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As you may know, ICANN is continuing to move forward with the introduction of its new gTLD program releasing the Draft Applicant Guidebook 4.0 in early June.  This fourth draft of the Applicant Guidebook describes the process of applying for new generic top-level domains with explanatory memoranda and a detailed analysis of comments received on the various components of this proposed program

Currently, the TLD name space consists of 21 generic TLDs (“gTLD”) and 251 country code TLDs (“ccTLD”).  Some examples of gTLDs include .com; .edu; .net; .aero; .mobi.  Some examples of ccTLDs include .us for the United States, .ca for Canada, .uk for the United Kingdom.  A subset of these ccTLDs are vanity ccTLDs, which include, .tv for the island nation of Tuvalu, .cc for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and .me for the Republic of Montenegro.  The new gTLD program will allow for any combination of greater then 3 characters to the right of the dot, such as .LAW or .NMRS.  Not surprisingly, there have been grave concerns over the security for consumers in these domain names space and for the protection of intellectual property rights.

After the Brussels meeting, which was held from June 20 through June 25, ICANN reports that compromises were developed with respect to protections of trademark rights through the further development of a Trademark Clearinghouse for the operation of a sunrise registration process and a Uniform Rapid Suspension process for challenging infringing domain name registrations.  However, it is clear from the latest Draft Applicant Guidebook that these rights protection mechanisms have not been fully vetted in their development and that certain important provisions need further clarification to be acceptable to the intellectual property owners.   

ICANN appears to be sticking with its current time line for the launch of the new gTLD program.  There will be an ICANN board retreat in September 2010, followed by a constituency meeting in December in Cartagena, Colombia in December.  If it is approved at this meeting, applications to be a .ANYTHING registry should begin in the first quarter of 2011.

According to a TV station in Arkansas, the 16-year old son of Denise New from Arkadelphia says that he intends to sue his mom because of her repeated intrusions into his FaceBook account. He claims that she hacked his FaceBook account, changed his password and made posts about him which he claims were slanderous.  The mother, in response, says that she has legal rights to be able to monitor her child and to have conversations with him even if it is through his FaceBook account.  The son’s grandmother is his legal custodian but mom says that she intends to fight for her rights to be involved in her son’s life even through FaceBook.  She said, “I’m not going to let this rest.  I think this could be a precedent-setting moment for parents.” (source: News.cnet.com)

One of the most valuable Internet domain names is being put up on the auction block by a New Jersey lender. The lender had previously financed a prior purchase of the domain name “www.sex.com” for a reported $14 million.  The lender is foreclosing on the property and has set bidding for the domain name to start at $1 million.  Often times simple domain names are seen as rare opportunities by entrepreneurs.  In 2008 the domain name “www.pizza.com” attracted bids over $2.5 million.  At one point according to the lender, the website “www.sex.com” was making at least $15,000 per day.  The loan financing the prior purchase had been in default for more than a year and the lender expects to get significant interest at the auction.  Prospective bidders are being required to provide a $1 million certified check before they will be allowed to bid. (source:  Washingtonpost.com)

A London criminal serving 35 years for conspiracy to commit murder after ordering the execution of two people is being accused of using FaceBook to threaten people whom he says he will target after his release.  The prisoner said he was allowed by prison bosses to set up his FaceBook account despite the fact that prisoners are supposed to only have access to the Internet for educational purposes and are banned from using social networking sites. The prison says it is taking steps to try and prevent this from happening again. (source:  Google.com)

Courts around the country are growing increasingly weary of jurors using electronic portable devices during trials. The use of these devices has resulted in mistrials, overturned convictions and chaotic delays in certain court proceedings.  In San Francisco last year, a Judge dismissed 600 potential jurors after several acknowledged they had just researched the case online in which they were going to potentially act as a juror.  In Baltimore, the mayor successfully challenged her misdemeanor embezzlement conviction after discovering that five jurors had “friended” each other on FaceBook while the trial was in progress.  In Florida, a Federal judge declared a mistrial after eight of the jurors admitted they had been web-surfing about the drug case before them.  Judges have begun issuing guidelines to try and prevent any further disruptions and problems during trials. (source: Google.com)

At the Brussels meeting, the ICANN board also approved the application of ICM Registry for a new top-level porn domain, XXX. ICM Chairman Stuart Lawley said that he was excited and that the approval had "been a long time coming."  ICM Registry had been trying to achieve ICANN approval for six years and had been denied once already.  One domain name industry expert commented "[t]his doesn't mean that all porn sites will leave their current cushy URLs for XXX, but it'll be an easy block for concerned parents." (source: PC World)

28-year old Albert Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in Federal prison for being the computer hacker behind one of the largest known identity fraud cases in U.S. history.  He confessed to stealing millions of credit cards and debit card numbers from major U.S. retail chains including TJ Maxx, B.J.’s Wholesale Club and Barnes & Noble.  The U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts had accused Gonzalez along with ten others from the United States, Eastern Europe and China of breaking into retail credit card payment systems.  The hackers detected retailers’ unsecured wireless networks and installed “sniffer” programs in order to capture data from the networks.  They then sold the credit numbers and used the cards to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATM’s.  In a twist to this story, Gonzalez had reportedly been paid $75,000 a year by the United State Secret Service to work as an undercover informant in online, illegal marketplaces where credit and debit card numbers were sold. (source:  News.cnet.com)

Cyber attackers from China flooded an Internet link to an Australian company recently in what is known as a “denial-of-service” attack, according to Australia’s second-largest broadband company. The target, which was an unnamed multinational financial institution, had its Internet and email links essentially shut down as a flood of messages from Chinese computers overwhelmed the server that handles Internet traffic for the company’s site. Other companies which were affected but were not the direct targets included the Australian Associated Press and Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd.  This is just one of many such DOS cyber attacks which have originated from China over the last several months. (source:  Washingtonpost.com)

Computer hackers from around the world have targeted FaceBook’s estimated 400,000,000 users in an effort to steal banking passwords and gain other sensitive information.  The hackers are sending out spam which tells the recipients that their FaceBook passwords have been reset and that they need to obtain new login credentials.  When the attachment is opened, malicious software including a program that steals passwords is unintentionally downloaded.  Anti-virus software maker McAfee estimates that hackers sent out tens of millions of spam email in just the first few days of the most recent FaceBook spam attack. (source:  Washingtonpost.com)

A Federal judge in Texas has ordered a college student to pay $27,750 for allegedly sharing 31 songs on a peer-to-peer online network.  The student claimed that she was an “innocent infringer” but the court rejected the claim and said she knew that what she was doing was illegal and therefore she has to pay for it. (source: courthousenews.com)

Three Google executives were accused recently of breaking Italian law by allowing a video to be shown in which an autistic teenager was being bullied.  The Italian court then convicted the three in abstentia of privacy violations.  Each of the three received suspended six-month sentences.  The Chief Legal Officer at Google, who was one of the three convicted, said he was outraged by the decision and intended to vigorously appeal the ruling since it set a chilling precedent for online businesses around the world. (Source:  news.bbc.co.uk)

According to a recent report, two educational institutions in China, including one with close ties to the Chinese military, are behind a series of online attacks on Google and dozens of other American corporations.  Investigators said that the attacks were aimed at stealing trade secrets and computer codes and capturing email archives to use against Chinese activists.  Investigators have included computer security experts from the National Security Agency who were finally able to break through servers in Taiwan to link the attacks to these specific Chinese schools. There has been no official response from the schools. (source:  nytimes.com)

U.S. cyclist Floyd Landis has had a national arrest warrant issued for him by a French court.  The French judge wants Landis in connection with computer hacking that occurred in 2006 at the laboratory which provided the information showing Landis tested positive in an anti-doping test.  Landis allegedly showed many of the documents he obtained by hacking the laboratories computers to people involved in the cycling world. (source:  news.cnet.com)