Featured Blogs

‘Pokemon’ Domain Names are a No-Go

The legal issues surrounding the sudden success of "Pokemon Go" -- one of the world's fastest-growing apps or games -- are popping up as quickly as unhatched Eggs at a PokéStop. Within days of the game's release, the National Safety Council issued a call that "urges pedestrians to exercise caution while playing the Pokémon Go augmented reality game" and "implores drivers to refrain from playing the game behind the wheel." more

Developing Internet of Things Building Blocks

The Internet is undergoing an evolutionary transformation resulting from the explosive growth of things that are interconnected. From single purpose sensors through wearable technologies to sophisticated computing devices, we are creating, exchanging, and consuming more data at rates that would have been inconceivable just a decade ago. The market suggests the average consumer believes this is the best world possible. As technologists, we have a responsibility to consider if we are building an Internet that is in the best interest of the user. more

Fibre Optic Technologies for the Next 50 Years

It might be hard to imagine but we were already talking about fibre to the home networks back in the 1970s and 1980s. This was in the early days of interactive TV and pay TV and fibre optics were already at that time seen as the next level of telecoms infrastructure needed for such services. The first residential fibre pilot networks were built in Berlin and Nagasaki. One of the most ambitious projects was in Columbus Ohio, but in the end they decided to continue with their HFC network. more

NTIA Revs up Rhetoric as IANA Transition Looms

It's been almost six weeks since the NTIA announced "that the proposal developed by the global Internet multistakeholder community meets the criteria NTIA outlined in March 2014 when it stated its intent to transition the U.S. Government's stewardship role for the Internet domain name system (DNS) technical functions, known as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions", and thereby signaled the start of the last lap of the IANA transition marathon. more

Fair Use Incorporating Trademarks in Domain Names

The paragraph 4(c)(iii) safe harbors of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy are construed from a five word phrase, "legitimate noncommercial or fair use." "Noncommercial" like "identical" in paragraph 4(a)(i) has a defined meaning; it does not include domain names inactively held (for any alleged purpose), although non-use is not necessarily fatal to rights or legitimate interests. "Fair use" has a larger canvass; it includes nominative (commercial) use that is fair and Constitutionally protected speech. more

Internet: Quo Vadis (Where are you going?)

Articles, blogs, and meetings about the internet of the future are filled with happy, positive words like "global", "uniform", and "open". The future internet is described in ways that seem as if taken from a late 1960's Utopian sci-fi novel: the internet is seen as overcoming petty rivalries between countries, dissolving social rank, equalizing wealth, and bringing universal justice. If that future is to be believed, the only obstacle standing between us and an Arcadian world of peace and harmony is that the internet does not yet reach everyone... more

5 Myths About DMCA ‘Take-Down’ Notices

The so-called notice-and-take-down provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provide both a very effective tool for copyright owners to get infringing content removed from the Internet as well as an important protection for service providers (such as website hosting companies) that may inadvertently publish infringing material, either directly or via user-generated content. more

Open Internet Access on the Line in Brussels

This summer EU regulators are finalizing their guidelines for member states on legal protections for wired, wireless and mobile open Internet access service. European citizens, businesses and NGOs have one last chance to make their voices heard on the so-called "net neutrality" guidelines by writing a comment for Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) by July 18. more

Hyperties: “Travel Adaptors” for the Cloud?

I have spent the day here in Berlin attending my second advisory board meeting for the EU research project reTHINK. I'm chewing over what I learnt about the possible future of the telecoms and cloud industry. There has been a decades-long tussle between the communications and computing parts of the ICT industry. Both sides wish to exert power over the digital economy. Sometimes this tussle works for the common good, sometimes not. more

Populism and Hi-Tech

At a recent panel discussion in Berkeley, USA, the topic - The Moral Economy of Tech - was explored. The panel discussed the way hi-tech people in general view themselves and their work, and even though I am not an engineer or a developer of software and algorithms I could very much relate to that. I often mention the fact that I am proud to be a member of this industry, as it in general provides positive developments to society and the economy. more

New Top Level Domain Industry First Half 2016 Analysis & Insights (Infographic)

This post provides an overview from The First Half of 2016 infographic, reflecting on some of the intriguing highlights of the new gTLD industry. The data analyzed within the infographic is based on the following: Revenues are based on the average retail price over four registrars (101domain, eNom, GoDaddy and United Domains) at the end of June 2016; Top three TLDs launched in 2016 are based on TLDs entering into General Availability after January 1st and based on volumes and not revenues ... more

Domain Names Identical to Trademarks But No Likelihood of Confusion

Confusion is a basic element in both cybersquatting and trademark infringement. It appears twice in the UDRP; once in paragraph 4(a)(i) in the adjectival phrase "confusing similarity", and once in paragraph 4(b)(iv) in the phrase "likelihood of confusion." Each use of the distinctive phrases is directed to a different observer. More of this in a moment. The first relates to standing; the second to infringement. Unless a party has standing it can have no actionable claim. more

Is There a Positive Business Case for IPv6? We Are About to Find Out, If You Help Us…

Large-scale IPv6 deployments suggest that IPv6 is at least a technical success, the technology works. Time to visit the other important question: does it work commercially. Does IPv6 really come with a positive business case? We are about to find out, if you help us... The Internet technical community has spent about two decades making IPv6 work on a technical level. We have developed the protocol, modified and expanded a few others; we set up the registry system and distributed the addresses. more

Heritage Holding Anti-IANA Transition Event With Cruz

The Heritage Foundation are conservative, in the American political sense. So it's not surprising that they've been linked to some of the anti-IANA transition stuff coming from Ted Cruz and Co. Tomorrow they're holding an event, which is clearly not aimed at bolstering support on Capitol Hill for the IANA transition... While I, and many others, would find the entire "jeopardizing free expression and enterprise" angle to be total bunkum, it is aimed at tapping into US conservative fears. more

eco to Address the Impact of Brexit on the Domain Industry

eco, which is the largest internet industry association in Europe, is holding a virtual meeting later this month to discuss Brexit. The meeting, which is scheduled for July 27th at 1200 UTC, will be the first of several dialogues among industry to discuss the potential impact of the UK's exit from the EU on the domain name industry. As I mentioned in a recent post, the exit of the UK from the EU has an "unknown" impact on how domain name registries and registrars will interact with UK based registrants. more