Recent Posts
- These are the TLD growers and shrinkers of 2024 (part two)
- GoDaddy ordered to stop lying about crappy security
- These are the TLD growers and shrinkers of 2024 (part one)
- Dead terrorist domains for sale, just without the hyphens
- ICANN eyes more price hikes as it predicts dismal year for industry
- Meet the six people battling to join ICANN’s board
- New gTLD use cases not much use
- Defensive dot-brands are renewing, making ICANN millions
- Identity Digital offers free domain trials through LinkedIn
- Antisemitic remarks cost registrar dearly
- ICANN lawyers want to keep their clients secret
- Facebook cybersquatter asks ICANN to overturn UDRP ruling
- .xxx founder Stuart Lawley has died
- The new gTLD Next Round is really happening as two ICANN programs go live
- Verisign has much to be thankful for as .com contract renewed
- Another 40,000 .ai domains registered
- RDRS usage hits new low
- A dot-brand that was actually used is shutting down
- .id joins the million-domain club
- GoDaddy’s .xxx contract renewed
- Twitter clone Bluesky has one feature domain people should like
- ICANN confirms two bans on new gTLD gaming
- eBay slogan domain no longer has a BIN price
- Will Donald Trump be .io’s white knight?
- As customers flee legacy gTLDs, .org tops 11 million names
- Company accidentally puts porn domain on kids’ toys
- eBay’s new slogan looks like a $75,000 domain it doesn’t own
- Americans are deserting .com
- Weak Q3 for the domain universe, Verisign reports
- ICANN says it WILL raise its domain taxes soon
- Senator says domain industry “enables” Russian disinfo attacks
- bit.ليبيا? Libya to get its Arabic ccTLD
- Verisign gets eight more years running the root
- Two-horse race for open ICANN board seat
- Chinese say internet not ready for single-letter gTLDs
- Unloved INTA slams ICANN over new gTLDs
- Namecheap scores win in .org price-cap lawsuit
- Some Guy wants to take over .com and .net
- Second-shot gTLD bid rules revealed
- Nominet names directors after tight election
- Lawyer ban coming to ICANN
- Identity Digital to take over .ai
- ICA teams up with WIPO on UDRP reform
- Response to sex harassment lawsuit “inadequate”, say ICANN vets
- Unstoppable tops four million names
- Amazon readying fashion and book gTLDs
- Five times ICANN deleted a ccTLD, and what it means for .io
- Future of .io domains uncertain as UK hands over Chagos islands
- .ai now has over half a million names
- UK and Israel cut ICANN funding
- Twitter now up-to-date on linkification
- Moment of truth as .music domains finally go on sale
- ICANN fixes embarrassing “What is a Domain Name?” mistake
- Another ccTLD opens up its second level
- Reporter gains first access to .io island for decades
- .io sells $40 million of domains after massive uptick
- After five years, “useless” TLD has two web sites
- Verisign agrees to .com takedown rules
- New .com contract could see ALL domain prices go up
- Investing in .ad domains may be risky
- Plurals ban policy handed to ICANN board
- Three .now domains sell at premium EAP prices
- ICANN confirms new gTLD application fee
- New gTLD application fee rises by thousands after collision call
- Former .co registry defeated in $350 million contract fix case
- Is this the first Next Round new gTLD contention battle?
- ICANN names its Supreme Court judges
- Who uses Sunrise nowadays? You might be surprised
- ICANN gunning for Tencent over abuse claims
- All the one-character .sk domains to be auctioned
- Straggler gTLD signs first ICANN contract for years
- GoDaddy likely to win relaxed .xxx deal
- Tonkin promoted to CEO at auDA
- ICANN hires new Ombuds from WIPO
- Big twist as ICANN bans new gTLD auctions
- ICANN to “strengthen” harassment rules as it picks another homophobic meeting host
- .my global relaunch starts slowly despite cheapo prices
- Hackers break .mobi after Whois domain expires
- The new gTLD next, next and next round
- Squarespace gets sweetened $7.2 billion takeover offer
- ICANN hit by DDoS attack
- Russia calls for ICANN to split from US
- China loses over half a million domains
- ICANN to be director light for months
- FBI seizes Russian fake news domains
- Chinese registrars back in trouble after porn UDRP suspension
- Sataki quits ICANN board
- Microsoft switches two gTLDs from GoDaddy to Nominet
- ICANN homes in on new gTLD application fee
- Four more dot-brands switch back-ends
- Uzbekistan gets its first ICANN registrar
- Almost 100,000 .tr domains registered in one day
- ICA finally comments on .com pricing talks
- Unstoppable reveals gTLD bid doomed to fail
- RDRS usage stabilizing?
- “Frat boy culture” ICANN faces more sexual harassment claims
- Unstoppable gets ICANN accreditation
- AI and games among July’s interesting dot-brand domains
- ICANN U-turns on appeals loophole after community revolt
- ICANN to terminate five new gTLDs
- US could change .com pricing terms
- Two out, two in as NomCom picks new ICANN directors
- .cv domains now on sale worldwide
- It’s official, .internal is blocked forever
- Amazon to launch two new gTLDs this month
- Revealed: who’s really running Epik
- ICANN swaps out Asia VP
- No .uk price hikes despite tumbling sales
- Domain world growth despite .com slide
- Verisign predicts more gloom as registrars shun .com growth
- Republicans quiz NTIA on Verisign .com renewal
- Smaller, more intense ICANN meetings with no free cocktails?
- Private auctions to be banned in next new gTLD round
- .au prices going up
- Nominet names director hopefuls
- Crowdstrike screw-up took down ICANN’s email
- We grassed up .TOP, says free abuse outfit
- ICANN to earmark $10 million for new gTLD subsidies
- TV network rebrands on single-letter domain
- First registry gets breach notice over new abuse rules
- Americans and ICANNers avoid Kigali in droves
- RDRS stats improve a little in June
- Unstoppable Domains goes down after domain hijack
- Four more gTLDs in emergency measures
- New gTLDs and ccTLDs drive domain universe growth
.xxx founder Stuart Lawley has died
Stuart Lawley, who battled ICANN to launch the .xxx gTLD, has reportedly died of a heart attack aged 61.
AVN, a trade publication for the adult video industry, reported the news yesterday, citing his friend Greg Dumas.
While Lawley did not found ICM Registry, he took it over early in its fight for .xxx and ran it through its 2011 launch until its sale to MMX in 2018.
He was in charge during the protracted fight to get ICANN to approve .xxx over the objections of governments and some in the porn industry, which led to a precedent-setting Independent Review Process proceeding, which ICM won.
For the domain industry, Lawley arguably leaves two important legacies — a more accountable ICANN, and the now industry-standard concept of domain-blocking services, which ICM came up with with its “Sunrise B”.
I really liked Stu. I considered him a mate.
He was an extremely low-bullshit source, but our regular conversations back at the height of the .xxx controversy more often than not also diverged into our personal lives — everything from our love lives to our respective blood pressure scores — which doesn’t happen very often in my line of work.
Having sold his scratch-built fax machine company for $200 million in the 1990s, his life was considerably more interesting than mine. It’s because of Stu that, should the opportunity ever present itself, I know why it’s a bad idea to buy a private jet.
We hadn’t talked much since his son, Sabian, was killed by a hit-and-run driver a couple of years ago, a tragic and still-unsolved incident that caused him to retire from business.
If you find this post or this blog useful or interestjng, please support Domain Incite, the independent source of news, analysis and opinion for the domain name industry and ICANN community.
Condolences to his family and friends.