Why Are Banner Ads Showing Up On Popular Websites Like Apple.com & Bing.com?

According to a recent Ars Technica article, two CMA Communications customers have reported banner ads being injected directly into webpages on popular websites, and they are blaming the ISP. Earlier this year, Robert Silvie and Zachary Henkel noticed banner ads running along the bottom of pages belonging to companies like Apple, Walmart, Target, Bing and eBay. Both Silvie and Henkel were using Internet service provider CMA Communications when they spotted the suspicious banner ads. Knowing that Bing didn't run commodity banner ads at the bottom of its home page, Silvie first thought it w [...]


Pinterest Takes On Two Domain Fights: Pinterest.info & Amazon’s .pin Request

Domain Name Wire is reporting that Pinterest has gotten involved in two separate domain-related fights: one over an existing domain registration and another over Amazon's plans to create a new generic top-level domain (gTLD). Firstly, Pinterest has formally objected to Amazon's request to own a new .pin domain. That's one of 75 new domains that Amazon applied for in ICANN's ongoing expansion of the top-level domain space. Barnes & Noble and a couple authors' groups have also objected to some of Amazon's other domain applications. Secondly, Domain Name Wire also reports that Pinterest [...]


FairSearch Objects To Google’s “Top-Domain Name Land Grab”

FairSearch is taking its anti-Google battle to the domain space. The organization -- which is backed by the likes of Microsoft, TripAdvisor, Nokia and other Google competitors -- announced today that it has filed objections with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) over Google's application to own three new generic top-level domains (gTLDs): .search .fly .map Those are three of the more than 100 new gTLDs that Google has applied for as part of ICANN's expansion of the domain space. Here's the crux of FairSearch's objection: FairSearch recently filed [...]


Foes Line Up Against Amazon’s Domain Desires [Report]

Two publishing industry groups and rival bookseller Barnes & Noble have filed objections over Amazon.com's request to own several new, generic, top-level domains (gTLDs), according to a Wall Street Journal report. The paper says the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and Barnes & Noble have all told the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that Amazon shouldn't be allowed to own domain spaces like .book, .read and .author. "Placing such generic domains in private hands is plainly anticompetitive," wrote Scott Turow, Authors Guild president, [...]


ICANN Aims To Help Brands With Domain Trademark Clearinghouse

ICANN, the agency that oversees the domain name system, is planning to launch what it calls a Trademark Clearinghouse next month to help companies and individuals protect their rights as new top-level domains roll out later this year. According to ICANN's announcement, the clearinghouse will open on March 26th at trademark-clearinghouse.com. Rights owners will be able to submit their trademark information into a central database for verification and, once verified, they'll have two primary benefits: "Sunrise Registration" will give verified rights owners the chance to register their [...]


U.S., Euro Governments Seize 132 Domain Names Selling Counterfeit Goods

For the third consecutive year, websites selling counterfeit products online have been seized on Cyber Monday, the day generally thought to be the busiest online shopping day of the year. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that 132 domain names have been seized this year in two campaigns known as "Project Cyber Monday 3" and "Project Transatlantic." The latter project refers to the fact that law enforcement agencies in several European countries also took part. The US-based effort nabbed 101 domains, while the European project claimed another 31. The ICE s [...]


GoDaddy DNS Hack That Took Down Millions Of Sites Allegedly Came From Member Of Anonymous

Yesterday the world's largest domain provider, GoDaddy, experienced massive DNS outages that took down millions of sites worldwide for several hours. While GoDaddy didn't disclose the source of the issue, one member of 'Anonymous" took claim to the outages as his own doing. The Twitter account AnonymousOwn3r has confessed to the alleged attack saying: Hello everyone who wanna me to put 99% of the global Internet in #tangodown?— Anonymous Own3r (@AnonymousOwn3r) September 10, 2012 GoDaddy stated on their website that intermittent outages have occurred and that at no time was [...]


Dot.Bubble: ICANN Reveals New Top-level Internet Domain Applications

Today, ICANN "revealed" the contenders for its new class of "generic top level domains"( gTLDs)—the purported salvation for everyone unable to buy, beg or steal a coveted "dot-com" domain, and also hawked as a brilliant new way for brand marketers to further "own" the mental shelf-space of customers. What are they? In a nutshell, the new gTLDs are a way for potentially anyone to create a "dot-anything" internet domain. Dot-company, dot-brand, dot-country, dot-religion... literally, dot-anything. We wrote extensively about what marketers need to know about the new generic top-level domains [...]


One Company Is Responsible For 300+ New Top-Level Domain Applications

One week from today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Named and Numbers (ICANN) is due to announce a list of more than 1,900 newly proposed generic top-level domains (TLDs) -- potential additions to the current and common TLDs such as .com, .net and .org. One company has applied for more than 300 of those new TLDs. That company is Donuts Inc., which announced this week (news release PDF) that it has submitted 307 applications for new domain name extensions. Who? Donuts Inc, is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington (just outside of Seattle) and was founded by a group with exten [...]


Google Applies For .google, .docs, .youtube & Reportedly More Than 50 New Domain TLDs

If Google is successful, web users will someday be able to visit pages on new domains that end with .google, .youtube, .docs and even .lol. The company has confirmed its participation in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) application process for new generic top-level domains (TLDs), which ended last night. Shortly before the deadline, ICANN announced that it had received more than 1,900 applications. Today, Google announced that it applied for new TLDs in four separate categories: trademarks like .google; core business names like .docs; names that will impr [...]


ICANN’s Domain Name “Reveal Day” Is June 13

The world should get its first look at the new batch of proposed top level domain (TLD) extensions on June 13. That's the target date that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has set for what it's calling "Reveal Day." ICANN shared its planned timeline yesterday -- a timeline that includes a formal objection period and two months for comments on the TLD proposals. Those are both due to begin as soon as the applied-for domain names are announced. Early this year, ICANN began accepting applications for new generic TLDs at the hefty price of $185,000 per appl [...]


Apple Wins iPhone5.com Domain Name

Apple Inc. has taken ownership of the iphone5.com domain name thanks to a quick decision by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Apple filed its complaint over the domain name earlier this month, and WIPO's case details page now indicates that the domain has been "terminated." The domain, which was previously used as a forum for iPhone-related discussion, now points to an empty page. The domain owner is currently listed as Corporation Service Company, which The Next Web speculates is a company that Apple used to help acquire the domain. Apple is expected to launch a ne [...]


Google Wins 750+ Domains From Cybersquatter Who Wants ‘Google’ Trademark Canceled

The National Arbitration Forum (NAF) has given Google ownership of more than 750 domains that used its trademark name, often in conjunction with other well-known trademarks and/or celebrity names. In one of its legal filings, Google called it "one of the most aggressive campaigns of domain name infringement that [Google] has encountered." The domains were registered by Chris Gillespie between February 29 and March 10, 2012. They include domains like googlechevron.com, googlecoors.com, googledonaldtrump.com and googlegaycruises.com. For a time, according to Google's complaint, Gillesp [...]


ICANN Eyes May 22 To Re-Open TLD Application Process

Having suffered through technical problems, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) now says it's planning to re-open the top-level domain (TLD) application system on May 22 and leave it open for five business days. That would make May 30 the last day for interested parties to apply for their own "dot anything" domain suffix. The application process is spendy: Each domain requested comes with a $185,000 price tag. Google has already confirmed that it plans to apply for its trademarked names and other new names. CNET reported yesterday that domain registrars like [...]


Paypal No Longer The World’s Top Phishing Target

Although phishing attacks were down worldwide in the second half of 2011, they were up significantly inside China and, as a result, a Chinese domain name replaced Paypal.com as the most commonly phished domain name. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) recently published its 2011 Global Phishing Survey (PDF download), which says that phishing attacks "exploded" in China last year. In the process, the Chinese e-commerce site Taobao.com became the world's most frequent phishing target in the second half of the year -- a "title" that Paypal had held for several years. From the report: In [...]


ICANN Extends Domain Application Deadline After Technical Issue

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has extended its deadline for applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) after discovering a "technical issue" with its software. The deadline, which was originally set for tonight, has been extended until next Friday, April 20th. In its announcement, ICANN explained the deadline delay: ICANN constantly monitors the performance of the TLD Application System (TAS). Recently, we received a report of unusual behavior with the operation of the TAS system. We then identified a technical issue with the TAS system softw [...]


What You Need To Know About The New Top Level Domains

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has begun accepting applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), allowing businesses, groups and even governments to request their own private "dot anything" website addresses. There are currently only 20 gTLDs, plus a couple-hundred two-letter country extensions over which ICANN has little control. The addition of the new gTLDs will mark the most significant change to the internet's addressing system since ".com" was first implemented in January 1985. Many brands have taken the prudent step of registering their n [...]


Google Wins Five YouTube Typo-Squatted Domains

Google has won a handful of domains with minor spelling differences from YouTube's domain: youtbe.com, youtub.com, youtue.com, youube.com and yutube.com. As Fusible.com reports, the five domains redirected users to visitorsurvey.com, a site that used YouTube's legal marks while collecting personal information in exchange for "offers" such as gift cards from Best Buy and/or Visa. All five domains were owned by one individual and were registered in 2005. In his decision for the National Arbitration Forum, Judge Harold Kalina ruled Thursday that the five domains met the three requirements t [...]


Typosquatters Target Apple, Google & Facebook More Than Twitter, Microsoft

Apple, Google and Facebook are preferred targets of domain typosquatters more so than competitors like Twitter and Microsoft. That's according to a new study from internet security company Sophos, which also found that there's not as much danger in typosquatted domains as you might think -- just a lot of URLs using Google to make a dime. Typosquatting involves registering domain names that are close in spelling to established company names/domains. Typosquatters get traffic when someone mistypes a domain in their browser's address bar -- think abpple.com instead of apple.com -- and it can b [...]


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