Category: Domain names

50 years after Arpanet, the Internet’s ancestor

Arpanet - Internet’s ancestor - Nameshield Blog
Image source: geralt via Pixabay

On October 29, 1969 UCLA sends the very first e-message to Stanford Research Institute through Arpanet network (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) laying the foundation for today’s networked world.

Arpanet, the Internet’s precursor 

Arpanet is the first data transfer network developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which belonged to the U.S. Defense Department.

The first Arpanet node was set up at UCLA on August 30, 1969, the second node, at the Stanford Research Institute, was set up on October 1st 1969. The first message was sent between the two institutions on October 29 1969 by the UCLA computer science professor Leonard Kleinrock who wished to send the word “login” but the system crashed so only two letters, “l” and “o”, were transmitted, the complete word will only be transmitted 1 hour later.

Arpanet connected some universities and research institutes: first, UCLA and Stanford Research Institute, followed by UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah. At the end of 1969, Arpanet counted 4 nodes, in 1971, 23 nodes were created and 111 nodes in 1977.

In 1983, Arpanet has been divided in two networks: one military, the MILnet (Military Network) and the other academic, the NSFnet.

On January 1st 1983, the name “Internet” already in use to define all of Arpanet, became official.

World Wide Web turns 30 years old

In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher working for the CERN, proposed a hypertext system working on the Internet. This system was originally developed for scientists working in universities and institutes around the world, so they could instantly share information. His vision of universal connectivity became the World Wide Web, which sent Internet usage skyrocketing.

In 1993, Mosaic, the first popular web browser was created by Marc Andreessen and Eric J.Bina, two students of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) of the University of Illinois. It was not the first graphical web browser but Mosaic was particularly fast and allowed the users to display images inside web pages instead of displaying images in a separate window, which has given it some popularity and contributed to increase the World Wide Web’s popularity.

Internet Protocol – From IPv4 to IPv6

The Internet Protocol (IP) is a set of communication protocols of IT networks developed to be used on the Internet. IP protocols allow a unique addressing service for all connected devices.

IPv4 the first major version was invented in the 70’s and introduced to the public in 1981. It is still the dominant protocol of the Internet today. Twenty years ago, the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) started predicting the depletion of IPv4 addresses and began working to create a new version of the Internet Protocol: IPv6.

IPv4 uses a 32-bit addressing scheme to support 4.3 billion devices, while IPv6 possesses a much larger address space. Indeed, IPv6 uses a 128-bit address allowing 3.4 x 1038 possible addresses.

DNS – Domain Name System

At the request of the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Defense Department, the DNS (Domain Name System) was invented in 1983 by Jon Postel and Paul Mockapetris, in order to associate complex IP addresses with humanly understandable and easy-to-remember names. Thus a logical address, the domain name, is associated to a physical address, the IP address. The domain name and IP address are unique.

In 1998, is created ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the regulatory authority of the Internet. Its main purpose is to allocate the Internet protocol addresses spaces, to attribute the protocol identifier (IP), to manage the domain name system of top level for generic codes (gTLD), to assign the country codes (ccTLD), and to carry out the functions of the root servers’ system management.

With 351.8 million domain names registrations in the first quarter of 2019, domain names registrations continue to climb, but with the increase of the number of threats aiming the DNS at the same time.

The emergence of cyber threats

Considered as one of the first cyberattacks and certainly the first to attract the media’s attention, the Morris Worm was launched in 1988 by a student of the Cornell University, Robert Tappan Morris. Originally, the malware developed by the student didn’t have for purpose to cause damage but simply to estimate the extent of the Internet. However this worm affected about 60 000 computers estimated connected to the Internet and the cost of the damages was about 100 000 to 10 million dollars. This event marks the turning point in the field of online security.

Today, cyberattacks are abundant, frequent and more and more sophisticated. The evolution of techniques and the arrival of new technologies make cyberattacks increasingly complex and offer new opportunities to attackers.

There are various types of cyberattack like attacks aiming the DNS: DDoS, DNS cache poisoning, DNS spoofing, Man in the Middle… (In 2019, according to IDC – International Data Corporation, 82% of companies worldwide have faced a DNS attack over the past year) or attacks directly aiming users and having for purpose to obtain confidential information to steal an identity (phishing).

The consequences for victimized companies can be significant. For example, today the cost of a data breach is 3.92 million dollars on average according to IBM Security, this cost has risen 12% over the past five years.

An IP traffic estimated in 2022 more important than the one generated from 1984 to 2016

With more than 5 billion Google searches made every day, e-commerce continuing to thrive, social media growing in popularity and the increasing number of connected objects, the traffic volume on the Internet has risen considerably.

Indeed, in 1974, daily traffic on the Internet surpassed 3 million packets per day. According to a Cisco’s research in 2017, the global IP traffic reached 122 exabytes per month, the company estimates that this volume should reach 396 exabytes by 2022.

“The size and complexity of the Internet continues to grow in ways that many could not have imagined. Since we first started the VNI Forecast in 2005, traffic has increased 56-fold, amassing a 36% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) with more people, devices and applications accessing IP networks” said Jonathan Davidson, senior vice president and general manager of Service Provider Business at Cisco.

Today, 50 years after the birth of the Internet’s ancestor, Arpanet, there are more Internet connected devices than people in the world. In 2022, the web users will represent 60% of the world’s population and more than 28 billion devices will connect to the Internet.

How to account and value a domain name?

The domain name is an integral intangible asset©

The domain name has this unique particularity to be an intangible asset with four dimensions.

It is simultaneously:

  1. An IT object allowing to access services on the Internet by doing the link between the IP address (a suite of numbers) of a physical object [computer, server, smartphone…] and a literal name (role of the Domain Name Server or DNS);
  2. A communication tool allowing to establish its identity on the Internet and gain a digital territory;
  3. A legal element through a temporary contract with an Internet Registry;
  4. A financial asset, accountable as an intangible asset under certain conditions.

Today an essential key element to any dematerialized data flow exchange, the domain name became overtime a strategic intangible asset of great value regarding associated services (email, websites access).

Accounting principles applicable to domain names

The domain name is not to be considered as a simple technical tool, but as an intangible asset to write in the balance sheet of the companies and collectivities, if it allows to generate a lasting source of profit. In a decision of the French Council of State of December 7th, 2016 (ebay.fr case), the wise persons of the Palais-Royal thus remind that if the use of a domain name:

  • Represents a constant source of profits;
  • Has a sufficient sustainability (particularly if it can be regularly renewed);
  • Is likely to be transferred;

Then it is an intangible asset of the company and must follow the associated accounting and tax rules. As such, the domain names have to be accounted either at their creation cost, or at their acquisition value, or at their current value (market value) for the ones acquired free of charge.

Which financial valuation methods to use?

Inspired by the ISO 10668 standard regarding the monetary valuation of the brands, Nameshield has developed a reliable scientific corpus by financing the CIFRE thesis of Mr. Clement GENTY (2016-2019), covering the subject: Internet governance and global economy: proposal of a valuation model of a domain name’s value as intangible asset. It is in this context that three approaches regarding the monetary valuation of domain names have been studied:

  • A historical costs approach;
  • A market approach (on semantics);
  • A loss approach (replacement cost).

The market approach aims to measure the semantic value of a domain name by reference to the monetary transactions passed. To that end, Nameshield has developed a database of more than 1.4 million transactions passed (domain name, price, year). This approach allows to give a price value by comparable.

The strength of a domain names’ valuation method, scientific and practical

Supported by its regular work in the acquisition and/or sale of domain names for its clients’ companies and collectivities, Nameshield is able to propose an approach of monetary valuation of a domain name or a domain names’ portfolio, as part of the best current scientific practice.

.AU domain names soon available for registration

.AU domain names soon available for registration
Image source: kitkatty007 via Pixabay

Until now, Australian domain names were only available for registrations in second level extensions, in particular .COM.AU.

If the decision to open the .AU registration goes back to 2015, it took four years to set the rules!

It seems that starting October 1st, 2019, the holder of the existing .com.au domain name, for example forexample.com.au, will be able to apply for priority status to register the exact match of their existing name in .AU, forexample.au.

The detail of the priority allocation system are below:

  • 2 priority status (from 2019/10/01 to 2020/04/01)

–Category 1 : Third level domain names (com.au, net.au, org.au, asn.au, id.au, edu.au, qld.edu.au, nsw.edu.au, eq.edu.au, act.edu.au, vic.edu.au, sa.edu.au, wa.edu.au, nt.edu.au, catholic.edu.au, schools.nsw.edu.au, education.tas.edu.au, sa.au, wa.au, nt.au, qld.au, nsw.au, vic.au, tas.au and act.au) registered on February 4th 2018 at the latest will be assigned to priority category 1 for the registration of the same name in .AU.

–Category 2: Third level domain names registered after February 4th 2018 will be assigned to priority category 2 for the registration of the same name in .AU.

  • The date of the general availability is not announced yet.

The registry indicates that more information will be published in the next weeks, we will keep you informed.

The new .AU licensing rules might also come into effect at the fourth quarter of 2019 (for all the extensions: .au, .com.au, .net.au, .org.au, .asn.au, .id.au).

Lastly, we can note that the general availability will allow the registration to individuals/companies which respect the Australian registry’s conditions (local presence in Australia).

For any questions, Nameshield’s teams are at your disposal.

Voice.com domain name sold for $30 million

Voice.com domain name sold for $30 million
Voice.com website

Block.one (EOS), the startup behind the EOS cryptocurrency acquires the voice.com domain name for the amount of $30 million.

This is how the Chief Marketing Officer of MicroStrategy explains this acquiring at a high price: “Block.one has made a smart strategic decision in choosing Voice.com to be the internet domain name for its new social media platform. The word “voice” is simple and universally understood. It’s also ubiquitous ― as a search term […]. An ultra-premium domain name like Voice.com can help a company achieve instant brand recognition, ignite a business, and massively accelerate value creation”.

It places this sale in the top 5 of the biggest domain names’ sales:

Lasvegas.com $90 million in 2005.

CarInsurance.com $49.7 million in 2010.

Insurance.com $35.6 million in 2010.

PrivateJet.com $30.18 million in 2012.

Voice.com $30 million in 2019.

After having raised more than $4 billion through a fundraising in cryptocurrencies (ICO), the startup Block.one plans to use the domain name with the aim to compete with the social media platform Facebook.

The social media platform VOICE is opened since June, 1st 2019.

At a keynote, EOS’ CEO Brendan Blumer and Dan Larimer Block.one’s CTO, presented VOICE as an absolute alternative to everything that represents Facebook.

“Our content. Our data. Our attention. These are all incredibly valuable things. But right now, it’s the platform, not the user that reaps the reward. By design, they run by auctioning our information to advertisers, pocketing the profit, and flooding our feeds with hidden agendas dictated by the highest bidder. Voice changes that.”

In order to differentiate from Facebook, VOICE will function on the following basis:

  • VOICE will operate on EOS blockchain, which is upgrading to a faster version 2 for the occasion;
  • An anti-bot policy and other trolls will be implemented, without more details disclosed on the technology approach;
  • The blockchain will be public;
  • The arbiter of what must be seen or not, will not be the algorithm but the consensus;
  • Regarding security, a partnership with Yubico, makers of the Yubikey was announced. EOS seems to aim for an integration with WebAuthn, a standard for authentication without password recently approved by the W3C.

In other words, EOS wants to propose a model opposite to Facebook: the control by everyone of their personal data and their possible monetization.

Nameshield proposes a valuation model of a domain name’s value – CIFRE thesis of Clement Genty

Nameshield proposes a valuation model of a domain name’s value – CIFRE thesis of Clement Genty

At a time of a growing awareness by companies that domain names have become strategic intangible assets, sometimes having a higher value than brands, Nameshield is happy to inform you that it has overseen and financed, during three years, the CIFRE thesis of Mr. Clement GENTY, who received his PhD, covering the subject: Internet governance and global economy: proposal of a valuation model of a domain name’s value as intangible asset.

Publicly defended on April, 23rd  2019, at Angers’ Laboratory of engineering, processes and innovation of the “Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers of Paris Tech”, first, the thesis compiles a state of the art and a historical overview of the domain name diffusion in the World since the Domain Name System’s creation (DNS) in 1983. It demonstrates the loss of the link between identification/trust by the abolition of the initial naming rules for the benefit of an unbridled and mercantile economic development from the registries.

The second part of the thesis is dedicated to an analysis of the technical and semantic parameters allowing to define the domain names’ average value.

The third part of the thesis presents a monetary valuation tool for domain names, developed by Nameshield as part of the research work, and based on a database of more than 1.4 million transactions passed.

This scientific research work, validated by this thesis, falls within a vast process initiated by Nameshield for many years in order to raise awareness of the value of the domain names’ strategic intangible assets, and to evaluate them. This work led by Jean-Manuel GAGET, Nameshield’s Strategy and Consulting Director, focuses in particular on:

  • A consulting activity regarding the optimization of a domain names’ portfolio management, through a naming and defense strategy adapted to the real issues;
  • A process of extra-financial rating and valuation of the capital domain name, integrated to the “Thesaurus Capital immatériel”, which measures intangible assets of all kinds, promoted by the “Institut de comptabilité de l’immatériel” (Intangible accounting Institute);
  • A method of domain names analysis and a domain names monetary valuation tool, scientifically validated today by this thesis.

The decision of the Council of State at the end of 2016, which focuses on the taxation applicable to the domain name ebay.fr has strengthened the obligation of the companies to monetarily valuate their domain names well, in order to account them as intangible assets under some conditions. As such, the tax experts are highly interested in the domain names’ issues in the constitution of the transfer price. This first world thesis on the economy of the domain names and their valuation will serve without a doubt as a useful material to the reflection of the financial world’s actors on this subject.

Nameshield proposes a valuation model of a domain name’s value – CIFRE thesis of Clement Genty

Status of ongoing projects after ICANN64

A month ago, ICANN held its first annual meeting with the Internet community in Kobe, Japan. At this summit, ICANN presented the major projects of the year and those of the coming years. Let’s look back at the main topics.

The implicitely constraint of the GDPR

While in May 2018, Europe adopted ambitious legislation to protect users’ personal data, ICANN imposed a regulatory framework on domain name players to bring the industry into line with the constraints of the GDPR.

In the absence of consensus, this framework was imposed when the GDPR came into force on May 25, 2018. It contains non-consensual provisions such as no longer publishing in the registry’s registration directory service, which currently operates via the Whois protocol, data that can be assimilated to personal data for contacts associated with domain names: registrant contacts, administrative contacts, technical contacts. Exit therefore the names, first names, postal addresses, telephone numbers and anonymization of email addresses or hidding via a contact form.

However, as provided for in the Bylaws, the rules governing the role and operation of ICANN, non-consensual rules may not be imposed beyond one year. ICANN therefore had the May 2019 deadline in mind throughout the Kobe meeting.

To build on this, last year ICANN initiated an expedited policy development process (ePDP) whose delicate mission was to develop consensus rules to replace the temporary provisions currently in place.

Shortly before ICANN64, this working group, in which Nameshield participates, submitted its proposals to the GNSO, the ICANN body that manages policy development for generic domain names. This report, which is currently open for comments, is expected to result in a final framework that will be submitted to the ICANN Board in early May for voting and promulgation.

The proposals outline a target date for implementation by 29 February 2020. ICANN has therefore focused its efforts on managing the transition period between May 2019 and this still distant deadline of February 2020. The prevailing approach is rather pragmatic as it consists in keeping the provisions currently in place such as the masking of personal data in the Whois until all the new provisions can be implemented by actors such as registrars and registries by the above-mentioned deadline.

Access to hidden data subject to tensions

Launched in 2012 during the last round of openings of new domain name extensions but quickly relegated to the boxes, the RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol), an alternative to the aging Whois protocol, has resurfaced with the GDPR because of its modularity, which allows, unlike Whois, to filter access to certain data according to the user’s profile.

ICANN confirmed in Kobe that this protocol will be widely deployed by this summer. First, this protocol will coexist alongside the Whois protocol. Registrars will therefore provide access to domain name data through both protocols.

The stakeholders present at ICANN64 also learnt about the project submitted by a technical study group mandated by ICANN on the operational way envisaged through the RDAP protocol for access to hidden domain name data. It has been the subject of tensions because it is not the result of a consensual process and ICANN suggested it could play a central role in collecting all requests to validate their authorization, with authentication of requests being carried out upstream by agents accredited by data protection authorities. This topic is also part of the new mission of the Policy Development Working Group (ePDP) in the coming months. Things can therefore evolve on this subject in the future.

Status of ongoing projects after ICANN64
Goran Marby, ICANN CEO, speaking on the proposed functioning of access to hidden data for domain names through the future RDAP

A multi-year strategic plan

At ICANN64, ICANN also presented progress on the implementation of a strategic operating plan for the organization for the period 2021-2025.

The adoption of a five-year plan is new for this organization, which has always operated on an annual basis. This plan must determine the priorities for the coming years, which is also a novelty in a context where multiple projects have always been carried out simultaneously without any real prioritization.

We already know that DNS security is one of the major issues of the coming period. Among the priorities identified are the reinforced fight against malware and the increased security of the DNS, in particular through a faster deployment of DNSSEC.

For the next round of new domain names extensions openings also mentioned, ICANN has also indicated that it will take into account the lessons learned from the previous round. Among them, new extensions are ten times more targeted than historical generic extensions (like .COM,.NET,.ORG,.BIZ,.INFO) by malicious practices such as typosquatting and dotsquatting on which phishing and pharming practices proliferate.

Feel free to contact your Nameshield consultant, who is very knowledgeable on all these subjects.

Cybersquatting: Increase of UDRP complaints filed with WIPO in 2018

Cybersquatting: Increase of UDRP complaints filed with WIPO in 2018
Image source: janjf93 via Pixabay

In the domain names’ world, the rules applied by many registries of “first come, first served” often lead to many cases of abusive registrations and of cybersquatting in particular. This is a practice that consists in taking a domain name by registering it, using or mentioning a trademark, a business name, a patronym or any name on which the applicant has any right, in order to make material or moral profit from its current or future notoriety.

In order to fight against these fraudulent actions and to assert their rights, brands’ owners can implement a targeted action to recuperate or suppress the cybersquatted domain name, called UDRP procedure (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy). This procedure is administered by an Arbitration Center like the one of the WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization.

According to the WIPO’s General Director, Francis Gurry: “Domain names involving fraud and phishing or counterfeit goods pose the most obvious threats, but all forms of cybersquatting affect consumers. WIPO’s UDRP caseload reflects the continuing need for vigilance on the part of trademark owners around the world.”

UDRP complaints filed with WIPO in 2018*

On March 15, 2019, the WIPO published its last annual report on domain names’ disputes.

In 2018, the WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center received a record of 3447 UDRP cases filed by brands’ owners, i.e a rise of 12% compared to the previous year.

Cybersquatting: Increase of UDRP complaints filed with WIPO in 2018
Source: WIPO Statistics Database

However these disputes concerned 5655 domain names, a decrease comparing to 2017 which counted 6371 names.

The main gTLDs in the cases filed with WIPO are unsurprisingly, the .COM (far ahead with 72.88%), the .NET (4.62%), the .ORG (3.50%) and the .INFO (2.23%).

Regarding the disputes on the domain names registered in the new extensions, they represent nearly 13% of the disputes, mostly in .ONLINE, .LIFE and .APP domains.

And lastly, nearly 500 complaints regarding names registered in ccTLDs have been filed, nearly 15% of all the disputes administered by the WIPO in 2018.

The 3 main sectors of complainant activity are the sectors of banking and finance, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and Internet and IT.

Geographically, France is placed second with 553 cases filed with the WIPO, just behind the United States (976 complaints) and is one the most reactive countries on this subject.

Note that on all the UDRP cases filed in 2018, Nameshield ranks second in the filing world complaints with 343 cases filed and 66 represented customers**.

Our teams are of course at your disposal to inform you on the possibilities of contentious domain names recovery actions.

*Source: WIPO Statistics Database

**Source: Nameshield’s report on UDRP procedures, 2018

Brexit and .EU domain names: EURid’s action plan on hold

Brexit and .EU domain names: EURid’s action plan on hold
Image source : Tumisu via Pixabay

On the article dated from February 22, 2019, we discussed about the Brexit’s consequences on the .EU domain names and the publication of the action plan by EURid, the .EU registry, following two scenarios, in case of no deal or in case of a withdrawal agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

In short, as a result of the Brexit, companies and individuals, holders of a .EU will no longer be able to renew or register names in .EU if they are not residing in the European Union.

In case of no deal, .EU domain names’ holders will have 2 months from March 30, 2019 to demonstrate their eligibility or to transfer their name to an eligible registrant (whose country code isn’t either GB/GI). All registrants who did not demonstrate their eligibility will be deemed ineligible and their domain names will be withdrawn.

In case there is a withdrawal agreement, this plan of actions will be implemented as of January 1, 2021.

Due to ongoing uncertainties over the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, EURid announced on March 22, 2019, that this plan would be placed on hold while waiting for an official update from the European Commission.

To be continued.

The .UK soon available to all: .CO.UK’s holders, don’t miss the end of the priority period!

The .UK soon available to all: .CO.UK’s holders, don’t miss the end of the priority period!
Image source: 12019 via Pixabay

Remember, in June 2014, Nominet, the registry of .CO.UK, launched the opening of the .UK registrations. At the time of the extension’s launch, the registry applied a 5 years restriction during which the .UK registration rights were restricted to the holders of the corresponding names in .CO.UK, .ORG.UK, .ME.UK, .NET.UK, .LTD.UK or .PLC.UK.

The 1st of July 2019 will mark the end of the period when .UK extensions were blocked from registration if the .CO.UK was not already registered. The names will then be opened to all! If you are already a .CO.UK domain name’s holder, don’t hesitate to contact your Nameshield’s consultant before the end of the priority period to reserve your corresponding name in .UK and thus prevent a third party to do it on the general availability period.

The .DEV available to all

The .DEV available to all
Image source: mohamed_hassan via Pixabay

After the launches of the .APP and .PAGE, Google launched .DEV on January 16, its new extension dedicated to developers and technology, following the calendar below:

  • Sunrise period: from 2019/01/16 to 2019/02/19
  • EAP (Early Access Program): from 2019/02/19 to 2019/02/28
  • General availability: from 2019/02/28

Since February 28, 2019, the .DEV is in general availability and already has more than 64 000 domain names’ registrations according to Domain Name Wire.

To promote this new extension and for the Google I/O 2019 , its annual event for developers (which will be held on May 7-9, 2019 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View), Google proposes the free registration for 1 year of a .DEV domain name for all ticket booked. But the registrations resulting of this promotional campaign only represent a small part of the 64 000 .DEV domain names registered.

During the last months, Google itself has launched or relaunched many of its websites in .DEV: web.dev, opensource.dev, flutter.dev…

Other companies have also chosen to register their domain names in .DEV like Mozilla with mdn.dev, Salesforce with crm.dev and Level Access with accessibility.dev.

The HTTPS mandatory for all .DEV domain names

As mentioned in a previous article by Christophe GERARD, Nameshield’s Security Product Manager, as reminder, Google in its goal of a more secure Internet, makes HTTPS encryption mandatory for all its new extensions: .APP, .PAGE, .HOW, .DEV… (More details in this article).

Thus, .DEV extension is included on the HSTS pre-upload list, requiring HTTPS protocol on all .DEV domain names.

Therefore, in order to use a .DEV domain name, you will need to acquire a SSL certificate and deploy HTTPS.

From tools to platforms, programming languages to blogs, this extension will allow you to present your projects. Don’t hesitate to contact a Nameshield’s consultant for any questions regarding the conditions for the registration of your .DEV.