.hk Hong Kongs Web Address

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.hk Hong Kongs Web Address

• Prof. Francis Y. L. Chin
• Chair Professor, CSIS Dept., HKU
• Interim CEO, Hong Kong Domain Name Registration
  Co. Ltd.

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Items to be discussed

• Introduction
• What are Domain Names?
• Statistics and Facts
• Issues
• Management of Domain Names
• Situation in Hong Kong
• Opportunities
• Extensions, Chinese Domain Names
• Success Stories

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Introduction
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(No Transcript)
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What Are Domain Names?

• A unique alpha-numeric name, which maps to an
  unique IP address, to identify a particular
  computer in the Internet
• No need to memorize IP addresses E.g.
  www.csis.hku.hk ? 147.8.179.10www.cuhk.edu.hk ?
  137.189.6.37

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Domain Names Registered
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Generic Top Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

• .com - commercial entities
• .org - non-profit making organizations
• .edu - academic institutions
• .net - network providers
• .gov - government

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.com/.net/.org - Distribution
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Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLDs)

• For example, .hk, .uk. .fr, .ca, .cn, .tw, .jp
• Total 243 assigned country codes
• 184 are active
• Lesser known domain names .us, which is
  geographically specific, e.g.,name.city.state.us

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US/International Breakdown by Month
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Domain Name Registration (Network Solutions)

• Top Ten Countries outside US
• Korea, Canada, UK, Italy, France,
• Spain, Germany Japan, HK, Netherlands(Korea 1998
  29th, 1999 6th)
• Top Ten Cities outside US
• Seoul, HK, London, Paris, Toronto,
• Vancouver, Tokyo, Singapore, Milan, and Madrid

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Korean Internet users (millions)
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Korea broadband subscribers (000s)
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Perspectives

• Korea 4m bb users in population of 47m
• US 6-7m in population of 260m
• Japan 0.5m in population of 130m

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HK Domain Names by Month
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Issues
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Global Administration

• By ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
  and Numbers)
• A non-profit, private-sector corporation
• Manages the worlds Domain Names, allocates IP
  address spaces etc.
• Countries can apply from ICANN to manage their
  own ccTLD, registration are usually done by
  Government, Universities or Private Companies

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Situation in Hong Kong

• HK Network Information Centre (HKNIC) under the
  Joint Universities Computer Centre (JUCC)
  registered .hk ccTLD from ICANN in April 1990
• Technical operation undertaken by CUHK
• Financial operation undertaken by HKU
• Accounting undertaken by HKPolyU
• HK Domain Name Registration Co Ltd (JUCC
  subsidiary)
• A review task force under IIAC was set up in Oct
  99. Consultative paper in Jun 00 for the
  establishment of Hong Kong Internet Registration
  Authority (HKIRA)

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Old policy - .hk DN

• 200 one-off fee for each DN registration
• One .com.hk per company (need to present Business
  Registration)
• Transfer not allowed
• Dispute resolution by Courts

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New policy - HKDNR

• More than one DN for each organization
  (first-come-first-serve)
• Transfer of DN allowed
• HK presence required
• Renewal fee
• Dispute resolution by arbitration
• Old registrants can opt for the new agreement or
  stay with the old
• Sunrise period (initial batching) June 1-8, 2001

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Opportunities
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Why .hk Domain Name?

• Alternatives lots of untaken choices of domain
  names

A
B
C
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Alternatives

• Appetite.com.hk
• Laws.com.hk
• Mutualfunds.com.hk
• Father.com.hk
• Happiness.com.hk
• All available, but cost a lot in .com

Another example flowers-n-balloons.com but
eflowers.com.hk, sendflowers.com.hk, roses.com.hk
are available
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Why .hk Domain Name?

• Alternatives lots of untaken choices of domain
  names

• Based in HK way to distinguish by origin in the
  vast World Wide Web
• Certified entities match against Business
  Registrations, Society Registrations,
• Finally you dont want your domain name taken by
  cybersquatters.

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New Top Level Domain Names

• .name for individuals
• .biz for business, alternative to .com
• .info for content based web-sites
• .pro for professionals
• Others .air (.aero), .museum, .coop

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Phone Number into Net Names

• Easy data entry
• WebNum project (for Wireless phones)
• Logo number

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Chinese Domain Names

• ??.com.hk
• . ??
• . ??
• Some famous Chinese Registered DNs
• ????.com/. ??
• ????.com/. ??
• ????.com/. ??
• ?????.com
• ???.com/. ??
• ???.com/. ??
• ???.com/. ??

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Chinese Domain Names

• China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC)
  vs ICANN
• Joint project between China, Taiwan, Hong Kong
  and Macau
• iDNS (Singapore, ICANN)
• CNNIC vs Chinas Bureau of Quality and Technical
  Supervision
• CNNIC has 400k Chinese DNs registered (Feb 01)
• Experimental system shelved, E.g., ?? . ?? . ??
  ????.????.?????

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Cybersquatting Register a Famous Name for
Huge Profit

• E.g. tom.com HK20M plus 6.5M shares
• Ways to resolve dispute
• Negotiation
• Mediation
• Arbitration
• LitigationFor example American rock star Bruce
  Springsteen vs brucespringsteen.com
• UN World Intellectual Property Organization
  (WIPO) calls for Uniform Dispute Resolution
  Policy (UDRP)E.g., hangsengcredit.com in Sept
  2000

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.tv Story
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.tv Story

• Tuvalu 9-island South Pacific nation with
  10,000 people (takes 3 days to there from HK)
• 1998 Jason Chapnick (Canadian student) offered
  US50M
• 1999 Reduced to US4M/yr for 10 years and 20
  stake
• Jan 00 Hired its first employee
• May 00 Launched the web-site, selling several
  000 DN/week
• Nov 00 Raised US28M (led by Verisign)
• Feb 01 Sold 200K names at a minimum of US50/yr,
  
• China.tv, net.tv and free.tv, cost US100K
• GDP of Tuvalu US6m ? US10m

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Available domain names

• appetite.com.hk
• laws.com.hk
• mutualfunds.com.hk
• father.com.hk
• happiness.com.hk
• strategy.com.hk
• greatdomains.com.hk
• ecards.com.hk
• eflowers.com.hk

• greetings.com.hk
• adventures.com.hk
• squash.com.hk
• basketball.com.hk
• animals.com.hk
• miracles.com.hk
• footballworld.com.hk
• vacations.com.hk
• chocolate.com.hk

• All available, but cost a lot in .com

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The End