ICANN stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.  You can think of them as the overloads of domain names.  The purpose of ICANN is to coordinate everything about domains.  They are like the godfather of the domain name world.

You can read more about the mission and goals of ICANN here:

http://www.icann.org/en/about/

What Does ICANN Accreditation Mean?

ICANN accreditation in layman’s terms would be a sort of “seal of approval” for all domain name registers.  The primary objective of ICANN is ensuring the stability of the Internet’s system of assigned names and numbers.

Who is Registered by ICANN?

If you are a little worried you are dealing with a company that claims they are accredited, but they are really not, you can check.  Use these two links to do some fact checking of your own.  Just click on the site index link from the icann.org web site and search down for the phrase “Accredited Registrars”.

• ICANN-Accredited Registrars
• All Businesses That Have Qualified for ICANN Accreditation

How Can I Complain About a Domain Name Register to ICANN?

The first thing you must do is visit internic.net.  Next, click on the link that says Complainant Form.  As stated on the web site form though, “ICANN itself does not resolve individual customer complaints. Instead, we refer your complaints to your registrar or other appropriate party, and follow up with them to make sure they are working with you to resolve your issues”.

To learn more about who ICANN is and what they do, check out icann.org.

From head to toe, from pillar to post this podcast yet again delivers a little something for everybody. From dissecting ICANN to help with turning Gmail into your default e-mail client for all of your e-mail addresses, this week’s hosting podcast promises to deliver the goods*.

Format might have changed a little but one thing will never change, I’m hyped, excited and ready to deliver you the best hosting podcast you’ve heard in a long time.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 163!
Running Time: 11 minutes | File Size: 5.02 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode:

• What is ICANN and What Can It Do For ME?
• Get IP Based Info with Firefox
• Import POP3 Accounts into Gmail
• Trademark vs Copyright for Webmasters

Here are this week’s web hosting news headlines:

• School Spreads 1.5m Spam Emails
• Web Host HostGator 21st in Inc 5000 List
• WebHostingBuzz.com Wins Award for Best Web Hosting Support

Changing things up a ‘bit this week. A little change never hurt anybody, right? Also tune in this week to check out the new Web Hosting Show theme, which I must say does rock.  What else would you expect coming from the web hosting industry’s media rock star?

* - actual promises of delivering may vary.  This citation was just an excuse to plug the re-written about page on webhostingshow.com.  Go check it out to learn more about me and this podcast.

Is it just me, or does it seem like there is a lot of spam talk these days?  Here I have for you two of the hottest spam stories of the moment, and a little talk about hacking and passing the blame to round things up.

King of Spam to be Sentenced

You would think that the king of spam would at least get a crown made of mixed meat or something cool like that, but the only thing Robert Alan Soloway has to look forward to now is a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and fines of more than $500,000.  How did he get the crown?  According to Jeffrey C. Sullivan, a United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, “Our investigators dubbed him the ‘Spam King’ because he is responsible for millions of spam emails”.

Switzerland Tops World in Spam

The Swiss are usually only known for banks and watches, but now they can add one more title to that list, spam.  According to security vendor MessageLabs, Switzerland has exceeded former front-runner Hong Kong as the most spammed country.

ICANN Blames Register.com for Hack

Last but not least, to give you an amusing story for the web hosting water cooler, it looks like ICANN has tossed Register.com under the bus.  Since ICANN’s web site got hacked a few weeks back, looks like Register.com is becoming their scapegoat.  “The DNS redirect was a result of an attack on ICANN’s registrar’s systems.  A full, confidential, security report from that registrar has since been provided to ICANN with respect to this attack.” Register.com is a good company, and I don’t think it is totally fare that ICANN is looking to pass the buck so quickly with it’s own security problems.

If you have any news you’d like to share, be sure to drop me a line or leave a comment and I’ll be more than happy to spread the word about your latest happenings or interesting web hosting article.

Did you know the peaceful Swiss people have problems with spam?  The king of all spam has also met his fate.  Spams not the only thing we got on the line up today, there is a lot of hosting news, and information coming to you.  So stand back, there is a Web Hosting Show coming through!

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 157!
Running Time: 10 minutes | File Size: 4.97 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

• Why Not Setup a Data Center Out of Your Basement?
• The King of Spam to be Sentenced to Hard Time!
• What is Domain Name Front Running?
• What Country Tops the World in Spam?
• ICANN Blames What Domain Register for Recent Hack?

Short on words this week, but since we do have an awful lot of SPAM talk this week:

Have you taken the Web Hosting Show’s fan survey yet? If not, listen to the show and then get it done. Your feedback given there could dramatically change the production of this podcast! Be heard and give me you thoughts!

Here is an interesting idea.  Would you like to have the domain name yourname.yourbusiness?

How about firstname.lastname?

Well thanks to those wacky and crazy people at ICANN and a few bottles of expensive French wine, we might see that go into effect sooner than you would think.  In an unanimous vote held in Paris, France last week ICANN has given approval for new top-level domain names including multilingual ones.  No longer will you just have the traditional domain name extensions.  Now you could practically have anything dot anything registered once all the regulation and paper work has gone though.  Unless something goes wrong, this should all go in effect in 2009.

Dr Paul Twomey, the chief executive of ICANN had an interesting quote:

“Like the United States in the 19th Century, we are in the process of opening up new real estate, new land, and people will go out and claim parts of that land and use it for various reasons they have. It’s a massive increase in the geography of the real estate of the Internet.”

Yeah, you’ll be able to claim a part of it if your a multi-million dollar company or have a hidden stash of cash hidden under your mattress.

Don’t let your blood boil yet.  I highly doubt that your traditional top-level domains are going anywhere.  People already have in their head that a web site domain has to be something with a dot com behind it (or dot org, dot net, ect).  Also it isn’t like you or me will be setting up our own domain name extensions because the application fee to get it going will cost around $100,000 or more.

From coast to coast, and all around the web hosting world. I can’t promise you you’ll be a millionaire if you listen to this week’s show. I can’t even make you better looking. What I can do for you is to make everything from server farms to domain name registrations make a little more sense and I can do so with what some may say is a funny accent.

Download the Web Hosting Show, Episode 156!
Running Time: 18 minutes | File Size: 7.85 MB

Here are just a few topics from this week’s episode of the Web Hosting Show.

• ICANN Wants to Give You .Anything?
• Where to go to Get 30GB of Disk Space Free?
• Free Billing Software for Web Hosting Resellers?
• Best Tool to Update Your Blogs?

Podcast Exclusive - Part 4 of Our “How to Purchase a Web Hosting Business” Series with Web Strategist Errett Cord. Download the podcast to check it out!

I’m back again, and sad to say ICANN is still turning down my application to be the official spokesperson for the organization. Maybe it is because I have no boobs? If I did, I know at least I’d get work from Bob Parsons. Time to start answering some questions, and to make some sense out of all this web hosting lingo.

To those outside of the Online world, cybersquatting sounds like part of a work out routine you’d do with a digital Richard Simmons.  I can promise you though that this is not the case.  It is actually a very important issue that comes up in the world of domain name registrations.

It is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. The cybersquatter then offers to sell the domain to the person or company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price.  At least that is according to the United States federal law on the issue, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.

Now when people are squatting outside of the digital realm we live in, it usually means they are living in an abandoned building or some other space that the squatter does not own.

Back to the Online side of things, cybersquatters will actually register and pay for the domains in question and then wave it in the face of the copyright holder and sometimes even put up really bad things about them in hopes that they will want to give them a big ol’ check to shut them up and buy the domain.

For more information on domain name squatting I would highly suggest checking out ICANN’s uniform domain-name dispute-resolution policy.