Featured Blogs

The Internet: Missing the Light

Today's Internet is wonderful for solving hard problems such as connecting to Amazon to buy goods or for using Netflix. Amazon and Netflix, among others, demonstrate what is possible if you put in enough effort. Yet if we are to understand the Internet we need to look beyond those applications to the simplest application such as sending one bit of information from a light switch to a light fixture. more

Chromecast Set to Revolutionise the TV

The principle behind Chromecast is probably the magic formula that is needed to finally revolutionise television watching. Google's latest product was launched yesterday... TV revolution didn't come from the traditional broadcasters or their suppliers. Everything developed by them has been aimed more at protecting their traditional business than at looking for completely new opportunities - truly new TV innovations will most certainly come from the direction that the broader market has taken since the arrival of the smartphones and the tablets. more

What’s Happening With Aug. 13 Applicant Auction to Resolve gTLD Contention?

The second Applicant Auction is coming up on August 13, and after a great round of workshops at the ICANN Conference in Durban, we've started to finalize all of the details. Any applicants who haven't indicated their intention to participate can still do so! more

Avoiding an ICANN Monopoly on Policy

With all the focus in the TLD world on the imminent arrival of more than a thousand new TLDs and the still unfinished discussions within ICANN on what policy framework those TLDs will need to follow, it is often forgotten that there are hundreds of other TLD policy frameworks that are mature, stable and well tested. These of course are the ccTLD policy frameworks that have been actively developed over 20 years. more

Exactly When Is ARIN Going to Run Out of IPv4 Addresses?

At the April 2013 ARIN meeting the inevitable question came up once more: "Exactly when is ARIN going to run out of IPv4 addresses?" Various dates have been proposed as an answer to this question, based on various methods of prediction. As the date is indeed getting closer, it may well be worth the time to review ARIN's situation, and make a few predictions here about the likely date when ARIN's exhausts its remaining pool of IPv4 addresses. more

How to Manage and Secure Big Data

Several developments are coming together in cloud computing that are creating shockwaves throughout society and in the economy. Over the last five years we have seen the debate about cloud computing hotting up. There was the hype around the new development at the same time as warnings regarding security and privacy, and for a while the market seemed subdued about the new development. However the economic reality of cloud computing meant that enterprises and government bureaucracies had little choice but to move ahead with cloud computing... more

INET DC, Weds, July 24: Surveillance, Cybersecurity and the Internet’s Future (Livestream available)

Are you concerned about the recent reports about government surveillance programs? Are you concerned about security and privacy online? If so, you may want to attend (in person or remotely) the INET Washington DC event happening on Wednesday, July 24, from 2:00 - 6:00 pm US Eastern time at George Washington University. Sponsored by the Internet Society and GWU's Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute, the event is free and open to the public and will also be streamed live on the Internet for those who cannot attend in person. more

The Bandwidth Bank

This is a topic that we have discussed on several occasions over the last decade, but it now seems as though things are slowly moving forward. A new company, Intabank, has set up a service whereby its enterprise customers can pool bandwidth that the intermediate company can then use to sell to other customers; enabling organisations to monetise their network connectivity assets. more

A Note on Subscriptions with Introductory Pricing

Over the years, I've kept tabs on residential Internet services in my local area (Vancouver, BC) and noticed that almost all providers have the following "limited time offer"... On the surface, this sounds like a great way to entice users to sign up -- or more importantly, switch over. But are we missing something here? After the initial discounted rate, subscribers receive a friendly reminder of what their subscription actually costs. And chances are, they're not going to be happy with their next bill. more

How Registrants Can Reduce the Threat of Domain Hijacking

Because domain names represent the online identity of individuals, businesses and other organizations, companies and organizations large and small have expressed increasing concern over reports of "domain name hijacking," in which perpetrators fraudulently transfer domain names by password theft or social engineering. The impact of these attacks can be significant, as hijackers are typically able to gain complete control of a victim's domain name - often for a significant period of time. more

Tactics for Responding to Cyber Attacks - Squeezing Your Cyber Response-Curve: Part 1

Many cyber attacks against companies today go unreported, and more still are undetected... Timing and context are everything. The faster a company identifies a problem, and the faster and deeper it is understood and its relevance to the business, the more effectively the company can respond. We call this squeezing the cyber response curve. This two-part post will discuss the current state of cyber threats, what the cyber response curve is and its impact your organization and how you can effectively squeeze this curve to improve attack response. more

ICANN Chairman’s Durban Roundup

Respected ICANN Chairman of the Board Steve Crocker has wrapped up his organisation's 47th International Meeting, held in Durban last week, with a message to the community. This message, reproduced here in its entirety, provides both a useful and concise summary of the Durban meeting and insights into the Chairman's view of where ICANN stands at the moment, the successes it has notched up and the challenges it faces. more

The Importance of Contributing to the ITU CWG-Internet Open Consultation by 1 August 2013

The Council Working Group on international Internet-related public policy issues (CWG-Internet) was established as a result of resolutions at the 2010 ITU Plenipotentiary to discuss a wide range of Internet issues that had public policy implications... These are all issues that concern all stakeholder groups in the Internet ecosystem. And, indeed, these are all issues being discussed in varying levels of detail by all stakeholder groups. The difference with the CWG-Internet, however, is that both its documents and meetings are closed to all non-Member State representatives. more

What New gTLD’s Can Learn From Namejet .PW Auctions & Godaddy’s .LA Auction This Week

Over this past week both Namejet.com and Godaddy.com ran auctions of re-branded ccTLD's and I think the results are a preview of what's to come for new gTLD's that attempt the same strategy. Namejet.com ran an auction of .PW single character domain names; single letter domains and single numbered domain names. Arguably single letter and single numbered domains such as; o.co, 8.asia, and z.com, are some of the most valuable inventory any registry will ever have, especially in the new gTLD world when two letter domains are going to require ICANN approval. more

Four New Generic Top Level Domains

At its meeting in Durban, ICANN signed contracts with the applicants for four new top level domains. The new domains are ????, which means "web" in Arabic, ?????? and ????, which mean "online" and "site" in Russian, and ??, which means "game" in Chinese. They should give us an interesting hint about the future of the new TLDs, because all four are utterly, totally, generic. more