The population of Internet users in China leapt to 137 million last year, up by a quarter on 2005, new figures show. Data from the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) indicates that the number of web users in China rose at the highest annual rate ever in 2006, with 76 percent of Chinese Internet users accessing the web from home.
 
The 23 percent growth in Internet user population, an increase of 26 million people, means that around 10 percent of the Chinese population is now connected to the Internet. China’s netizen (also known as a cybercitizen) population is now the second-biggest in the world, with an estimated 104 million broadband users in the country.
 
According to the 19th Internet Development report, the most popular pastime among young Chinese people is now surfing the Internet. There are now more than 843,000 websites in China and over 1.8 million .cn domain names were registered in 2006.

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The grace period given to registrants of a new Internet domain name is being increasingly exploited by online entrepreneurs, spammers and scam artists, it has been revealed. The practice, known as domain name tasting, involves registering millions of sample domain names and, using the five day grace period, only paying for the ones seen to generate sufficient amounts of traffic or revenue through advertising.
While cybersquatting has been around for almost as long as the Internet itself, only recently has this practice become commonplace. An average of 1.2 million domain names were tasted each day in December 2006, in comparison to just 7,200 each day two years previously.

Furthermore, a newer variant of the practice, known as kiting, is emerging, involving companies reregistering the same domain name every four or five days to avoid paying for it.

Study to assess domain name market

The domain name sector witnessed “unprecedented growth in 2006″, according to industry news source Domain Name Wire. The editor for the Austin, Texas based company, said: “There’s a lot of excitement in the industry right now. A number of people are just now entering the market – backed by hundreds of millions in capital – and believe there’s still opportunity to make money.” Domain sales attracted record bids last year, with the web address Diamond.com sold for $7.5 million, Vodka.com for $3 million and Cameras.com for $1.5 million.

One of the reasons for the sharp rise in domain name registrations during 2006 could be the increasing use of automated tools and resources that help companies and individuals to identify and purchase expired domain names. Rapid growth in Internet markets, particularly in Asia, has also fuelled the domain name market, with countries such as China and Vietnam reporting a sharp rise in registrations last year.

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Internet news website ZDNET Australia reported this week that an unknown number of web sites owned by Australian users and hosted by US provider RegisterFly have been lost, and attempts to renew or reactivate the web sites have been unsuccessful.

Customers have seen their website disappearing off the internet and their domain name going into ‘parked status’, but have been unable to renew their registrations. US attorney, E Clarke Dummit, is leading a class action lawsuit in the US Federal Court against web host RegisterFly.com, and confirmed that so far six Australian customers have joined the lawsuit.

Industry experts have commented recently that cases of domain name and web hosting scams have decreased in the recent years but are still happening domestically and internationally, as proven by this case. Australian business managers (and personal users) should carefully choose their providers and do some research before signing up.

Read the full article from ZNET Australia

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Does your website measure up?

Sometimes, websites don’t always deliver real value to the business. And they should. That’s why we’re offering you a FREE Website Evaluation Report. Read More

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Your domain name is your business address on the Internet. But do you know that some domain names have more marketing value than others? And more than likely, it is not your business name.

Unless you have spent millions of dollars building a brand the size of Coke and IBM or your business enjoys the limelight Read More

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Holiday periods, long weekends, school holidays, off-season – depending on the sector you operate in there are times when sales activity is sluggish: decision-makers and insider allies are on leave, suppliers are on skeleton staff and some offices even close. It appears nobody is in the mood to make important business decisions. Except you.

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