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Last Update:
17.12.2001
The Year in Review
| Index: |
 Intro |
| p 1 E-Mail |
| p 2 In Court and in Congress |
| p 3 Internet Companies |
| p 4 The Press |
| p 5 Strange Online |
| p 6 Random Stats |
| p 7 Domain Names |
| p 8 The Best Of |
| p 9 The SMS Awards |
| p 10 September 11 |
| What's New |
| TechNews |
| WorldNews |
| AskExperts |
| SiteSeeing |
| TravelLinx |
| Telephony |
| ScheduLinx |
| e-Commerce |
| e-Trading |
| Wise & Wired |
| Daily Quiz |
[ Inside/Out ]
Domain Names A selection of this year's news facts and figures
The Highs:
« .biz » and « .info » ; In May of this year, ICANN finalized the accreditation agreements with the new .biz and .info top-level domain (TLD) registries, marking the first introduction of new global top-level domains since the mid 1980s when the current domain name system became operational. (ICANN announcement )The official registries appointed by ICANN and started accepting applications were:— Neulevel runs the « .biz » Registry
— Affilias runs the « .info » Registry
— MuseDoma runs the « .museum » Registry
— Global Name Registry runs the « .name » Registry
« .com », « .net », « .org » : ICANN granted Verisign the registry rights to « .com » until 2007, « .net » until 2006 and « .org » until the end of 2002. Alternative Domains : New.net opened in March, allowing for the registration of alterative domains such as .shop, .mp3, .inc, .kids, .sport, .family, .chat, .video, .club, .hola, .soc, .med, .law, .travel, .game, .free, .ltd, .gmbh, .tech, and .xxx. The Lows:
Following the September 11 attacks, many domains were registred in doubtful taste:Related to the attacks:
— 2001wtcbombing.com
— attackonthewtc.com
— 2001wtcbombing.com
— attackonthewtc.com
— crashatwtc.com
— Worldtradecenterattack.com
— Tradecenterattack.com
— Americaunderattack.com
Related to Bin Laden:
— americahuntsbinladen.com
— babykillerbinladen.com
— osamabinladenmustdie.com
— osamabinladensucks.com
— abulletforbinladen.com
Related to the flights:
— flight11.com
— flight11crash.com
— flight11memorial.com
Related to the terrorist highjackers:
— alshehhi.com
— mohamedatta.com
Stats' 2001 In the first 3 months following the opening of the registration for «.info», 500'000 «.info» names were registered. It took «.com» five years to reach that same figure.70 different countries registered domains in « .info » with 50 percent coming from Europe and 40 percent from North America.In the first weeks following the opening of the « .biz » registry, 200'000 « .biz » names were registered.About 650,000«.info» addresses have been registered, 52,000 of them during the preregistration phase. So far, more than 760 challenges have been filed, 700 of which have been dealt with by WIPO. (NY Times — December 6)Cybersquatting:
The following celebrities and or companies got their domains back from cybersquatters this year:— Nicole Kidman
— Céline Dion
— Rolex
— Nasdaq
— South Africa
The following celebrities did not get their names back this year:— Kevin Spacey
— Bruce Springsteen
Best of Chris Hiers
Editorial Cartoons
"Go, Gone"
