WEST PALM BEACH, FL - In a recent announcement Google revealed that it will discontinue the call and chat history features in Google Business Profiles by July 31, 2024. This move appears to be part of a broader effort to streamline Google's services and shift its focus elsewhere. While these changes will affect how businesses interact with their leads, it also presents an opportunity to enhance marketing efforts with proper planning and the right tools. What’s Changing in … [Read more...]
New Service to Assist with WHOIS Lookups Launched by ICANN for Authorized Users
LOS ANGELES, CA - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – the nonprofit organization that oversees the domain industry – has launched a new centralized online service to assist researchers, law enforcement, and others to request personal data from all public domain registration records. This new service comes after ICANN had instructed all registrars in May 2018 to redact personal data – such as a customer’s name, address, phone number … [Read more...]
SEDO: Largest European Registrar to Implement New SedoMLS Brokerage
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Sedo, the world's leading domain marketplace is announcing a newly released feature for registrars they say will “further strengthen the bonds between the primary and secondary markets.” Registrar customers can now get the domains they really want while domain sellers gain increased access to even more buyers. All registrars who are part of the SedoMLS network can now easily expand their integration to include the newly available SedoMLS Brokerage. … [Read more...]
Cryptocurrency Exchange BitMEX Called “Outrageously Incompetent” for Using “CC”
PALM BEACH, FL – BitMex, a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2014 has accidentally emailed its users with the CC (carbon copy) field rather than the “private” BCC (blind carbon copy) field leading to outrage by many of its users. In a tweet posted on Nov. 1, crypto-currency attorney Jake Chervinsky said the leak was done in the most “outrageously incompetent way imaginable.” BitMEX released an official statement on the issue, emphasizing that no … [Read more...]
U.S. GDPR: The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Goes Into Effect January 2020
PALM BEACH, FL - The US's answer to European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), enacted in 2018, will create new consumer rights relating to the access to, deletion of, and sharing of personal information that is collected by businesses. It also requires California's Attorney General to solicit broad public participation and adopt regulations to further the CCPA's purposes. The proposed regulations will establish … [Read more...]
New “Mind Your Own Business Act” Allows for Fines, Jail Time for Privacy Violations
WASHINGTON - Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has introducedlegislation, called the Mind Your Own Business Act, that would make it more difficult for online platforms to collect and use customer data. The bill is in some ways similar to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Among other things, the bill would: Give the Federal Trade Commission the authority to establish minimum privacy and cyber-security standards. Allow the FTC to issue … [Read more...]
General Data Protection Regulation and Cookie Policies, No Big Deal, Or Is It?
PALM BEACH - They are everywhere and becoming more and more annoying. It is now all too common to be presented with messages on each website you visit; they all want you to opt in to their cookie and privacy policy due to the new General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. It seems like an unnecessary distraction; you hit the button to accept the policy and you carry on. No big deal. But is that all there is to it? Today I sent someone an article to read. They didn’t … [Read more...]
Will JP Morgan’s Launch of Cryptocurrency Further Squeeze Domain Name Sales?
NEW YORK, NY – It’s been a very interesting few years recently hasn’t it? As if there weren’t enough reasons for your typical domain name investor to diversify his online bets, here comes another big one. Financial powerhouse JP Morgan Chase has announced it will be launching its own cryptocurrency called "JPM Coin" with a fixed rate value of $1. The move solidifies a [sort of] ‘questionable’ industry with instant validity in my opinion as JP Morgan acts as the first major … [Read more...]
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Affected Country List; May 25 2018
NEW YORK - On May 25 2018, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires a change to Domain Name Whois services. When a Whois search is conducted on a domain registered in the European Economic Area (EEA), the results will only show domain technical information, Registrant Country and State/Province. This impacts customers in the EEA as well as customers in countries that mirror languages and currencies of GDPR impacted regions. The countries which are affected by GDPR … [Read more...]
Shortcut to GDPR Preparation for Sites and Services That Do Not Target EU Users
NEW YORK - As you are probably well aware due to the number of emails you are receiving, by next Friday, May 25th, 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) will go into full effect. You should be preparing to update your Privacy Policy even if your site does not target EU users. I wanted to share what I have learned so far as I prepare to update some of my United States websites. I urge you to seek out your own advice and council on what to do to bring your … [Read more...]
Will Internet Remain Safe Place to Invest and Conduct Business in Years to Come?
NEW YORK – Back in 2016, the ICA, (The Internet Commerce Association) asked me a very important question; they asked what I thought would be some of the biggest challenges the domain industry would face in the coming years. While some might answer that question with suggestions about the difficulties new gTLDs may bring toward branding, or monetization strategies with domain parking from declining CPCs, my answer was likely very - very different than most domainers. This … [Read more...]
World Not Ready to Lose Access to ‘WhoIs’
NEW YORK, NY – There has been so much back and forth about the loss of ‘Who Is’ data that its been difficult to fully keep up on it. The ordinary availability of this critical industry information is expected to cease next month on May 25, 2018 when the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) becomes fully enforceable (it already went into effect this year but there is no recourse till May 25). However, today I received a meaningful update from the Internet Commerce … [Read more...]
GDPR: The Entering of a New Era; User Data Privacy and Protection; Are You Ready?
NEW YORK, NY – The clock is counting down on a new set of rules to be enforced this May, which will affect not only UK based businesses, but all businesses operating in the digital realm, in the event they handle user data from UK based residents, to near any extent. There is a lot of preparation going on right now, and has been over the last year, in anticipation of these new rules. Some businesses may even disappear altogether. I for one, actually shut-down and sold-off … [Read more...]
Sedo.com Releases Weekly Domain Name Sales List 11/13/2017 – 11/19/2017
NEW YORK, NY – Just released is Sedo’s weekly sales list, a weekly list of public transactions above $2,000. This weeks highlights included the top .com sold as Sanda.com at $75,000.00 USD, the top ccTLD as stromfreunde.de at 21,420 EUR ($25,139.58 US Dollars) and the top other as gdpr.org at $15,000.00 USD. Here is the entire list for Sedo.com sales from 11/13/2017 – 11/19/2017. Domain … [Read more...]