Identity Digital’s recent acquisition spree has continued, with the company recently taking over as registry operator for a sponsored gTLD that made its debut in 2001. The registry’s affiliate, Jolly Host, has taken over .aero from aerospace trade group SITA, the Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautique, according to ICANN records. .aero was one of the…

Some are saying it could be one of the most expensive domain sales ever. The killer name ask.com is currently for sale, after InterActiveCorp closed down Ask Jeeves, the once-pioneering search engine, at the start of May. According to broker Andrew Miller of ATM Holdings, he’s partnered with fellow broker Larry Fischer to market the…

ICANN has offered an olive branch to a new gTLD applicant that refuses to accept defeat well over a decade after it was rejected. The Org has offered one last chance for Indian applicant Nameshop to get some of its money back for an application that fell at the first hurdle back in the 2012…

Law enforcement agencies will be able to get access to private Whois records in under 24 hours under ICANN policy introduced yesterday, but the powers are toothless for now. ICANN has updated its Registration Data Policy to add a section handling “urgent requests” for Whois data, normally redacted in the public RDAP databases due to…

Identity Digital has taken over another 2012-round new gTLD that never launched. The ICANN contract for .safety recently changed hands, with original registry Safety Registry Services handing over the keys to Jolly Host, the same Identity Digital affiliate that has now picked up five gTLDs this year. The seller is a subsidiary of W W…

If you needed more evidence of how innovation-resistant the domain name industry can be, Verisign is killing off two non-standard services that have been running for a quarter-century. The registry plans to discontinue sales of third-level domains in the .name gTLD, along with an email forwarding service that offered punters personalized email addresses. .name is…

ICANN has initiated public compliances proceedings against four unrelated registrars that haven’t paid their fees in a year or more. US-based Domus, Finland-based Globis, Hong Kong-based Overcasts, and Wanyuhulian Technology from China have all been given until May 27 to cough up or have their accreditation agreements terminated. None of the registrars currently have any…