The following is a correction to previously published work which included an embedded Tweet which has been called into question and said, by the registry, to be incorrect; a reader from the “.Club” registry contacted me with a correction request yesterday including some supporting explanations for certain numbers seen on nTLDStats.com and numbers from a Tweet which were embedded and published on StrategicRevenue.com on October 17, 2019. Upon reading the … [Read more...]
Wild West Domains Must Still Be on List of Registrars Which Facilitate Email Spam
PALM BEACH, FL – Way, way, way back in 2009, Brian Krebs from Krebs on Security, a popular security website came up with a list of the top ten domain registrars (highlighted in a Washington Post article) which facilitate the majority of spam via email, and Wild West Domains, owned by GoDaddy held a spot on that list. Out of roughly 900 accredited domain name registrars at the time, spammers registered Web sites advertised in junk e-mail mostly through the following top … [Read more...]
Follow the Money: IRS Takes Down Largest Child Exploit Domain by Tracing Bitcoin
PALM BEACH, FL – The largest child exploitation website on the Internet “Welcome to Video” which, according to GitHub was using a dark-web address of “mt3plrzdiyqf6jim.onion” was seized and/or shut down last week resulting in over 300 arrests. According to the Department of Justice, the service was the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content. Particularly interesting was the way the sites owners were traced as I have been contemplating my first … [Read more...]
Exact Match Domain Names Yielding “Free Ticket to Ride” Long Over on Search Giant
PALM BEACH, FL – Exact match domain names, URLs which are spelled exactly how a top search term is used in popular verbal expression still work to help boost search rankings well when it comes to Bing.com and Yahoo.com, but on Google.com, it doesn’t seem to matter unless there are powerful “brand signals” in play, such as high numbers of inbound links, frequent references to the URL whether linked or not, and other popular signals such as social media activity with matching … [Read more...]
Google Determined to Remove URLs from Search Results; Replace with Breadcrumbs
PALM BEACH, FL – It seems that Google, the world’s most popular search engine, is determined to do away entirely with URLs in its search engine, no doubt further increasing its position in, and not to mention, the value itself of “alternative URLs” by completely removing a person’s ability to subconsciously decide whether a site is trustworthy based on the URL itself. I touched on this topic back in September 2018 when I wrote “EVIL: Will Google Do Away with Domain Name … [Read more...]
Expired Auction for “AllStar.com” Cancelled; Bidding Moved Quickly Before Renewed
PALM BEACH, FL – The premium sports domain name “AllStar.com”, originally registered in 1994, recently expired and was automatically sent to GoDaddy’s auction platform where bidding reached $40,000 within two days. The auction was apparently cancelled on October 14, 2019 when its owner re-registered the name within the time period aloud by Enom.com, the registry where the name is held. Such a name would certainly have been a big score for one of the many bidders if … [Read more...]
New GTLD Meltdown: Is “.CLUB” Struggling to Hang On To 1 Million Registrations?
**** 10/22/2019 UPDATE: Numbers Reported for “.CLUB” Decline Due to Registry Quality Compliance & Cleanup **** PALM BEACH, FL – According to domain name investor, or should I dare use the recently coined moniker from the domain industry's new advocate Tamara Kurtzman Esq. “anticipatory cybersquatter”, Rick Swartz – who has been one of the most successful domain name speculators in the history of domain names, the “.CLUB” nGTLD domain extension is experiencing what he … [Read more...]
ICA Releases Names of Nominees for 2020 Industry Coveted “Lonnie Borck” Award
PALM BEACH, FL – The Internet Commerce Association, or known industry wide simply as “The ICA”, a Washington, DC based non-profit trade organization that represents the interests of domain name investors and developers, has released the list of nominees for the 2020 “Lonnie Borck Memorial Award.” The nine nominees cover a wide array of domain community members ranging from domain attorneys to industry bloggers and conference organizers. The ICA Board will select the … [Read more...]