Domains & DNS: August 2005 Archives

The recent freeze of the XXX TLD launch has sparked some lively debate in certain circles.

There are a number of technologies currently being developed to help combat spam, phishing fraud and other email related abuse. One which has received a considerable amount of attention in recent months is SPF. Another, which may not have attracted quite as much attention, is Yahoo's domain keys. In both instances the technology is designed to help verify who is authorised to send mail from a particular server, hostname or IP address. The problem, if you aren't a diehard geek, is actually identifying potential fraud in your email client. Server-side (at the MTA level) implementation comes in a number of forms, but at the client level (desktop) the number of email clients that actually check for valid SPF records (or domain keys) is thin on the ground. For Thunderbird you can install Joshua Tauberer's handy little extension which checks both SPF and Yahoo Domain Keys I'd love to hear of other email clients that support these kind of checks.

Earlier this summer ICANN supposedly approved the .XXX TLD. I say "supposedly", as they are now back peddling quickly. You may recall some press coverage recently about ICANN and the US government, or more specifically the US government's influence over the internet. Of course we all know that the 'net started out as a military network, but that was then. This is now. It transpires that the US government, which is currently headed up by a right-wing conservative religious freak (Bush) is unhappy with the idea of a TLD for adult content. Considering the stranglehold the US government can potentially bring to bear on the internet, this is a disturbing development. Earlier this summer the US government decided that they would not hand over governance to ICANN now it looks like they have put paid to the launch of the .xxx TLD. But on what grounds? Do they honestly think that by blocking the TLD that they will stop pornography? If they do then they are even more naive and stupid than I thought previously. Whether you approve of pornography or not is irrelevant. It has been part of global culture for thousands of years. It is not going to simply vanish because a prudish US government (or president) would like it to. Well ICANN is claiming that they need more time for consultation which is amusing. It's not as if the .XXX TLD emerged out of the blue. Like every other new TLD the process has been long and arduous.

The issue of data retention in Europe has been raising its ugly head with increasing frequency over the last 12 months.

Eurid's clarification on resellers came as a shock to many in the industry, but nobody seems overly concerned.

Iraq's new government has been authorised to manage its TLD by ICANN

Anybody who reads this blog knows that I'm ever so slightly opposed to spam, spammers and their ilk. Talking to Irish SMEs on a regular basis you realise fairly quickly that email is more than just a business tool.

Quantifying the size of the hosting business, be it on a national, European or international scale, is something that fascinates people in the business and its observers.

According to a bulletin from Directi: "Heavy rains and flooding in Mumbai, India has damaged the .IN Registry's Name Servers. This has hampered DNS propagation, with the result that your Customers' .IN domain names might not resolve to their websites for the time being."