Featured Blogs

Logjam, Openssl and Email Deliverability

RHEL6/Centos6 (and presumably RHEL7/Centos7) machines with the latest openssl packages now refuse SSL connections with DH keys shorter than 768 bits. Consider RHEL6 sendmail operating as a client, sending mail out to a target server. If the target server advertises STARTTLS, sendmail will try to negotiate a secure connection. This negotiation uses openssl, which will now refuse to connect to mail servers that have 512 bit DH keys. The maillog will contain entries with "reject=403 4.7.0 TLS handshake failed". more

The Future Internet I Want for Me, Myself and AI

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to bring immense opportunities, but it also poses challenges. Artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating the R&D agenda of the leading Internet industry. The Silicon Valley and other startup hubs are buzzing about artificial intelligence and the issue has come at the top of policymakers' agenda including the G20, the ITU, and the OECD, where leaders gathered this week in Paris. more

When It Comes to Domain Name Rights Protection, scapegoat.sucks

It is not surprising that the phase 1 review of domain name rights protection mechanisms is delayed, but it is a bit of a surprise that in responding to a question posed in 2020, business executives and their lawyers replied with answers first offered and rejected five years earlier. In that time before COVID-19, the launch of the Vox Populi Registry and its dotSucks domain names drew quite a lot of attention. more

U.S. Cable Industry Says to FCC That Consumers Don’t Need 25 Mbps Speed

Apparently, we consumers in the USA don't need to have broadband speeds of 25 Mbps or higher. And we certainly don't need upload speeds greater than 3 Mbps! At least, that's according to comments filed to the US Federal Communications Committee (FCC) by the National Cable & Telecommunications Assocation (NCTA) in response to the FCC's proposal to raise the definition of "broadband" from 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream to 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. more

A Telegraph-Era TLD?

While doing research for a paper on telegraph codebooks, I was reminded of something I had long known: one could have short addresses for telegrams. A short article in The New Yorker described how it worked in New York City. Briefly, one could pick more or less any name that wasn't in use, and list it with the Central Bureau for Registered Addresses... more

IPv6 Shows a Pulse

On World IPv6 Day IPv6 showed a pulse! However faint that global pulse may have been, our network showed at least some form of IPv6-life occurred on that day. Long supporters of IPv6, with a significant global DNS footprint handling extremely large volumes of global traffic we, at CommunityDNS, were curious on what may result through an organized focus on the use of IPv6. more

China’s FttX Boom

China's broadband subscriber base continues to rise. Massive FttX deployments are underway, spurred on by competition between the three full-service operators all aiming to increase 'stickiness' for subscribers. While fixed line subscribers are expected to decline into 2011, broadband subscribers are still rising, driven by cheaper rates and the higher bandwidth on offer compared to mobile Internet. more

It’s Time to Put a Bow on the URS: Our Work is Almost Done

For years our community has struggled with the rules of the URS - the Uniform Rapid Suspension - aimed at taking down the "worst of the worst" domain name registrations in a manner faster and cheaper than its predecessor, the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy - the UDRP. On June 27, in Prague, a diverse group met to discuss the fate of the URS. To my surprise, it was a rare "kumbaya" moment, and that makes it worthy of comment. more

Belize to Host Caribbean Peering and Interconnection Forum

Belize will host the fourth Caribbean Peering and Interconnection Forum, known as CarPIF, on June 13 and 14. Since its inception in 2015, CarPIF has brought together regional and international technology experts and telecommunications industry execs to discuss a range of topics related to Internet peering and interconnection trends, and their relevance to the Caribbean region. more

ARIN Seeks Caribbean candidate for Board of Trustees

Persons from the Caribbean seeking to contribute to the governance ecosystem of the global Internet can now volunteer for an appointment to the board of trustees of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). The call for volunteers will close on April 30 at 5 pm EDT. ARIN is one of five registries worldwide that coordinate Internet number resources. Its region spans the United States, Canada and many countries in the Caribbean. more

Update on AS Path Lengths Over Time - How Interconnected is the Internet?

With the number of ASes connected to the Internet constantly increasing, one could expect that the length of the AS paths would also increase as the network as a whole gets wider. However, this doesn't seem to be the case. Also, with IPv6 being more widely deployed, how does the interconnectedness of the IPv6 portion of the Internet compare to IPv4? more

A Financial Back-Up to Win .WINE?

Still want to protect wine Geographical Indications (GIs)? A hot potato! Where the bucket ends is still to be found and the launching of both .WINE and .VIN new gTLDs is still an issue. At least some of the three applicants are following the ICANN new gTLD applicant guidebook, working with parties interested in bringing better protection mechanism to protect wine GIs. There seems to have been an attempt which has not worked... more

The $100 Billion National Broadband Plan for America

The new Administration in the USA laid out a $100 billion proposal for broadband investment as part of its $2 trillion infrastructure plan. Under the proposal, the plan is to provide national broadband coverage. The Administration will use better competition measures, such as price transparency, the use of public utility infrastructure, and subsidies for low-income households to achieve its goals. more

IPv6 Medics Without Borders

At its November 5th plenary, the Canadian ICT Standards Advisory Committee approved the recommendations of the Canadian IPv6 Task Group set up by isacc in april. The 50 members of the Task Group were invited to individually produce a list of seven recommendations. Received inputs were collated, debated, ranked and ultimately distilled down to a pair of quite straightforward recommendations for immediate action. more

Has Internet Governance Become Irrelevant?

When the Internet outgrew its academic and research roots and gained some prominence and momentum in the broader telecommunications environment it found itself to be in opposition to many of the established practices of the international telecommunications arrangements and even in opposition to the principles that lie behind these arrangements. more