SUNNYVALE, CA - FortiGuard Labs reports that they have discovered many .ZIP domains are responsible for phishing attacks on users by automatically downloading a malicious executable titled “file.exe” to their computers. Phishing attacks have been a thorn in the side of computer users for years due to the fact that they often are able to camouflage themselves as innocuous programs or prompts that seemingly pose no threat, but in reality can cause a great deal of … [Read more...]
SEDO Weekly Sales List Includes Three Letter .Com Domain Sold at $117,500
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – The domain name “PLP.com” sold at $117,500 this week according to the latest SEDO.com weekly domain sales report. The purchase appears to be an upgrade for Cleveland, Ohio based Preformed Line Products, which is also using the single generic dictionary word domain Preformed.com. Also notable is the three letter (LLL) .org domains “JSR.org” and “NYV.org” which sold for $9,800 and 8,800 respectively. Each week, SEDO releases a list of domain names … [Read more...]
SEDO Weekly Sales List Includes .Org Domain Sold at $36,523, .Me at $58,437
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – The domain name EditPad.org sold at $36,523 USD this week according to the latest SEDO.com weekly domain sales report. Also notable is .me domain name (country code top-level domain assigned to Montenegro), flow.me at $58,437 USD. Each week, SEDO releases a list of domain names which have been sold including highlights of .COM, ccTLDs and notable domains in ‘other’ TLD categories. It is always nice to see … [Read more...]
SEDO Weekly Sales List Includes Three Letter .Org Domain Sold at $25,000
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – The three letter domain name NMF.org sold at 25,000 USD this week according to the latest SEDO.com weekly domain sales report. Also notable is .co domain name (country code top-level domain assigned to Colombia), ROOTS.co at $14,500 USD. Each week, SEDO releases a list of domain names which have been sold including highlights of .COM, ccTLDs and notable domains in ‘other’ TLD categories. It is always nice to see short “legacy” .org domain names … [Read more...]
Lawyer Says, “Shadow Group” Setup Website Proposing Assassinations
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A website that was online only a few days published the identities, including email and home addresses of various Republican and Democratic leaders as well as related employees of people the site claimed are responsible for “aiding and abetting the fraudulent election” against President Trump. The site, which has now disappeared, listed the personal details, including maps to the homes as well as headshots of the individuals inside crosshairs with an … [Read more...]
Pressure on ICANN to Reject Controversial “.ORG” Registry Sale to For-Profit Succeeds
LOS ANGELES, CA – On Thursday, April 30, ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, based in Los Angeles, CA, made a tough decision to protect the global non-profit community, by rejecting a controversial deal announced in November 2019, that PIR, Public Interest Registry, a non-profit company which owns and manages the rights to the registry for ‘.org’ domain names, would be sold and ultimately converted to a for-profit entity owned by Ethos Capital. … [Read more...]
ICANN, PIR, Ethos Capital “Circus” Continues with Yet Another Letter from California AG
PALM BEACH, FL – The trio making a mockery of the definition of “public good” are probably hoping for another worldwide catastrophe to deflect the unwanted attention off their sour deal of transferring the .org registry from a non-profit (PIR) “Public Interest Registry” to a for-profit entity called “Ethos Capital” because the current one just isn’t enough. In a letter dated April 15, 2020, the attorney general of California, Xavier Becerra, has written yet another … [Read more...]
Wyden: “I Will Explore Every Avenue To Ensure Users, Nonprofits Are Protected”
PALM BEACH, FL - In the ongoing debacle which has highlighted ICANN's unusual position on the .org registry sale which resulted in the billion-dollar sale of .org to a private equity company, US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) told The Register that the response from Ethos Capital to his and several of his colleges concerns regarding the sale .org - just isn't good enough. ....nothing in this response addresses my concerns that selling .org to a private equity firm would be a … [Read more...]
Laundry List of Questions on .ORG Sale Delivered by Congress to Ethos, IS, PIR
PALM BEACH, FL – A letter signed off by four U.S representatives, one of which is presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, was delivered to Ethos Capital, Internet Society and Public Interest Registry posing a long list of questions regarding the future operation of the .org domain registry. Among these questions, is what guarantee will be provided that the registry will not be relocated outside of the United States, which could put the domain name, widely used for U.S. … [Read more...]
Blowback: All Eyes on ICANN Over Poor Decision to Allow Price Cap Removal
PALM BEACH, NY – Unanswered questions and lots [and lots] of suspicion swirls around ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and its own transparency – all due to its super-controversial decision to allow the Registry Agreement with Public Interest Registry to renew without price-caps in place. It’s a decision that keeps coming back to haunt them, likely until this “.org” fiasco deal finally dies. If the organization (ICANN), which is supposed be … [Read more...]
NYT: “Dot-org Symbolizes Neither Quality Nor Trust; False Association with Credibility”
PALM BEACH, NY - Wow, the New York Times has taken a firm and unique approach to the news and industry buzz surrounding the sale of the .ORG registry to private equity firm, Ethos Capital. Bash the domain in a hitpiece to level the playing-field in what it calls the domains' opportunity to be used by a host of bad actors, all whom reap the benefits of dot-org’s "false association with credibility." In an opinion piece published yesterday by Sam Wineburg and Nadav Ziv, an … [Read more...]
Profiteering? ICANN’s “Terrible Blunder” Expected to Cost Non-Profits Dearly
PALM BEACH, FL – On November 13, 2019, news began circling that Public Interest Registry (PIR), the Reston, Virginia-based not-for-profit created to manage the “.org” top-level domain name had been acquired by a private equity management firm called Ethos Capital. Since then, the ICA, Internet Commerce Association, a non-profit organization representing domain owners, delivered a letter to ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, calling on the … [Read more...]
With Price Caps Removed, Dot Org Domain Name Registry Acquired by Ethos Capital
PALM BEACH, FL – In a move that surprises few industry experts, Public Interest Registry (PIR), the Reston, Virginia-based not-for-profit created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the “.org” top-level domain name has been acquired by private equity management firm Ethos Capital. The acquisition comes shortly after ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, permitted the removal of price caps on “.org” domain name registrations on June 30, … [Read more...]
.ORG Year in Review (2018): Top 100 Highest Reported .ORG Domain Sales (NameBio)
PALM BEACH, FL – This is a follow-up from last years list; .ORG Year in Review (2017): Top 100 Highest Reported .ORG Domain Sales (NameBio) According to NameBio, as of now 4,325 total domain sales are on the books for the .org domain name. The value of these top 100 totals $1,698,630.00, about 500k higher than the year prior, however, it is later in the year and some straggling sales could appear when they are finally reported. These lists seem to change slightly if and … [Read more...]
Domain Industry Takes Note of ICANN Update to Public Comment Guidelines
PALM BEACH, FL – On October 9, 2019, ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit corporation that sets policy for the global Domain Name System (DNS), updated its “policy guidelines” for how it collects and takes into considering feedback from the ICANN community or the general public. The update was posted on the organizations website by David Olive, Senior Vice President of Policy Development Support. The ICANN site states the following … [Read more...]