Featured Blogs

The Role of the Internet in the UN Sustainable Development Goals

We see the Internet as a critical enabler for sustainable development. Our vision is that it can unlock human capabilities and we are committed to working with all stakeholders to fulfill the Internet's development potential. To that end, next week in New York the United Nations will be convening an Expert Group Meeting on "Advancing a Sustainable Information Society for All". The Internet Society (ISOC) has been invited to participate to this discussion among other experts. more

ICANN’s “Hallway” Agenda

On Monday, June 21, ICANN convenes in Brussels, hosting its "Welcome Ceremony" for attendees. In advance of the session, the agenda for the Board meeting on Friday, June 25 has been released. As is the fashion, it lists significant issues without being too specific or tipping the Board's hand. It also allows for matters that arise organically during the week of the meeting to (possibly) be heard. more

The Jaynes Case is Finally Over

Last September the Virginia Supreme Court issued a surprise ruling that reversed its previous decision and threw out the state’s anti-spam law on First Amendment grounds. The Commonwealth made a last ditch appeal to the US Supreme Court, which I predicted they’d be unlikely to accept. I guessed right... more

Keeping a Free and Open Internet Starts at the Root

??Dynamics at the Internet's core erode stakeholder legitimacy and aid Sino-Russian efforts for multilateral control. ???At the beginning of what became a prolonged process for privatization, the U.S. Government established a framework of fundamental guiding principles for governance of the Internet's root. These principles were designed to work to preserve a free and open nature for a global network that was to be elastic, extensible, and – at more than two decades – enduring. more

In Search of an Agenda for a New Netmundial

With the strong possibility of a new Netmundial-style event being organized under the stewardship of CGI.br in 2024, the Internet governance community ought to reflect upon the benefits that this could bring to all stakeholders. In a scenario of uncertainty over the several processes affecting the future of the global network, there is value in taking another look at the original event's collaborative outcomes document, which summarized much of what was then understood to be core principles of Internet governance. more

Clouds for Education

Bill St Arnoud blogs that he is a big advocate of using commercial cloud services rather than rolling out a do-it-yourself cloud for a number of reasons... The cloud market is intensively competitive and innovative, where scale can make a huge difference in terms of reliability and accessibility. It is much easier to develop a set of common contractual service and interface requirements with commercial suppliers in regards to privacy, reliability etc. more

Why Getting Awards Wrong Undermines the Integrity of the UDRP

The integrity of any legal system depends on the quality of mind of those appointed to administer it. There are expectations that the one judging the facts and applying the law knows what the facts are and what law to apply. Panels appointed to adjudicate disputes under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) are not held to any lower standard than the judges of courts of competent jurisdiction. more

China: Is It Our Cyber Defense Red Herring?

There are thousands of articles perpetuating the claim that China is out to get us on the Internet. And yet, all these discussions are begging the question, is it China attacking? Also, are they even the "usual suspects"?
While I can point to real facts of China making active use of information warfare, cyber warfare, or whatever else you choose to call it (such as the release of 0 days being patched by Microsoft and originally reported by the Taiwanese government, search Microsoft's site), I can also point to Germany (intelligence Trojan horse), the US (The Farewell Dossier) and other countries such as North Korea (without much detail, so questioned)... more

Skype: When Good Press Releases Go Bad

Burton Group issued a press release last week announcing the conclusions of my recent report on Skype. I thought the release clearly stated our conclusions on Skype, which essentially were that there are indeed security and management concerns that enterprises ought to be aware of, but that those risks may be outweighed by the business benefits offered by the use of the application, and that enterprises must carefully weigh risk vs. reward when evaluating Skype usage. more

DNSSEC Root Signature, Almost There!

IT security specialists have known for years that the plain DNS is not to be trusted. Any hope for improvement rests on the DNSSEC protocol deployment. In this post, I will review the current status in one critical aspect, namely the DNS root signature key management. The other two foremost are the application usage of DNSSEC protocol functionality and the operational front, or the extent of deployment in the DNS infrastructure. The operational front includes the support by the DNS root nameservers, but my focus on signature key management leaves this issue aside. more

When the Internet Service Provider is Government-Owned Monopoly: Cuba’s Forthcoming 3G Pricing Model

Jorge Luis Valdés Hernández, Director de Servicios Convergentes de la Vicepresidencia de Integración Comercial de ETECSA, described the forthcoming changes to their mobile Internet service in a recent press conference. (He also has a very long job title). To be honest, the press conference coverage left me a bit confused, but this is some of what he said as I understood it. more

Editorials Against PROTECT-IP

First the Los Angeles Times, now the New York Times have both printed editorials critical of the PROTECT-IP bill. Both the LAT and NYT support copyright - and announce as much in their opening sentences. That doesn't mean we should sacrifice Internet security and stability for legitimate DNS users, nor the transparency of the rule of law. more

Website Seals of Approval: Can You Trust Them?

The abuse of well-known seal of approvals seems to be the latest ruse used by online fraudsters. Leveraging reputable names that existed long before anyone heard of the Internet is a blaring reminder that even trustworthy seals are not off limits to scammers. In fact, linking to reliable sources of reviews and certification is proving to be an essential part of any fraud strategy today. more

Developed Economies Not Ready for an ICT-Driven Recovery

Some interesting but disturbing messages are emanating from Europe and America. With countries slowly coming out of the economic crisis and employment picking up again, it has become clear that the new jobs becoming available are driven by companies operating in the digital economy; very few of the 'old jobs' will become available. Many people in western countries are unprepared for this change and many new skills that are required are simply not available in sufficient numbers to counter the downfall in employment that has occurred over the last five years. more

Connectivity as a Vital Consumer Service

Having Comcast et al provide Internet connectivity is like having your barber do surgery because he knows how to use a knife. I was reminded of this when my Comcast connection failed. This is part of the larger topic of consumerization. In the past, we were happy to have products that worked at all. I grew up in the world of consumer products and got my start in software building online services meant for use by non-experts. more