Featured Blogs

dot DO or dot DIE?

ICANN has started dot name evaluations and charging ahead at their full speed. Mathematically it can be proven that any reasonable success of the current 1500 proposed dot names will result in tens of thousands of additional applications in the subsequent rounds. It is estimated that by the year 2020 there will be 10,000 dot names in operation and by 2025 the number would easily double. Such forecasts are not based on technological advances more

Spammers’ Aid Program

A couple of months ago, Microsoft Sweden launched a program called Spammers' Aid. This is a program (created and provided by Microsoft?) that is designed to help spammers reform their ways. The idea is that since spam is continually decreasing in email and spammers are finding it more and more difficult to get their mail delivered into the inbox, why not use the skills they acquired while spamming (sales and marketing, tech skills) and apply it for good? This program teaches them how. more

Is LTE Going to Impact Free WiFi?

Developments in LTE are also going to have a significant impact on the unlicensed spectrum, which is currently used by billions of people through their WiFi modems and WiFi services in cities, cafes, airports and other venues. Known as LTE Unlicensed (LTE-U) or Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA), this technology can also ride on top of WiFi networks (without utilising the mobile service), providing high-speed broadband access to users. more

Infrastructures on the Next Web

Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon, explains how web applications will be built in the future. His point is twofold. The bad news is that expectations for good web applications are sky high. It has to have rich media, available on multiple devices, very scalable, social networking and that is just the beginning. The good news is that a lot of this can be done by services that are readily available on the web, with reasonable usage based pricing. more

The Disadvantages of Digital Inclusion and the Perils of Non-Universal Access

Many of us are familiar with network effects within telecommunications. Fundamentally, the notion is that as the number of participants in a network increases, the value of that network increases superlinearly. Though many different theories exist about how best to value these networks, the general idea is that the more people on a network, the more benefits accrue to everyone on the network... more

Five Reasons to Avoid Using Maps on Websites

Robert Frost wrote that good fences make good neighbors. Yet when it comes to virtual fences, visualized as maps, I'm not sure there is any way to create "good fences." So many regions around the world are under dispute. And even regions that may appear settled may be anything but. I've long written about the problems of using flags on your website, particularly for navigation. But maps often present a much larger geopolitical challenge. If you can avoid using them, do so. more

Want to Make a Difference in Internet Governance? Just Show Up

It was 20 years earlier than ICANN, and 25 years ahead of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) that Woody Allen said "80 percent of life is just showing up," but he could have just as easily been talking about our current multistakeholder policy situation. The emergence of powerful multistakeholder governance and engagement models has fundamentally changed the way we do Internet policy, and the roles that companies, organizations and individuals play in the process. more

Fair Notice and Applying for a New gTLD

Applying for a new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) will be expensive and complex. ICANN's Applicant Guidebook comprises 350 pages of dense instructions, spelling out the procedures to apply for a gTLD and to comment or object to the gTLDs applied for by others. Hidden among the forest of criteria and procedures is a problem that, unless solved, could deny good faith applicants the fair notice they deserve. more

Facebook Wins $800M Against Spammer. So What?

In a widely reported court case, Facebook won an $800M default judgment and injunction against a Montreal man named Adam Guerbuez, who has a long and sordid history. But it probably won't make any difference. The problem is that he's in Canada. more

Compliance Overhaul a NON-Start

Happy New Year, you're fired. While most of us were getting ready celebrate respective holidays, ICANN was quietly closing a critical office and sending all the staff out to look for new jobs. When asked to confirm this, ICANN's delayed response was pure Orwellian Doublethink. The office was closed because ICANN is "assessing how to effectively grow ICANN resources around the globe." How does one grow global resources while shutting down the Asia-Pacific office right before the Asia-Pacific meeting? more

Online Property Protection and the Public Interest

Proposals to enhance online property protection have received a lot of attention lately. Brand managers, goods manufacturers, and content distributors strenuously argue that current law enforcement mechanisms are inadequate to meet the challenges of today's fast-paced marketplace. They specifically note that foreign-based "rogue websites" continue to distribute unlicensed products and content despite existing rules; they maintain that new legislation is needed to empower intellectual rights holders to counter such cyber-criminals more effectively. more

ICANN Mission Creep is Becoming Mission Leap

Under the leadership of Fadi Chehade and Steve Crocker, ICANN finally runs like an organization that has grown up. When it comes to process, accountability, and transparency, this is excellent news for the Internet. But it also raises a new question: how far will we let ICANN grow "out" of the limited technical mission for which it was created? In his opening remarks here in Durban, Chehade announced the expansion of local engagement centers and significant expansion of ICANN staff - for the second straight year. more

ICANN Openness and Transparency: Actions Speak Louder than Words

ICANN has announced that they will be having a Special Meeting of the ICANN Board on 19 February 2010 (3:00 UCT) to discuss the "upcoming ICANN International meeting." It is reasonable to assume that the 17 February 2010 security update will be a topic of discussion... I trust that the ICANN Board will make the right decision balancing the obligations that ICANN has to the global Internet community, with the safety and security of those ICANN stakeholders that participate in person at these ICANN events. However, the ICANN Board needs to gain the trust of the global community in connection with this and other important decisions that it will be making. more

Getting on with Digital Transformation: Three Steps to Making Strategic Technology Choices

In a recently published Uptime Institute Survey, Uptime Institute found that organizations operating data centers are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit professionals skilled in security, networking, and hybrid technologies. This realization comes at an interesting time, as the monolithic business infrastructure built over the last two decades is now entering a period of transformation. more

The ‘Domain Rights Dozen’ - ICA’s RPM Revision Review Principles

As the fall of 2012 begins the implementation of rights protection mechanisms (RPMs) for new gTLDs is reaching a critical stage... Given the half year interval between the upcoming Toronto ICANN meeting and the following Beijing meeting in April 2013, it is highly desirable, and perhaps essential, that community discussion in Toronto result in a clear consensus on how RPM implementation should proceed if new gTLDs are to launch without further delay and if potential registrants are to perceive them as acceptable platforms for speech and commerce. more