Featured Blogs

Beyond Whois: Towards a New Framework of Internet Domain Registration Data Disclosure

The collection and disclosure of DNS registration data have evolved chaotically, influenced by GDPR and other privacy laws. The system, while improving privacy, has enabled bad actors and raised costs for registrars and registries. Join experts at this event as they explore Project Jake's framework for balancing privacy with legitimate data needs, emphasizing policy clarity, efficiency, and adaptability. more

Internet Governance Outlook 2025: Unbordered Spaces vs. Bordered Places

At the end of the 20th century, Manuel Castells gave an outlook into the "Network Society" of the 21st century. One of his forecasts was that the world would move from "bordered places" (sovereign nation-states) to "unbordered spaces" (global networks). A quarter of a century later, we see that he was right and wrong. We do now have "unbordered spaces." We can communicate around the globe anytime with anybody, regardless of frontiers. But the "bordered places" did not disappear. More and more states are insisting on their "digital sovereignty." more

Unregistered Gems Part 6: Phonemizing Strings to Find Brandable Domains

The UnregisteredGems.com series of articles explores a range of techniques to filter and search through the universe of unregistered domain names, in order to find examples which may be compelling candidates for entities looking to select a new brand name (and its associated domain). The previous instalment of the series looked at the categorisation of candidate names according to the phonetic characteristics of its constituent consonants, using a simple one-to-one mapping between each consonant and a corresponding phonetic group. more

How Decades-Old Decisions Left U.S. Networks Vulnerable to Chinese Cyberintrusion

It seems like there is more disturbing news every day about Chinese infiltration of our telecommunications networks. A recent headline said that nine large ISPs have now been infiltrated. Tom Wheeler, a previous Chairman of the FCC, recently wrote an article for the Brookings Institute that speculates that the ability of the Chinese to infiltrate our networks stems back to decisions made decades ago that have never been updated for the modern world of sophisticated hacking. more

Nominations Open for 2025 Public Interest Registry (PIR) Board of Directors

Are you interested in helping guide the future of the Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit operator of a number of domains that serve the public interest, including .ORG, .NGO and .ONG? Or do you know of someone who would be a good candidate? If so, the Internet Society is seeking nominations for three positions on the PIR Board of Directors. The nomination deadline is 14 February 2025. more

Mark Zuckerberg’s Content Moderation Overhaul: Prelude to a Fragmented Internet and a Threat to Truth

Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement of sweeping changes to Meta's content moderation policies marks a pivotal moment for the internet, democracy, and truth itself. The decision to replace third-party fact-checking with a decentralized "Community Notes" system and relocate trust and safety operations to Texas signals a shift in Meta's governance approach. This move is not only politically expedient but also a troubling prelude to the tech industry bowing to the political priorities of the incoming Trump administration. more

Unregistered Gems Part 5: Using Groupings to Find Brandable Domains

The initial instalment of my recent series of articles on domain name discovery1 considered the use of phonotactic analysis - that is, the measure of the similarity of a string to the 'corpus' of other words in a language - to identify available unregistered candidate domains which may be of interest for potential brandability. more

Is Your Router Spying on You?

If you've followed the telecom industry at all, you've heard of the effort to rip-and-replace Chinese network gear used mostly in cellular networks and in some fiber networks. The U.S. government ordered that such equipment be replaced, although it has funded the replacement in dribs and drabs. There has been heightened scrutiny of Chinese electronics since the recently discovered Beijing-sponsored cyberattacks that have been reported to have infiltrated the networks of major U.S. more

Guowang Finally Launches Ten Large Production Satellites

In April 2020, The Chinese State Council's executive meeting declared information technology, including satellite Internet, an important part of the "new technology," and in October, China applied for Guowang, a 12,992-satellite Internet service constellation. Subsequently, a few Guowang test satellites were launched, and two other large Chinese constellations were announced, and one, Thousand Sails, already has 54 satellites in orbit. (Thousand Sails launches have had problems with debris and orbit raising, which attests to the immaturity of the Chinese space industry). Finally, Guowang has launched its first production satellites. more

IGF 2024 in Riyadh: AI, WSIS+20 and the Global South

"Building our Multistakeholder Digital Future" was the theme of the 19th edition of the UN-based Internet Governance Forum (IGF). It attracted more than 11.000 participants (Offline and Online) from all over the world in Riyadh/Saudi Arabia, December 15-19, 2024. In the 307 plenaries, workshops, open fora, lightening talks and other conversations in the meeting rooms and the lobby halls of the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center (KAICC), nearly everything... more

The Christmas Goat and IPv6 (Year 15)

The Christmas Goat attracted 809 unique AS numbers this year, with IPv6 usage led by the USA and Finland. Despite a rise to 39% IPv6 adoption, challenges like outdated routers persist. As this 15-year tradition concludes, the holiday Goat highlights the progress and hurdles of IPv6 integration. more

ICANN CSG and NCSG Make Progress at ICANN81

The Commercial Stakeholder Group and Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (together, the Non-Contracted Party House, or NCPH) met for a daylong Day 0 session on 8 November 2024, immediately prior to the opening of the ICANN81 meeting in Istanbul. This meeting follows one of a similar nature conducted prior to ICANN78 in Hamburg, which was the first joint NCPH meeting following the pandemic. more

Why Most People Haven’t Heard of the DNS Root Server System

At the ICANN 81 meeting in Istanbul on 10 November 2024, I gave a presentation about the DNS Root Server System, in an effort to increase understanding of the Root Server System (RSS) and Root Server Operators (RSOs). The talk was intended for the members of the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), but much of this explanation may be of interest to general audiences. more

Crypto - The New Market for Lemons

Ever buy a used car only to realize later that you've purchased a lemon? That scenario occurs because of information asymmetry between the seller -- who knows the car is a lemon -- and the buyer who doesn't. Without transparency, the market assumed that any used car for sale is a lemon, so that drove down the price of good used cars. The good news is that thanks to the Internet, buyers now have access to data that can help them determine if a car is a lemon or a good buy. more

Fragmented Connections: How Network Fees Threaten Brazil’s Internet

The debate surrounding network usage fees in Brazil has intensified following the approval of Bill 469/2024 by the House of Representatives' Communications Committee in early December 2024. This bill prohibits telecommunications operators from charging internet companies based on data traffic. While this is merely a preliminary step in a lengthy legislative process, it signals that proposals from telecom companies to implement network usage fees are unlikely to gain traction. more