Nearly all websites use Cookies which puts information into people’s browsers when visiting a site. These cookies are used for remembering log in details, preferences, analytics and targeted advertising etc.

The new law means that some UK websites (doesn’t impact ecommerce or other circumstances where it’s a *required* facility) must obtain consent from visitors to share or retrieve any information using cookies on a computer, smartphone or any web based connection. This is to enable users to be aware that information about them is being collected by websites they visit and gives them the chance to choose to whether or not they wish to do this.

As a website owner/designer you will need to be compliant with the new law or you will run the risk of a substantial fine and law enforcement. So if your website is using techniques for storing information about the users it will need to be updated to comply with the new law.

You can find the full details and guidance from the Information Commissioners’ Office (a UK independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest) http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx.

If you are worried about your website and the compliance please contact us and we will do our best to steer you through this.

Websites that dont work, performance/loading issues, and other problems – and a website builder that churns out terrible sites that no-one will visit.

Due to the number of people wanting to move away to OthelloHosts.net “proper” business hosting service (with optional site-builder) we’re offering 50% off to all GBBO Refugee’s

Here are the simple migration steps…

1. order your professional business hosting package at https://my.othellotech.net/cart.php?gid=2.
   Take the “I will transfer my domain” option
   Don’t pay the Invoice at the end of the checkout process.
2. Go to http://gbbo.myportalexpress.com
3. Click the ‘forgot password’ link and follow the on-screen prompts
4. Wait for the email to arrive with your username and password
5. Login with these details at http://gbbo.myportalexpress.com
6. Near the centre of the page is a link to transfer your domain away,
   click the link.
7. Contact us to check the transfer process has been correctly started, and
   to claim your 50% discount.

Current contact number for GBBO is 01954 832751

40% off all new .ORG Domain Registrations

Beat the 1st May dotORG price increases by PIR (the .org registry) with our 40% off voucher TLDDOTORG to redeem at OthelloNames.net Domain Name Offers.

Voucher valid for any new 1 year .ORG domain registration

40% off all new .PRO Domain Registrations

dotPRO has been acquired by Afilias, and price rises are coming next month.

If you are a qualified professional and member of a recognised trade-body for validation of your membership, then you could qualify for your own .PRO domain and save 40% off the regular price with voucher TLDDOTPRO to redeem at OthelloNames.net Domain Name Offers.

Voucher valid for any new 1-2 year .PRO domain registration

dotTEL Promotion Still On

OthelloNames.net still have 50% off new .TEL Domains with voucher code TLD2012DOTTEL until we hit our target of 1000 new .TEL domain names

This gathering from across the globe of the organisations that run/own/manage the internet will be held 11th-16th March 2012, and as is characteristic of the public meetings of the ICANN anyone who wishes to attend may do so freely and participate in discussions with specialists.

The ccTLD host of the meeting will be the National Academy of Sciences through its NIC Costa Rica unit, which provides the service for the registration of domain names “.cr” to Internet users located in the country.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) delegated on 10 September 1990 to the National Academy of Sciences, the Top Level Domain (Top Level Domain (TLD) .cr for Costa Rica, for the coordination and administration of domain names in the hierarchy .cr.

There are now only ~6 weeks to go, before the meeting starts in the capital city ( San Jose ), and if you’re planning on attending, you need to get organised today – the venue hotel and all of the local hotels to the venue are completely sold out.
The cleanest/safest/nicest (insert adjective of choice) of San Jose is Escazu (about 20 minutes from the venue) – nice hotels, restaurants and shops.

If you have time (before or after the event) Costa Rica is home to fantastic flowers, iguanas and lizards of all sizes (verging on dinosaurs in some cases), and come everything grows and blooms in an explosion of colour

Afilias expands market leadership with acquisition of RegistryPro
The .PRO domain is set to grow with strategic focus from Afilias

DUBLIN — Jan. 17, 2012 — Afilias Limited, the ICANN-designated registry operator for the .INFO top level domain (TLD) and a global provider of domain registry services, today announced that it has acquired Registry Services Corporation (d.b.a. RegistryPRO), the ICANN-designated operator of the .PRO TLD, from Hostway Corporation. This brings to 17 the number of top-level domains that Afilias supports, including seven generic TLDs (gTLD) operating under ICANN contracts and seven new TLDs launched since 2001.

Under the terms of the deal, Karim Jiwani will be the President of RegistryPRO and continue to spearhead .PRO growth initiatives, leveraging Afilias’ technology.

Jiwani said, ”I am excited that the .PRO domain will soon be able to take advantage of Afilias’ market-leading registry services platform to give .PRO customers the best possible service. In the meantime, we’ll be operating on a business-as-usual basis until the migration plan is complete.”

“Since its 2004 launch, the .PRO domain has helped professionals in a variety of fields across the world enhance their visibility on the Internet,” said Hal Lubsen, CEO of Afilias. “But it takes attention, dedication and resources to help a TLD achieve its full strategic potential. That’s why Afilias, which is focused on building TLDs, is excited to have .PRO join our portfolio of growing, successful domains.”

Afilias provides registry and DNS services for over 20 million domains, including more than eight million .INFO domains and one million .MOBI domains registered worldwide. In addition, Afilias supports .ORG, .AERO, .ASIA, .AG (Antigua and Barbuda), .BZ (Belize), .GI (Gibraltar), .HN (Honduras), .IN (India), .LC (St. Lucia), .ME (Montenegro), .MN (Mongolia), .SC (the Seychelles), .VC (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and .XXX.

If you’re interested in acquiring your own dotPRO domain name visit Register .PRO Domain

To kick off 2012 we are offering … 20% off our 12 most popular domain TLDs at OthelloNames.net Domain Name Registrar for new domains registered in January.

Just use discount code/voucher TLD2012 at checkout to save 20% off all new domain registrations (Discount automagically applied for our Wholesale Domain Resellers).

.co.uk usually 5.55/2yrs offer price just 4.44 ( or .org.uk. / me.uk)
.com usually 7.85/yr offer price just 6.28
.net usually 7.85/yr offer price just 6.28
.org usually 7.85/yr offer price just 6.28
.info usually 5.55/yr offer price just 4.44
.me usually 9.95/yr offer price just 7.96
.tel usually 9.95/yr offer price just 7.96
.co usually 17.95/yr offer price just 14.36
.biz usually 7.85/yr offer price just 6.28
.tv usually 24.95/yr offer price just 19.96
.mobi usually 9.95/yr offer price just 7.96
.uk.com usually 24.95/yr offer price just 19.96

Register your discount domain today – www.othellonames.net

All prices quoted are in GBP and exclude VAT at the prevailing rate (currently 20%) – exact price to pay will be shown at the end of the checkout steps, before you pay.

* Got a large (>100) portfolio of domains ?
You can transfer them for free to Othello, an ICANN Accreditted Domain Registrar – contact us for details on our bulk-transfer services.

* Are you a Web Host or Web Designer ?
Resell domain names to your clients and automatically benefit from our everyday fantastic value on domain names, plus any promotions taking place – the OthelloNames.net Domain Reseller service now includes WHMCS Module for drop-in integration with the most common web hosting billing system – click here for more details.

.LTD.uk and .PLC.uk domains are reserved for the exclusive use of the UK Companies (registered at Companies House) with a name exactly matching the domain.

This can lead to “duplications” where symbols are used (like &) and so comments are being requested regarding “expanding” the symbols to words (like “and”)

For full details, and the address to contact to submit your views, visit Stakeholders can now give their views on these changes and how the new rules could be applied to existing .ltd.uk and .plc.uk domain name registrations.

So, Othello will be operating a reduced Sales and Accounts Team (for telephone enquiries) from Friday 23rd December until Tuesday 2nd January 2012.

Normal operating hours (all times quoted are UK timezone – GMT)

• Support Team
  Email/Ticket – 24 x 7 x 365
  Telephone – 24 x 7 x 365
• Sales Team
  Online Sales through the website(s) is always available 24×7
  Email/Ticket – Mon-Fri 9.00am to 9.00pm
  Telephone – Mon-Fri 9.30am to 5.30pm
  Live-chat – Mon-Fri 9.30am to 5.30pm
• Accounts Team
  Email/Ticket – Mon-Fri 9.00am to 9.00pm
  Telephone – Mon and Fri 10.00am to 4.00pm

Christmas and New Year Reduced Hours

Support – 24 x 7 x 365 as always

Friday 23rd December

Sales – 9.30am to 2.30pm
Accounts – 9.30am to 2.30pm

Saturday 24th December

Sales – Closed
Accounts – Closed

Sunday 25th December

Sales – Closed
Accounts – Closed

Monday 26th December

Sales – Closed
Accounts – Closed

Tuesday 27th December

Sales – Closed
Accounts – Closed

Wednesday 28th December

Sales – 9.30am to 2.30pm
Accounts – 9.30am to 2.30pm

Thursday 29th December

Sales – 9.30am to 2.30pm
Accounts – 9.30am to 2.30pm

Friday 30th December

Sales – 9.30am to 2.30pm
Accounts – 9.30am to 2.30pm

Saturday 31st December

Sales – Closed
Accounts – Closed

Sunday 1st January 2012

Sales – Closed
Accounts – Closed

Monday 2nd January

Sales – Closed
Accounts – Closed

We are always very busy with new orders, helping people with their new laptops, setting up new emails – especially between 24th December and 5th January, so for efficiency ask everyone to refer to the online support system for Sales, Accounts and Support questions rather than the telephone(s) if possible
– that way we can ensure everything gets tracked and dealt with as quickly as possible – please do not email any staff directly, as they may not be able to respond until their return in the New Year.

We would like to thank all our clients, twitter followers and affiliates for your continued business throughout 2011, and to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a successful New Year for 2012!

There’s a really usefull Java based word-map (tag-cloud) generator which can analyse a blog by it’s RSS Feed and generate an image Wordle

GNSO Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery Working Group Presents Final Report

The GNSO Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) Working Group has submitted its Final Report

http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr-final-report-14jun11-en.pdf [PDF, 998 KB]

to the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council today, 14 June 2011.

The PEDNR WG was tasked to address questions in relation to what extent registrants should be able to renew their domain names after they expire. Following review of the comments

https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/9405459/PEDNR+Public+comment+review+tool+-+Final+-+8+June+2011.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1307530348000

received on its proposed Final Report, the Working Group now presents its Final Report, which contains 18 recommendations including the following:

1. Provide a minimum of 8 days after expiration for renewal by registrant (Recommendation #2)
2. An expired website must explicitly say that registration has expired and instructions on how to recover the registration (Recommendation #3)
3. The registration agreement must include information on the fees charged for the post-expiration renewal of a domain name (Recommendation #5)
4. Clear indication of methods used to deliver pre- and post-expiration notifications must be provided (Recommendation #6)
5. At least two notices prior to expiration need to be sent at set times and one after expiration (Recommendation #7 & #8)
6. Notifications must not solely be done by methods which require explicit action by the Registrant (Recommendation #9)
7. All gTLDs and registrars must offer Redemption Grace Period (RGP), with the exception of sponsored gTLDs (Recommendation #13 & 14)
8. The transfer of a domain name during the RGP should not be allowed (Rec#15)
9. ICANN should develop educational materials on how to properly steward a domain name and prevent unintended loss (Recommendation #16)
10. Best practice recommendations: Post-expiration notifications should be sent to some other contact point than to the email address associated with the expired registration (Recommendation #10), provide notice of where notification emails will be sent from (Recommendation #11), encourage registrants to provide a secondary email point of contact (Recommendation #12)

Further details and background on each of these and the other recommendations can be found in the PEDNR Final Report <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr-final-report-14jun11-en.pdf>  [PDF, 998 KB]. The GNSO Council will now consider these recommendations for adoption.

Background

At the ICANN Meeting in Cairo in November 2008, the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), voted to request an Issues Report on the subject of registrants being able to recover domain names after their formal expiration date. The ALAC request was submitted to ICANN policy staff and the GNSO Council on 20 November 2008. The Issues Report on Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery <http://gnso.icann.org/issues/post-expiration-recovery/report-05dec08.pdf>  [PDF, 422 KB] was submitted to the GNSO Council on 5 December 2008. The GNSO Council initiated a PDP <http://gnso.icann.org/resolutions/#200905>  on 7 May 2009 and tasked a Working Group to answer the following charter questions:

• Whether adequate opportunity exists for registrants to redeem their expired domain names;
• Whether expiration-related provisions in typical registration agreements are clear and conspicuous enough;
• Whether adequate notice exists to alert registrants of upcoming expirations;
• Whether additional measures need to be implemented to indicate that once a domain name enters the Auto-Renew Grace Period, it has expired (e.g., hold status, a notice on the site with a link to information on how to renew, or other options to be determined);
• Whether to allow the transfer of a domain name during the RGP.

The Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery (PEDNR) PDP Working Group started its deliberations in July 2009.

Further Information:

* PEDNR Final Report http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr-final-report-14jun11-en.pdf [PDF, 998 KB]

* PEDNR Public Comment Review Tool https://community.icann.org/download/attachments/9405459/PEDNR+Public+comment+review+tool+-+Final+-+8+June+2011.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1307530348000

* PEDNR PDP Proposed Final Report http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr/pednr-proposed-final-report-21feb11-en.pdf [PDF, 972 KB]

* PEDNR PDP Initial Report http://gnso.icann.org/issues/pednr/pednr-initial-report-31may10-en.pdf [PDF, 1.02 MB]

* PEDNR WG workspace https://st.icann.org/post-expiration-dn-recovery-wg/