Alex Reid

Yet another top level domain (TLD) is being rolled out: .tel.

The purpose of the .tel domain is an “unified contact directory services as text-based alternative to fragmented communications solutions” or in other words an one-shop-stop of all your web sites, phone numbers and other contact information. No private hosting is required for the .tel domain as the usage of the domain name is simply a one-page information portal.

No photos, no html, no web stats, no design options and no associated email – however what is interesting is that clicking on a phone number will activate a “click to call” feature.

The .tel domain name may challenge directory services as it intent is for companies and individuals to offer a compilation of their contact info when they want as they want, while most telcos only update their directory listings once a year as their data is tied into the annual printings of their paper directories. The .tel template is also designed to appear on mobile devices like Blackberry and iPhone.

The TLD will launch on December 3, 2008, when domains will be available only to trademark owners costing a few hundred dollars per domain. On February 3, .tel will be more widely available, sold at premium prices for minimum three year terms. After March 24, they will be available to the general public for a regular price and a one year term.

In what could be dubbed ‘creative’ at the Pickering Institute is considered ‘Black Hat SEO’ by most. The “diploma mill” is renting out sub-domains of it’s pi.edu domain for.. wait for it.. $50/month.

None of the blogs set up so far appear to be populated with content, and Google’s Matt Cutts has already indicated that Pickering’s blogs won’t show up in search results. Searches for “Pickering Institute” and “site:pickering.edu” both return blank or irrelevant results now, so Google appears to be serious about stopping this sort of behavior in its tracks.

Yahoo, however, continues to index the site.

Earlier this week, CIRA announced that the number of dot-ca domain names reached one million.

Domain registrar RegisterFly has been warned it will lose its accreditation if it fails to remedy serious operational problems in the next 15 days.

More information has come forward about how RegisterFly got into this situation. RegisterFly’s parent company Unified Names filed a lawsuit blaming the debacle on misuse of company funds by president and CEO Kevin Medina, who was fired by the company’s board. The suit alleges that Medina used company funds on liposuction surgery and escort services.

While RegisterFly is an ICANN-accredited registrar, it has registered the majority of its domains as a reseller for eNom. ICANN told eNom that RegisterFly had altered customers’ WHOIS contact data, substituting it with “intentionally inaccurate data,” and that this action constituted a potential breach of eNom’s own accreditation agreement.

This is the company that is bound to discredit domain name registration business for awhile.

RegisterFly was an Enom reseller, and recently became ICANN accredited. While the two partners fight, the company has gone to the dogs; domain names set to renew are being left to expire and no one is replying to any support inquiries.

Their customers – there are 900,000 of them with 2 million domain names – are finding out the hard way that they can’t do anything, since having an authorization code (which is a new policy) can only be given by the domain name registrant.

And while people’s domain names expire, cyber-squatters are quickly snatching them up – knowing there is a good chance that the names are wanted.

Calls and emails to ICANN regarding the inability to contact the company are being forwarded back to the company – annoying people that much more. It’s up in the air what will happen, with some suggesting the FBI get involved. In the meantime, some people are turning to the net to plea to the owners.

It’s gotten so bad that even Enom (whom in my opinion is not very good) is stepping away, by posting notices all around its website and released a slew of press releases that RegisterFly is no longer a reseller for them.

See: RegisterFly on the Fly, ICANN on the run