Month: June 2021

ICANN 71 opts to open up to everybody

Posted on by Ana Tapia

The move by the international body to open up to the world makes it possible to follow the ICANN 71 Virtual Policy Forum online from 14 to 17 June. The forum will be looking at progress with policies to combat DNS abuse, mechanisms for protecting intellectual property and the calendar for the next round of applications for new top-level domains (TLD). Other topics under discussion are the new governmental laws on web domains and the safety and treatment of data, domain registration data and the impact on people and companies.

The forum also includes a meeting by the geographical top-level domain (GEOTLD) group on Tuesday 15 June. The session will assess the impact of .barcelona policies and the rest of the geographical domains. As a member of this group, Punt Barcelona will be taking part along with representatives from other world cities and extending a welcome to the domain .madrid. The sessions in the forum can be followed live and registration is free.

ICANN is a non-profit corporation set up in 1998 to work for and guarantee global stability for the internet, helping to coordinate domains on a world level.

Familiar with your rights and obligations when it comes to registering a web domain?

Posted on by Comunicació

When we register a domain, we are signing a contract with a registration company. Contracts often make for heavy reading and on many occasions, we accept them without being fully aware of what we are giving our consent to. These agreements are based on ICANN terms and conditions, but the law and regulations in the country where we are registering the domain are also important.

First and foremost, as the holder of a licence for a domain name we have the exclusive right to use that name for the period of time established. These periods normally range from one to ten years. The longer we register the domain for, the lower the annual price.

Apart from this, when we register a domain, we have some obligations. The first is to provide our data correctly and reliably, without any negative effects for third parties. This includes our full name, postal address and email. This information must be updated when the registration company asks us.

At the same time, we have a very important obligation to registration companies, which must keep our data safe so that it cannot be used fraudulently. However, whenever the authorities request data, they must provide them.

A domain registration works very much like any other contract. There are agreements between the registration company and the domain purchaser, but above this is the current legislation in each territory where the domain is contracted. Because of this it is important to know where our registration is located, and which laws govern the domain contract. For instance, if we have a domain name dispute, it will be the courts in the country of registration who will decide.