Featured Blogs

ACPA Dilemma: Federal Court Denies Injunction in Landmark Case - Cybersquatting Loophole or Legal Oversight?

This case had a bit of a weird result -- even though the brand owner had a mark that was 20 years old, and the alleged cybersquatter, in the meantime, acquired a domain name on the open market identical to that mark, because the domain name was first registered (by an unrelated party) before the brand owner's trademark rights arose, there was no relief under federal trademark law. more

The EARN IT Act: The Wrong Solution to a Complex Problem

The EARN IT Act was reintroduced into Congress last Monday, with the promise that it would end Internet platforms' "blanket immunity" for "tens of millions of photos and videos" of child sexual abuse that they allow to circulate online. With the bill already scheduled for hearing in committee, it's on track to be passed quickly. And why shouldn't it be, if its sponsors' claims about it are true? Perhaps because they're not true. more

The Satellite Broadband is Heating Up

There is a lot of news recently about low-orbit satellite broadband. There is recent news concerning the three primary companies that will be vying in the space. First is Jeff Bezos Project Kuiper, which is still likely to get a brand name at some point. Project Kuiper has contracted with United Launch Alliance, a joint Boeing-Lockheed Martin venture, for the first nine broadband rocket launches. more

A Possible Missing Piece of Net Neutrality Puzzle: Backbones and Peering?

I remember being told three years ago that, in general, internet backbone issues weren't really a subject for regulatory involvement, and didn't need to be. Although the last mile was a problem, the upstream fat-pipe relationships weren't - they were all competitive and thriving. Or at least that's what people thought. Over the last couple of days I've been looking around trying to figure out what the facts are about backbones and peering. It seems that we don't even know what we don't know... more

The US as Keeper of a ‘Free’ Internet?

The imminent expiration date (September 30) of the joint project agreement between ICANN and the US government, establishing the US as unilateral supervisor over Internet's addressing and Domain Name System (DNS) operations, has rejuvenated the call for an internationalization of Internet oversight. The average Internet user, however, is unlikely to benefit from a change in the current status quo as both alternatives, full privatization and intergovernmental oversight, are bound to affect both the Internet's innovative power and the personal liberties enjoyed by its users. more

SIP Trunking: Common Pitfalls and Quick Fixes

With companies shifting away from on-premises and "traditional" telecom networks to Internet-based protocols - such as Voice Over IP (oIP) - the market for critical communications infrastructure - most notably SIP trunking - is on the rise; not only multiple failover sites but cloud-based SIP-as-a-service solutions are now popular options. However, there's a caveat: problems unique to SIP systems that can cause IT headaches if you're not prepared. Here are three of the most common. more

Of Canaries and Coal Mines: Verisign’s Proposal and Sudden Withdrawal of Domain Anti-Abuse Policy

Too many techies still don't understand the concept of due process, and opportunistic law enforcement agencies, who tend to view due process constraints as an inconvenience, are very happy to take advantage of that. That's the lesson to draw from Verisign's proposal and sudden withdrawal of a new "domain name anti-abuse policy" yesterday. The proposal, which seems to have been intended as a new service to registrars, would have allowed Verisign to perform malware scans on all .com, .net, and .name domain names quarterly when registrars agreed to let them do it. more

Open DNS Resolvers - Coming to an IP Address Near You!

Three vectors were exploited in the recent DDoS attack against Spamhaus: 1) Amplification of DNS queries through the use of DNSSEC signed data; 2) Spoofed source addresses due to lack of ingress filtering (BCP-38) on originating networks; 3) Utilisation of multiple open DNS resolvers While. 1) is unavoidable simply due to the additional data that DNSSEC produces, and 2) "should" be practised as part of any provider's network configuration, it is 3) that requires "you and I" ensure that systems are adequately configured.  more

Russia and China Propose UN General Assembly Resolution on “Information Security”

On September 12 China, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan released a Resolution for the UN General Assembly entitled "International code of conduct for information security." The resolution proposes a voluntary 12 point code of conduct based on "the need to prevent the potential use of information and communication technologies for purposes that are inconsistent with the objectives of maintaining international stability and security and may adversely affect the integrity of the infrastructure within States..." more

The Importance of IP Resource Planning in Government ICT Strategic Plans

It seems everywhere I turn, there's someone throwing around statistics for how the Internet and broadband will drive economic growth, create jobs, end world hunger and bring world peace (ok, maybe not the later). Sure enough, government officials are buying into that rhetoric and extending it in initiatives like national broadband strategies, cybercrime and cybersecurity plans as well as e-governance strategies. more

An End to Spam Litigation Factories? (Gordon v. Virtumundo)

When CAN-SPAM was passed in 2003, it was fairly clear that Congress wasn't trying to enable broad private enforcement. Everyone knew that rabid anti-spammers would seize any new statutory right for a litigation frenzy... Although I personally think Congress would better served all of us by omitting all private enforcement rights in CAN-SPAM, unquestionably the private rights in CAN-SPAM are drafted narrowly to prevent their abuses. That hasn't stopped some zealous anti-spammers from testing the limits of CAN-SPAM's private enforcement remedies anyway. more

Failed Expectations: A Deep Dive Into the Internet’s 40 Years of Evolution

In a recent workshop, I attended, reflecting on the evolution of the Internet over the past 40 years, one of the takeaways for me is how we've managed to surprise ourselves in both the unanticipated successes we've encountered and in the instances of failure when technology has stubbornly resisted to be deployed despite our confident expectations to the contrary! What have we learned from these lessons about our inability to predict technology outcomes? more

Why Is Verisign Ignoring New Revenue?

Last month saw a much-anticipated decision handed down in the Independent Review Panel (IRP) proceeding examining the controversial 2015 auction for the .web generic top-level domain name registry (gTLD). This decision has been covered by others, including Kevin Murphy's DomainIncite, and has been the subject of unsurprisingly incongruous statements by both Verisign and Afilias, who are both contending for the .web concession privilege. more

ICANN to Auction New Generic Top Level Domains

ICANN has just published a paper from its contractor PowerAuctions LLC, regarding the use of auctions to award new Top Level Domains (TLD) strings in case of contention. I can understand what ICANN wants to avoid. In the past, it has been criticized for using the "beauty contest" model with the redelegation of the .net TLD... However, the auction model is based on the idea that whoever wins the auction will be able to recoup its investment on the sale... more

Removing Principle of Confidentiality in ICANN’s NomCom is a Bad Idea

In its informal background paper "Applying the Highest Standard of Corporate Governance" (August 2011) the European Commission proposes to revise the procedures of ICANNs Nominating Committee (NomCom). Instead of the confidential treatment of applicants the EU calls for an open publication of "a full list of candidates". Is this a good idea? I don't think so. The rationale behind the EU proposal is "to improve confidence on the selection procedure" and "to avoid conflict of interests". But the proposed improvement is based on a wrong assumption... more