Bret Fausett hosted a lively discussion about new generic top-level domains — whether they’re worth anything, and how we can make them useful.

with the introduction today of the public beta of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7, internationalized domain names (IDNs) are about to enter a new phase. It’s a huge step forward for non-English-speaking people and a huge challenge for intellectual property owners, and possibly for the future of a unified Internet.

Since ICANN took over in 1998, we have experienced a net loss of top-level domains despite the publicized introduction of a few new ones.

The French protest a proposed law that makes the Digital Millenium Copyright Act seem tame; two new French blogs of interest

I plug my interview in which I plug Names@Work

.XXX delayed; no vote on ICANN-VeriSign appeasement until March; the Giggle Test; Timeless quotes

ICANN settled its suit with VeriSign, but at the meeting in Vancouver it gets served with two more lawsuits alleging antitrust and price-fixing in connection with the ICANN-VeriSign agreement.

While even ICANN’s most loyal supporters are demoralized by its latest deal with VeriSign, the view from Tunis, where the U.N./ITU-sponsored WSIS meeting just finished, is even more dismal.