Author name: fairwindsp

Josh Bourne ⬥ 17 March Since we cofounded the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) in 2007, the non-profit has been dedicated to both building awareness and taking active steps to prevent cybersquatting and other online infringements. One of the main avenues for achieving these goals has been to engage with the Internet Corporation for […]

Steve Levy ⬥ 10 March The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in US v. Kilbride, No. 07-10528 (9th Cir. 2009), upheld fraud and conspiracy charges arising from the defendant’s sending of spam emails containing advertisements for pornographic materials. Key to this ruling was the fact that the spam emails contained false and non-functioning email addresses

Josh Bourne ⬥ 4 March This article recently caught my eye: ICANN Head Visiting China After ‘dot-China’ Request. It is a report of ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom’s visit to China, which comes on the heels of the country’s application to ICANN for the use of domain names that end in “dot-China,” with “China” appearing in

Josh Bourne ⬥ 17 February At the ICANN meeting in Seoul, the ICANN board decided to push back the roll out of new gTLDs to at least after the second quarter of this year.  A few weeks later, ICANN opened up a public comment period soliciting feedback on the possibility of creating a type of

Josh Bourne ⬥ 10 February On January 29, the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA), which FairWinds helped found and runs, hosted a policy forum here in Washington, D.C.  The forum focused on emerging challenges for the Internet community in 2010, specifically the future of ICANN under the Affirmation of Commitments (AOC) and potential reform

FairWinds Partners ⬥ 8 February With hundreds of social media Web sites, business and personal communication are rapidly changing to real-time. Social media is in front and center position now in organizations and discussions are taking place not only among the security team but within marketing, sales, human resources and even at executive levels. Firms

Josh Bourne ⬥ 1 February At the heart of online marketing is the goal of attracting visitors to Web sites and engaging with them in ways that deliver lasting and memorable impressions.  There are a variety of elements that go into an effective online marketing campaign, including search engine marketing but also radio, print, outdoor,

Josh Bourne ⬥ 5 January TechCrunch recently picked up MacRumor’s report on Apple’s assumed possession of the domain name islate.com. MacRumor found that the whois information for the domain name lists “DNStination, Inc.”, a profile often used by corporate registrar MarkMonitor to “mask” domain ownership on behalf of their clients. The article also points out

Josh Bourne ⬥ 31 December I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! After time spent worrying about things such as finalizing plans and buying Christmas presents, it’s always good to finally get the chance to slow down and enjoy time with family. It was my baby girl’s first Christmas, so it was definitely a special

Steve Levy ⬥ 14 December Imagine that you’re one of the top-selling producers of snack cakes under a very famous 90-year-old brand. Next, imagine that someone has registered a domain that is identical to your brand and that this someone happens to be a domain investor who owns thousands of names and has been on

Josh Bourne ⬥ 11 December Many of us in the U.S. are familiar with Toys for Tots, the charitable program that collects new toys every holiday season to distribute to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts.  Run by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) since 1947, Toys for Tots is one of

Phil Lodico ⬥ 9 December McAfee, one of the leading manufacturers of anti-virus and security software, recently released a report titled “Mapping the Mal Web” that analyzes the relative risk of top-level domains (TLDs).  The TLD for Cameroon, .CM, ranked at the top of the world’s riskiest TLDs.  Alarmingly, .COM took second place on McAfee’s