Today 101domain, Inc. launched a dynamic suite of domain name security services aimed at raising the bar in terms of domain security features offered by leading Domain Registrars.

For account-level domain security, 101domain has partnered with VeriSign, Inc. to offer the 101domain VIP Security Card. The VIP security card is a credit card sized credential which provides a unique second-level password required in addition to a user’s regular password to gain access to the account.

The cornerstone of the 101domain Security Suite is a security service called Portfolio Secure. Portfolio Secure freezes all critical areas of the customer’s account and domain names within the account. The freeze is placed on changes to account and WHOIS information, DNS records, security settings, transfer codes and more. In order to modify these critical areas, the user must correctly answer security questions they have previously setup. Only offline verification can reset this service.

For a limited time, the entire 101domain Security Suite, including the 101domain VIP Security Card, is available in the first year for a special price of $99.

For these and other security products, including Domain Lock, IP Access Logger, and IP Account Lock, visit http://101domain.com/domain_name_security.htm or contact an account manager today at +1 760.444.8674   to get started.

From 12 July to 12 September 2010, AFNIC is launching a major public consultation on the opening of the .fr top level domain to businesses and individuals residing within the European Union. To coincide with plans to open the .fr top level domain to Europe late 2011, the consultation will allow everyone to express their views on the changes to be made to the process for registering .fr top level domain.

Original article:  http://www.domainnews.com/en/afnic-launches-a-public-survey-on-making-.fr-available-to-european-union.html

On Wednesday it was announced  that beginning registration of  Saudi Arabia  Arabic IDN ccTLD  domain names will go through he following phases:

1^st PHASE:  May 30-June 16   Government entities

2^nd PHASE:  Sept 27- Oct 27 -   the entities and people will be allowed to register the trademarks and intellectual properties they own.

3^rd PHASE :  Nov 14   Generic names of hotels and tourism agencies

4^th PHASE:   GO LIVE  DECEMBER 11

As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) roadmap, government entities will be able to register their names in the first phase, while entities and people will be allowed to register the trademarks and intellectual properties they own in the second phase.

Generic names, of hotels and tourism agencies, can be registered in the third phase.  Public registrations will be open on a first-come-first-serve basis.  In the event that multiple applicants register for an attractive domain name, there will be an open auction to select the winner.

With the publication of  the Final Report on May 29, a number of recommendations to address domain name registration abuse in gTLDs were included for consideration by the GNSO Council. These recommendations are related to:

• Cybersquatting: recommending the initiation of a Policy Development Process to investigate the current state of the UDRP .
• WHOIS access problems: seeking ways to ensure that WHOIS data is accessible in an appropriately reliable, enforceable, and consistent fashion; and requesting that the ICANN Compliance Department publish data about WHOIS accessibility.
• Malicious use of domain names: recommending the creation of best practices to help registrars and registries address the illicit use of domain names.
• Front-running: recommending possible enforcement actions by ICANN Compliance
• Cross-TLD registration scam: recommending to monitor and co-ordinate research with the community
• Uniformity of contracts: recommending the creation of an Issues Report to evaluate whether a minimum baseline of registration abuse provisions should be created for all in-scope ICANN agreements.
• GNSO-wide practices for the collection and dissemination of best practices, and for uniformity of reporting.
• Fake renewal notices
• Domain kiting
• Deceptive and/or offensive domain names

All the following countries have passed the initial string evaluations and are ready to enter Step 3 String delegation! We will be announcing launch of the IDN extensions as they come up. ICANN has a full list of ccTLDs and the implementation plan for them.

• .CN China xn--fiqs8S , 中 xn--fiqz9S , 中
• .HK Hong Kong xn--j6w193g 香港
• .JO Jordan xn--mgbayh7gpa  الاردن
• .PS Palestinian Territory xn--ygbi2ammx  فلسطين
• .QA Qatar xn--wgbl6a قطر
• .RU Russian Federation xn--p1ai рф
• .LK Sri Lanka xn--fzc2c9e2c xn--xkc2al3hye2a  இலங்கை
• .TW Taiwan xn--kpry57d 台灣 xn--kprw13d  台湾
• .TH Thailand xn--o3cw4h ไทย
• .TN Tunisia xn--pgbs0dh تونس

According to ICANN, the following ccTLDs are the first non-Latin character top-level domains to be used due to their insertion in the DNS root zone earlier on Thursday, May 06th.

• Egypt: مصر (Egypt)
• Saudi Arabia: السعودية (AlSaudiah)
• United Arab Emirates: امارات (Emarat)

Twenty-one requests for IDN ccTLDs have been received by ICANN, representing 11 languages. Of the 21, 13 requests have passed the second stage of the evaluation (the “String Evaluation”). Now the requesting countries are preparing for the final stage of the process (TLD Delegation). With final approval having been given, look for these domains to be available for registration soon. We will continue to have up-to-date information on our website.

.РФ extension  (.RF Russian Federation) Sunrise registration period for Russian trademark holders ends September 16, 2010. Available for the owners of trademarks which verbal part contains scripts, other than Cyrillic.

Landrush auction coming soon Cyrillic characters only. * Registration with the phased reduction of prices for the protection of bona fide users of the Internet:    First Stage pricing and date to be announced.

Bookmark your source for .РФ information.

Telnic is pleased to announce that the date for the upcoming launch of .tel Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) in sixteen languages will be Tuesday, 15th June 2010 at 3pm BST Initially, Telnic will be making available IDNs in Chinese, Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

Visit our IDN Domain page to see a  full list of IDN extensions.

.CO extension  – PRE-REGISTER NOW, any phase! Lots of domains available, get your new domain now before it’s taken!

More information here.

The previously restricted domain names BIZ.TR, INFO.TR and TV.TR can now be registered on a first-come-first-served basis, without any documentation requirements!    Register here.