author: Kathy

What would you do if you received the following email?

Dear user,
We received a third party complaint of invalid domain contact information in the Whois database for this domain…We sent a notice to you at the admin/tech contact email address and the account email address informing you of invalid data in breach of the domain registration agreement and advising you to update the information or risk cancellation of the domain. The contact information was not updated within the specified period of time and we canceled the domain. The domain has subsequently been purchased by another party. You will need to contact them for any further inquiries regarding the domain. PLEASE VERIFY YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION - http://www.enom.com.com92.biz

Recently, domain owners who have registered their domain names through Enom and Network Solutions were targeted in a phishing scam. Emails were sent to domain owners, asking them to login to renew or update their domain registration. The emails contain a link to a login page that is designed to look like that of Enom.com and NetworkSolutions.com. Unaware of the ill-intentions o the fraudster, many customers have fallen for the scam.

By the way, the above message is one of the phishing emails sent. You can read more about these phishing emails here:

• Enom Phishing Scam
• Network Solutions Phishing Scam

So, what can you do to protect yourself from these phishing scams?

1. Keep Information to Yourself

Fraudsters often mine the domain registry WHOIS database for your domain registration information, including your domain expiry date and contact information. This is how they know when to send you fraudulent domain renewal “reminders”. While you cannot hide your domain expiry date on your Whois records, you do have the option to hide you contact information – Private Domain Registration.

With Doteasy Private Domain Registration service, your contact information will be masked with our information. Doteasy Private Domain Registration is currently offered as a bundled package with the Domain Locking service (a invaluable services that protects your domain from unauthorized transfers or thefts). You can order this Domain Protection Package in your Member Zone.

2. Know Your Registrar

We have already received several inquiries from Doteasy domain owners. It appears that the fraudsters are not just targeting Enom or Network Solutions customers. If your domain is registered with Doteasy and you have received a Enom-titled warning email, that should set off alarm bells.

You can easily find out who your domain registrar is by using the Whois tool in your Member Zone.

3. Start Typing

The scam emails contain a link to a login page that is designed to look like that of another legitimate company (ie. Enom.com and NetworkSolutions.com). The safest way to login to your domain account to renew or edit your registration is by typing in the address directly in your web browser.

4. Notify Us

If you believe you have been a target or a victim of a phishing scam, contact us immediately so that we can further assist you.

author: Jennifer

In a move that got everyone in the industry buzzing, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) had finalized its decision to relax rules on permitting the introduction of new Internet domain names. What is even more earth shattering is that, for the first time ever, they are allowing registration for addresses that are entirely in a non-English language! This comes at the heel of increasing demand for new domain names as prime online real estate is hard to come by these days. Moreover, with Internet usage expanding into all parts of the world that don't speak English, this is indeed a very logical development.

We are obviously ecstatic to receive this piece of news as we understand the frustration of discovering your perfect domain name has been taken by another website. Soon, we can provide you with more choices and freedom! In the near future (possibly next year), we will start to see top-level domain names like .nyc or .bank or .fashion popping up around the Internet. These new endings can make your website much more memorable to your visitors and become a great catchy promotional tool. It also creates a whole new creative outlet for you to express yourself

With ICANN's new guidelines, it would make it easier for companies and groups to propose new domain suffixes, instead of following the previous process, where bids can take years to be approved.  Having said that, it is not without limitations. Anyone can object an approval on the grounds of racial discrimination, trademark conflicts, or other terms with an offensive connotation. Moreover, to recover the $20 million expense it incurred for this undertaking, ICANN would need to charge approximately US $100,000 for each name. Definitely not pocket change for the majority of us.

Even though the benefits associated with this new process are very appealing, there are still a lot of wrinkles to be ironed out in this new change to the online landscape.  This includes how politically taboo terms will be judged and the issue of censorship. And on a more humourous note, ICANN may also run into the problem of “word warp”. This is when a word is spelled exactly the same in one language, but has a completely different meaning in each language. For example, .pet would make a great  address for a pet store ecommerce site in English. However, translated into French and you got yourself a domain name meaning “fart”. So, if you do decide to submit a new domain name in the future, please make sure you have done your research on the word and its possible meaning.

Like we have mentioned above (aside from the possible embarrassing moments), while this is a great opportunity for those of you who are in need of a innovative domain name, there's still some way to go before this procedure will be smoothly running. But in the meantime, you can still register a new domain address with Doteasy for the affordable price of $25.00/yr!

author: Kathy

We all know that choosing the right domain name is as important as naming your company and products. Most people will agree that a .com is best. But chances are, the .com is already taken. While .net and .biz are popular alternatives, country-code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) are an excellent choice if you need to market your business to a certain geographic region, for example .ca* for Canada and .co.uk* for the UK.

You can even use a ccTLD for other purposes outside their home countries because of their names. For example, .la is the ccTLD for Laos but many businesses and organizations are now using it to create their own Los Angeles identity. More information on a .LA domain name - http://www.la/

Other similar ccTLDs:

• .ad - country: Andorra; other uses: advertising agencies
• .am - country: Armenia; other uses: AM radio stations
• .dj - country: Djibouti; other uses: disc jockeys
• .fm - country: Federated States of Micronesia; other uses: FM radio stations
• .im - country: Isle of Man; other uses: instant messaging programs and services
• .in - country: India; other uses: internet industry
• .it - country: Italy; other uses: domain hacks (ie. see.it)
• .md - country: Moldova; other uses: medical industry
• .mu - country: Mauritius; other uses: music industry
• .tv* - country: Tuvalu; other uses: tv/entertainment industry
• .ws - country: Samoa; other uses: website
• .us* - country: USA; other uses: groups, organizations, couples, etc.

* Doteasy offers domain registration services for these ccTLDs.

Registering a ccTLD doesn’t mean you need to host the domain and website with a service provider in that home country. As long as you have access to your domain records to make DNS changes, you can host your ccTLD with Doteasy!

So, don’t rule out ccTLDs if you are need alternatives for “thisistheonlynameleft.com”.

For more information on ccTLDs: http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/

author: Kathy

One of the inquiries we often get is how to renew an expired domain. It all depends on how “expired” the domain is.

When you do a Domain Whois lookup, you will see:

   Domain Name: DOTEASYDEMO.COM
   Registrar: IN2NET NETWORK, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.in2net.com
   Referral URL: http://www.in2net.com
   Name Server: DNS3.DOTEASY.COM
   Name Server: DNS4.DOTEASY.COM
   Status: ACTIVE
   Updated Date: 13-mar-2008
   Creation Date: 13-mar-2008
   Expiration Date: 13-mar-2009

>>> Last update of Whois database: Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:18:35 UTC <<<

The Status: will tell you how “expired” the domain is.

Status: ACTIVE

An active status signifies that the domain is not expired, on hold, in redemption or pending deletion.

To renew your domain: Use the “Renew Domain” function in your Member Zone.

Status: REGISTRAR-HOLD

This signifies that the domain has expired. Very often you will see that the Expiration Date: has been pushed forward a year. It is not an accurate indicator that the domain has expired. The extension is to make possible a 40-day grace period. After expiration, the domain will lapse into a grace period of about 40 days. During this grace period, the owner can renew the domain for the same cost as a regular domain renewal, although it may take 48-72 hours for the domain to become active again.

To renew your domain: The “Renew Domain” function in your Member Zone will allow you to renew a domain that is within 30-days of expiry. After that, you will need to send your renewal request to us using our Contact Us form.

Status: REDEMPTION-PERIOD

After the 40-day grace period has lapsed, the domain will enter the Redemption Period, which can last up to 30 days. The domain name at this stage will now cost more to renew due to the manual addition to the registry. It can take several days for the domain to become active again once the fees are paid.

To renew your domain: You will need to contact us using our Contact Us form. Renewal cost will be the regular domain renewal rate + a US$100 Domain Redemption fee.

Status: PENDING-DELETE

The final step in the domain lifecycle is deletion, which occurs 5 days after the Redemption Period ends. The domain will be removed from the registry entirely and then become publicly available for registration.

If your domain is currently in the Pending Delete status, we will need to wait until the domain has been publicly released before proceeding with a re-registration. Please note that publicly available means that the domain will be back to a first come, first serve and successful re-registration is not guaranteed.

A reminder: To busy to remember your domain's expiry date? Try Doteasy's free domain auto-renewal service. With the auto-renewal service, we will proceed with a renewal 5-days prior to your domain's expiration date. Login to your Member Zone to enable the free domain auto-renewal service today! Note that Doteasy also sends domain renewal reminders to the contact email addresses on file 5-days prior to domain expiration.

 author: Kathy

Most of you might not know, but Dell is pursing a major "cybersquatting" lawsuit against several companies. These companies buy and sell web addresses, and are argued to be responsible for earning a great amount of money off nearly 1,100 domain names that are "confusingly similar" to Dell's trademarks.

We all know that registering a domain name containing a trademark that doesn't belong to you is a big no-no. But what about registering a domain name that is made up of slight misspellings of well-known trademarks, ie. dellsuportcenter.com and dellfinancialservices.com?

The registration of such domain names are called typosquatting, and in Dell's claim, it is effectively a counterfeit of the authentic 'trademark holder's domain name".

This case has raised a couple issues:

1. Should registrars be held responsible for typosquatting?
2. Should ICANN change its rules to prevent 'domain tasting'?

Should registrars be held responsible for typosquatting?

Does the Internet need more central regulation? Would adding an extra layer in the domain registration process resolve the problem of typosquatting? Is waiting a couple weeks for your domain name approval something we want?

Should ICANN change its rules to prevent 'domain tasting'?

Definition of Domain tasting

One cited example in Dell's lawsuit follows the registration of the domain name dellfinacncialservices.com:

• May 25, 2007: Domain registered by DomainDoorman; deleted May 30 2007
• May 30, 2007: Domain registered by BelgiumDomains; deleted June 4 2007
• June 4, 2007: Domain registered by Capitoldomains; deleted June 9 2007
• June 9, 2007: Domain registered by DomainDoorman; deleted June 14 2007
• June 14, 2007: Domain registered by BelgiumDomains... and so on, and so on.

Not only are the domain name squatters earning a profit off Dell brands and trademarks, they aren't even paying domain name registration fees for doing it.

"David Steele, an attorney representing Dell in the case, said the defendants tasted on average between 30 million and 60 million domains each month."

So, should ICANN change its policy to prevent domain tasting? Maybe put enough of a price tag on domain tasting so that it is not profitable anymore?

What are your views on these?

Side note: Doteasy does not offer 'domain tasting". Once your domain registration request is submitted through our registration form, it is understood that the name requested is genuine and you are sincere about purchasing that name. We understand that if we should allow domain tasting as other domain registrars, our domain registration numbers would be significantly higher. But unfortunately, our focus is not on the number-game.