Hamburg is beautiful this time of year: cold and rainy enough that ICANN78 attendees didn’t mind being cooped up inside for meetings, with clear warm stretches that allowed for a bit of sightseeing. If I’m being completely honest, my personal highlight was visiting the Miniature Wonderland, but I was also glad to take part in […]
Welcome back to our regular Tiered Access platform statistics series! If you’re here just for the numbers you can jump right to the stats, but first, we’re going to focus on the question of “urgent” disclosure requests. The discussions in our last few TACO Stats posts focused on the Registration Data Request Service, intended to […]
ICANN77 brought the community to Washington DC for a four-day policy-focused meeting. While the remote participation services continue to be robust and accessible, in-person participation has a certain special something, and I was grateful for the ability to attend in my physical form. Let’s take a look at some of the policy updates coming out […]
Our most recent Tiered Access update introduced the ICANN Community’s pilot project for a central intake point for registration data disclosure requests. Now called the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS), this pilot is intended to help gather volume data to inform the ICANN Board’s decision about building a permanent, more feature-rich centralized data request system. […]
The creator ecosystem is experiencing a period of dramatic change. Creators and influencers are rapidly re-writing the world of branding, e-commerce, and entrepreneurship. For those in the business of helping individuals establish an online presence, this shift presents a major opportunity worth pursuing. The state of the creator economy Remember when Instagram was for sharing […]
From singing lessons to printing, there’s no shortage of products and services people are searching for online. The convenience these online service providers offer has fundamentally changed consumer behavior. While the pandemic may have familiarized most of us with work and school from home, the popularity of online services like meditation apps, and skill share […]
The ICANN76 conference in Cancun wrapped up on March 16 and, while the setting might seem odd for a conference on policy and internet governance, it was a productive few days. In her opening remarks, ICANN Board Chair Tripti Sinha spoke about this time as an “inflection point.” ICANN’s role in managing the domain name […]
Tucows launched our Tiered Access Compliance and Operations (TACO) platform nearly five years ago in May 2018. Since then we’ve processed thousands of disclosure requests, supported hundreds of requestors with their legitimate needs for the disclosure of domain registration data, and made ongoing improvements to our TACO platform (the most recent of which are discussed […]
Social media and its myriad platforms have created a new world of opportunity for creators. With approximately 50 million people all over the world creating online video content, the “Creator Economy” is a force to be reckoned with. From Instagram influencers to Twitch streamers, and TikTok stars to YouTube content creators, this diverse collection of […]
We are very pleased to announce several updates to the Tucows TACO Platform: Finally, we want to share our thinking behind our decision to start billing for TACO requests, which we’ve been doing since May 2021. Disclosure notice to domain owners We’re committed to data protection, privacy, and transparency. We want domain owners to understand […]
The global e-commerce industry has never been bigger. And eMarketer’s global forecast of $5.5 trillion in retail e-commerce sales for 2022 is a testament to this fact. This boost in e-commerce may have started as the COVID-19 pandemic forced buyers and sellers to change their behaviors, but the USA’s International Trade Commission predicts that the […]
I had intended to participate remotely in ICANN75, as I did for the past few ICANN conferences, but these plans were disrupted as I was called for jury duty and unable to attend most of the sessions. This blog post is thus gratefully dedicated to our RrSG Secretariat and the several RrSG members who provided […]
If we’ve known each other or worked together for any significant period of time, you know that I have a strong sense of FOMOW—fear of missing out on work. The hybrid-format ICANN74 meeting simultaneously eased and exacerbated those feelings. I was so glad to be able to participate in sessions remotely but found myself longing […]
In the lead-up to ICANN74, we’re back with another set of Tiered Access disclosure request and response statistics. You can jump to the numbers to see how the first few months of 2022 compared to previous years. Since the Registration Data Accuracy Scoping Team is focusing on the topic, we’d like to provide some insight […]
ICANN73 took place last week and, as always, it was a productive conference. Panels covered an interesting range of topics: in-progress policy work, what it truly means for something to be in the global public interest and how ‘public interest’ can be assessed, what’s next for new gTLDs now that the Subsequent Procedures Working Group […]
The .ORG namespace offers a credible, trustworthy TLD to help mission-driven organizations, businesses and individuals carry out their purpose. And Public Interest Registry (PIR), which operates the .ORG TLD, is taking an active role in advancing worthy causes and building a better Internet. PIR donates a portion of proceeds for every .ORG domain registered to […]
Last week, we shared updated statistics about data disclosure requests processed through our Tiered Access Compliance & Operations (TACO) platform. As promised in that post, we also want to connect that Tucows-specific data with the bigger picture. More specifically, we want to use our data to contextualize some of the figures ICANN provided in its […]
In May 2018, Tucows moved to redact all personal data from the default public Whois in order to comply with the GDPR1 and other data protection laws. Since then, the primary way for third parties to access domain name registration data that we hold is to place a request through our Tiered Access Compliance and Operations (TACO) […]
Radix owns and operates 10 domain extensions, including .online, .store, .tech, .website, .space, .press, .site, .host, .fun and .uno, as well as one repurposed country-code top-level domain, .PW. It’s a TLD lineup that includes a solid mix of generic options, which appeal to a broad base of website owners, and industry-specific ones, which speak to […]
This post was written by Tasmiya Sayed, Sr. Content Marketing & Communication Associate at Radix, the registry behind some of the most successful new domain extensions, including .online and .tech. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. The domain name is an essential part of any brand’s online identity, whether it’s a store, a company […]
In 2021, cybercriminals delivered a tsunami of cyberattacks. PhishLabs reported a 47% increase in phishing attempts from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021. Another report by Cisco Umbrella revealed that of the organizations they surveyed, an astounding 86% had at least one employee try to connect to a phishing site. Phishing, and all its variations, continues […]
Updated – Dec 15, 2021 Last Friday, a critical system vulnerability with Log4j was uncovered that has the potential to result in remote code execution against applications. Since this announcement, Tucows’ Security, Engineering, and Quality Assurance teams have been working around the clock to identify all applications using Log4j and mitigate the identified vulnerability; critical […]
The pandemic has impacted all lives and businesses, some more than others. One major change that many of us experienced was an increased reliance on home deliveries and online ordering. So it’s no surprise that e-commerce has been one of the most heavily impacted industries. To unpack just how big the impact on e-commerce was, […]
Registrars’ ability to compare different TLDs and TLD models, coupled with our understanding of TLDs’ impacts on resellers and domain owners, gives us valuable insight into TLD operations and processes and makes us well-equipped to offer registries actionable feedback on their operations. This is certainly the case in the .ca space, with approximately 350,000 .ca […]
From our partners at .US Domains. Your website is live and fully designed for ecommerce sales and customer management. It looks professional, user friendly, beautifully designed, and aligns with your brand. But this is just the first leg of the race. To start, you must first drive customers to your website. Once they land on […]
Founded in 1995, Register.it was one of the first Italian operators accredited by ICANN to offer domain names, which they provide alongside a whole suite of professional services that empower individuals and companies to create an online presence. Today, Register.it ranks among the leading companies in Europe for domain registrations and web presence solutions. Through […]
Like many things in life, the domain industry is something that seems simple at first glance but reveals itself to be really complicated when you do a little digging. There are stringent ICANN policies dictating how domain registrars and registries need to operate, and a lot of thought, discussion, and legal review goes into making […]
Do I need to pay for an SSL certificate, or is a free one good enough? Hosting providers, web developers, and many of our other resellers get this question a lot. And if you’re a website owner, you might be asking it yourself. It’s obviously tempting to opt for the free version — and in […]
There’s a lot of good that comes out of the .ORG namespace. Most obviously, .ORG is the online home for thousands of nonprofits and mission-based organizations around the globe. But more than that, the Public Interest Registry (PIR), which operates the .ORG TLD, takes an active role in advancing worthy causes and building a better […]
In 2020, a huge number of small businesses moved or shifted their focus to online sales. Many of our reseller partners provided a means for businesses to do this fast and effectively, but more than that, they innovated to create new features to help these customers adapt to the virtual-only world. Today, we’re highlighting two […]
You know what it takes to be successful in e-commerce. But do your customers? Whether you work in website design, development, hosting, or business services, it’s important to take a step back and consider a new shop owner’s perspective. Let’s discuss how to best serve your small-biz customers and win their business again and again. […]
Welcome back from Cancun; I hope everyone is rested following travel to and from the recent ICANN70 conference… Wouldn’t that be nice? We didn’t get to travel to Cancun this year, and I don’t expect to be able to travel for ICANN71 or 72 either, but we still had a successful conference with lots of […]
From our partners at .biz domains. Want to boost your company’s revenue? Master the art of upselling—that is, convincing customers to purchase pricier items or additional products they hadn’t previously intended on buying. Apart from having a positive impact on your bottom line, upselling can also help strengthen relationships with clients and improve their perception […]
As the world’s largest wholesale registrar and a global supplier of domain names, Tucows regularly engages in policy work within our industry. The Open Internet is an agent for positive change, and we believe in the importance of stable Internet infrastructure and the value it brings to the domain name system — across both generic […]
Since its launch in 2017, .ART has seen steady growth and strong demand. We aren’t surprised; it’s a short, meaningful TLD and a clear choice for the many artists, art industry professionals, institutions, performers, and other creatives that need to showcase their work online. But it’s been neat to see who else has adopted this […]
Last Friday, NamesCon hosted a fireside chat with our CEO, Elliot Noss, titled “How do we make the Internet better from here?” The discussion included some reminiscing about Tucows’ early days and how the Internet has evolved, but the main focus was online content moderation, something that we’ve been dealing with for years in our […]
What is a branded link? While brands are the most important assets for modern companies, links are the foundation of the web. Every time someone clicks, taps, or swipes, there is a link. A link is a bridge between the message and the content, the most relevant call-to-action of online communications. When brands meet links, […]
Back in February of this year, Apple announced that as of September 1, 2020, its Safari browser will no longer trust newly registered SSL certificates with validity periods of two years. Two-year certificates registered up until August 31, 2020, will be trusted, but those registered on or after September 1, 2020, will not. To prevent […]
From an early point in the current global crisis, it was clear to Tucows (Enom’s parent company) that we were going to need to do something new and different in how we responded to COVID-19 related domain registrations. Many of these domains are registered for good, helpful purposes, such as community organization, dissemination of healthcare […]
The health and safety of our customers, partners, and employees are of the highest priority to Enom. With the heightened concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 virus (Coronavirus) and the unpredictable nature of the virus, we have taken precautionary steps to reduce its potential impact across our offices globally. We want to assure you […]
As of this month, our parent company, Tucows, has officially been in the domains business for 20 years. They introduced OpenSRS (Enom’s then-rival, now-sister company) in 2000, not long after Enom was born. Tucows lifers share a lot of nostalgia for this era; though Tucows has grown to become the largest wholesale registrar and ventured […]
City TLDs offer a lot of value for smaller businesses. Establishing a digital presence is no small task, and finding the perfect domain (which is hugely important) can be difficult. Using a city TLD in their domain name adds meaning and gives them other great options if the .com version of their first-choice domain is […]
Building a strong eCommerce identity is crucial for businesses looking to compete in the online marketplace. It encompasses elements such as brand image, values, and reputation, which help businesses create an emotional connection with their customers and differentiate themselves from competitors. However, creating a compelling brand identity can be challenging and, for small eCommerce businesses, […]