Featured Blogs

IDN and Email: The Harsh Reality

There has been a lot of talk about IDNs here and elsewhere but what does the reality look like for a plain user? As a test, I randomly choose 28 domains from Alexa's top 100 Sites and tried to create a user account with the email address user@??.com. The bleak result... more

Wired vs Wireless Debate Becomes a Core Policy Differentiator in National Election

I never thought I'd see the day when the difference in capability between a wireless and a wireline Internet would become a core policy differentiator in a national election, but this has now happened in Australia. ... It seems that everyone has an interest in a ubiquitous, fast and cheap internet. Now that interest has been taken up as a major policy differentiator by both sides of the political spectrum in the recent Australian election. What was this all about? more

WLS Deemed Illegal by Registrar Coalition

ICANN's announcement of a "Special Meeting of the Board", to be held on February 18, 2004, includes a number of topics in its "Proposed Agenda" including: "WLS Negotiations with VeriSign". In reaction to this particular item related to WLS, Newman & Newman, the law firm representing an ad hoc coalition of ICANN-accredited domain name registrars, has sent a letter to Dr. Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN expressing... more

Letter from Rome

I am at the ICANN meeting in Rome. The big story here is that ICANN is under attack for not sticking to its narrow mission -- technical coordination of the DNS and IP numbering system. People here are referring obliquely to the VeriSign lawsuit as "recent events" (as in "in light of recent events"). This euphemism reminds me of words used to reference the US Civil War ("the late unpleasantness"). more

Let Me Make Yeti-DNS Perfectly Clear

The following rather alarming text caught my eye today... Had the text appeared under a less august letterhead, or signed by less qualified authors, there would be no cause for alarm. However, the letterhead was World Economic Forum and the authors were William J. Drake, Vinton G. Cerf, and Wolfgang Kleinwächter. As one of three coordinators for the Yeti-DNS project, this feels a bit like I'm in big trouble now. So, let's discuss the matter. more

Vendor Selection Matters in the Domain Registrar Ecosystem

Domain name abuse is one of the most dangerous and under-regulated issues in digital business security today. Many of the largest companies in the world still lack basic domain security protocols, making them prime targets for bad actors. An attack on a domain can lead to the redirection of a company's website, domain spoofing, domain and domain name system (DNS) hijacking attacks, phishing attacks, network breaches, and business email compromise (BEC). more

NTP is Still a Security Risk

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) has been in the news a number of times over the past couple of years because of attacks on the protocol, vulnerabilities in the daemon, and the use of NTP in DDoS attacks. In each case, the developers of NTP have responded quickly with fixes or recommendations for remediating these attacks. Additionally, the development team has continued to look ahead and has worked to enhance the security of NTP. Unfortunately, that has not translated to an improved security picture for NTP. more

ICANN’s Picture of Itself

ICANN has released its draft new budget. The document gives us a good look at how ICANN sees itself. It's arguably an internally inconsistent view. ...This budget calls for ICANN to have almost 60 staff members by the end of the next fiscal year. Expenses under this budget are predicted to be twice those of last year ($16 million v. $8 million). more

An Internet Security Operations Viewpoint of IGF

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is an annual UN conference on Internet governance which was held this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The topics discussed range from human rights online to providing Internet access in developing countries. A somewhat secondary topic of conversation is Internet security and cyber-crime mostly limited to policy and legislative efforts. Techies and Internet security industry don't have much to do there, but I have a few updates for us from the conference. more

A Case for Further DNS Registrar Industry Self-Regulation

In most industries, businesses that blatantly act against the interests of their customers to favor their own internal profit centers would either not be allowed or else subject to controls and oversight by the government. It is universally regarded as an unfair and deceptive business practice. In the domain name registrar business, however, the normal practices of legitimate business dealings and customer protection seem woefully wanting. Kelly's Case described here illustrates the point... more

Nom-Com Appoints Independent and Diverse Candidates to ICANN Leadership Positions

When 72 candidates vie for 8 positions, making tough choices are inevitable. ICANN's 2005 Nominating Committee (Nom-Com) on Friday announced the selection of a diverse and independent set of nominees for important roles in ICANN, including the Board of Directors, the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), the At-Large Advisory Council (ALAC) and the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO). 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

Can We Get More Eyes on Britain’s Largest Scam “Watch List”?

The FCA has been naming and shaming financial scam domains for decades. Its "warning list" is probably one the most extensive databases of its kind. But does it do a good enough job of actually warning people? Let us begin with the FCA website, which would not exactly get full points for user-friendliness: locating the "watch list" is a task in and of itself, to say nothing of consulting and scrutinising it. more

CMO Offers Fresh View on New gTLDs: “They’re a Channel, Not Just a Label”

Several years ago, I had a very interesting conversation with a talented marketing executive from Portland, Oregon who joined the DotGreen Community, Inc. Board of Directors. When I told him about the new gTLD program, which was then under development at ICANN, Dave Maddocks immediately understood the value of what new gTLDs would mean to all businesses that have an online location. more

Canada: Smart Regulation, Not De-regulation

Canada's CRTC isn't as dumb as U.S. regulators who are considering ruling that the law doesn't apply where the telcos oppose it. (Title II deregulation) Canada just decided wireless needs to follow the rules. In turn, the CRTC intends to make sure the rules are reasonable. Rather than saying "never any rules," they instead try to write sensible ones. more