Entries tagged with “Denmark” from Domains / Internet Technology News - DNS News

You'll have to excuse me for the Shakespeare quote, but something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

While talking to some of the people involved with the Danish domain industry it becomes evident that there is something something seriously wrong with how .dk handles disputes.

A recent case revolved around the domain orango.dk

The domain had been registered for nearly 10 years (since 2000)

The registrant was using the domain in good faith since they registered the domain name, but now found themselves subject to a dispute.

The dispute involves a 3rd party that have requested a trademark for "orango", but only did so this year.

Somehow, and this is the bit that makes absolutely no sense to me, the arbitration court found in favour of the complainant!

If that isn't a reverse hijack then I'd love to know what it is!

Maybe Danish registrants would be better off using other TLDs?

You can download the original text of the decision here (it's in Danish)

Thanks to the guys in Larsen Data for providing various translations of it. (Peter has posted about it also - again in Danish)

All registry operators have maintenance windows. In some cases they last a few minutes, while in others they can last a few hours.

But DK Hostmaster has to "take the biscuit".

They're shutting down all operations for a full 24 hours! While existing domains will continue to function as normal, the registry will be closed for all other operations for a full 24 hours.

Is this some new record?

Here's the email they sent out to nameserver managers:

"In connection with an upgrade of the DK Hostmaster systems, a number of
services, including the redelegation option, will shut down for 24 hours.
For further details, see below.

On 30 August 2009, users of the DK Hostmaster website will benefit from an
improved self-service facility. Our website will have a new, user-friendly
design to match the upgraded self-service facility. At the same time, we
will be implementing a new ERP system with new functionality and a new
invoice layout. These initiatives will enable us to introduce new system
functionality to meet user requirements in the future.

Due to the upgrade, it will not be possible to use our systems from
Saturday, 29 August 2009 at 6 am to Sunday, 30 August 2009 at 6 am. The
facilities affected include:

.    Self-service
.    Payments
.    Waiting list
.    Redelegation of .dk domain names

It will still be possible to apply for new .dk domain names. The
applications will be received, time-stamped and given a track number as
usual, but no domain names will be created during this period. The name
service will not be affected, but changes to the DK zone will NOT be
processed."

For a country as advanced as Denmark to have a registry operator like this is truly amazing.
Unfortunately Afilias' bid to takeover the management of the DK registry failed, leaving the incumbent in place.

It's official.

DotDK is to come under new management from early 2009.

The DotDK Society have released a full press release detailing some of the reasons why their new management will be a marked improvement for stakeholders.

Afilias has been chosen to handle the registry backend, so the full deployment of EPP is to be expected.

More information is available on the DotDK site

Both Stephane and Francesco have posted on the subject as well.

There must be something in the air. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but there are a lot of things going on in the ccTLD world at the moment.

In the UK Nominet's AGM is being held this week. This would normally provoke a yawn from most people - it's an AGM - how exciting can that be? This year's AGM looks like it could be quite entertaining, although it probably isn't going to be particularly beneficial for its membership.

Over the last few weeks the private members' mailing list has been a veritable battleground. While some "healthy" discussion prior to an AGM and the election of various people might be expected, the activity over the past few weeks has gone from the sublime to the absolutely insane.

It seems to have all started shortly after the PAB election results were announced, though anyone trying to follow the tit for tat bickering may be excused for not being able to provide a concise timeline.

The board election debacle came to a head a few days ago when Nominet issued a warning to its members about their voting in the AGM. This of course led to even more debate and back and forth, which has probably confused quite a few people. There is, of course, a discussion (or two) on Acorn Domains.
A lot of the "action" seems to centre around "resolution 6", which members are meant to vote on at the AGM. The more vocal members seem to have split into two camps. You can read the opposing views here and here.

At the same time as some of Nominet's members are involved in a catfight the new gTLDs, which ICANN are supposedly introducing, came into the public eye again, with a new dotEng campaign being launched. I already mentioned the Scottish campaign for a .sco.

In Ireland the IEDR, which is the body responsible for the IE ccTLD, was subject to an external audit before Christmas. While the Irish Communications regulator (Comreg) had made promises of delivering a report to both stakeholders and the public nothing has been forthcoming to date. In the same period the Irish ccTLD topped the 100k name mark.

Over in France AFNIC is coming under fire, as the French communications regulator has opened up a consultation on who should be managing the French ccTLD and related entities that cater for the DOMTOM. It's an odd move on the French government's part, as AFNIC has always had state representation. Could we see .fr being run by a non-French company?
AFNIC are being quite gracious about the whole affair and issued a statement welcoming the process earlier this week, but who is to know what is going on behind closed doors...

And if that wasn't enough Denmark's ccTLD, .dk, is also coming under scrutiny. The dotDK group is tendering to run the registry, as they feel that the current system is far from ideal. Having dealt with DK Hostmaster's rather convoluted domain activation system I can't really argue with them!
What makes the dotDK project interesting for ICANN watchers is that Tina Dam, who has been working for ICANN for the last few years, is one of the main people involved. Francesco's article covers some of this in more detail.

And you thought ICANN was exciting?