Featured Blogs

CES 2013 Dazzling Innovations - Why Cablecos Should Care

This year, I joined the crowd in Las Vegas for the all-important event that kicks off everything tech for the year - the 2013 International CES. It's a week where geeks and geek-wannabes from around the world seek inspiration and recharge their creative juices. Consumer brands of all types came out in full force, even with the noticeable absence of Apple and Microsoft's presence. More than 150,000 attendees made the trek to what became a technology mecca for the week... But why should MSOs care about a "consumer" electronics show? more

Using Dot Brand Domains in Brand Communication

A certain number of brands are using a dot brand domain as their main actual website. The following analysis looks at how dot brands are used in brand communication. Are brands communicating about their domain names, or are domain names supporting brand communication? Dot brand corresponds to the ability, for a certain number of pioneering brands, to use their brand name at the top level of the naming system for their own purpose, in parallel to a dot com or a country code. more

What to Say About the Treaty on the ITRs: Crib Notes

Look past the panic over December's World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT); it's unlikely to be a catastrophe for several practical reasons: (1) the negotiation lasts ten days, so there is not enough time for 193 countries to agree on how to phrase catastrophe (2) large multilateral events tend to converge, like so many voters, on the centre, and (3) the putative chairman of the event is a seasoned grown-up, and will not allow the treaty to break the global information grid. more

CNN.Com, Politically Motivated DDoS, and Asymmetric Warfare

Once again I find myself thinking about the nature of the asymmetric warfare threat posed by politically motivated DDoS (Estonia in 07, Korea in 02, and now China vs. CNN in 08). I keep thinking about it in terms of asymmetric warfare, a class of warfare where one side is a traditional, centrally managed military with superior uniformed numbers, weaponry, and skill. On the other we have smaller numbers, usually untrained fighters with meager weapons, and usually a smaller force. Historical examples include the North Vietnamese in the 20th century and even the American Revolution in the 18th century. Clearly this can be an effective strategy for a band of irregulars... more

Mid-Year .brands Review: 2017 Off to a Brilliant Start

If you've read my blogs in the past, you'll know that I'm really passionate about the benefits that .brands can deliver to organizations and their customers. We are now half way through 2017 which provides us with an opportunity to have a good hard look at the data and reflect on the last six months in the .brands space. Here is the punchline -- it's pretty damn impressive, and for a variety of reasons. more

Federal Data Crisis: Unreliable Federal Databases are Destroying Opportunities for Small Businesses

Databases are the infrastructure of the modern administrative state and data is its lifeblood. When the data is contaminated with errors, federal agencies have difficulty performing even the most basic administrative functions such as managing its inventory of office space and protecting the personally identifiable information (PII) of social security number holders. The federal dissemination of unreliable data doesn't just waste money; it undermines public trust in government and leaves it unmanageable. more

Real-Time Email Recommendation Engine Part IV: Image Optimization

Before we dive into optimizing predictive analytics for images using #RealTimeML, at our neighborhood Email Service Provider, there are a few people we need to acknowledge. First, we would like to recognize the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and its managing director Christie Ko. Christie reached out to us to potentially write articles for them, and we talked about several topics in the world of Machine learning (ML). She found our blog here on CircleID and ... more

Trusting Zoom?

Since the world went virtual, often by using Zoom, several people have asked me if I use it, and if so, do I use their app or their web interface. If I do use it, isn't this odd, given that I've been doing security and privacy work for more than 30 years, and "everyone" knows that Zoom is a security disaster? To give too short an answer to a very complicated question: I do use it, via both Mac and iOS apps. Some of my reasons are specific to me and may not apply to you... more

Fair Use Registration of Domain Names for Artists and Hobbyists

There is in the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act a provision not expressly found in the UDRP (at least, not in so many words) but the concept is nevertheless present in the Policy by construction... The term "fair use" is typically associated with protected speech (criticism and commentary), fan websites, and nominative use of domain names but it is not limited to those uses. It's a flexible principle in both trademark and copyright law. more

Why 5G Won’t Be Here Tomorrow

I just saw another article yesterday written by a major-city newspaper telling the public that 5G is coming in 2020. I hate to see reporters who have accepted the nonsense being peddled by the carriers without digging a little deeper to find the truth. At some point in the near future, the public will finally realize that the 5G talk has mostly been hype. more

J.D. Falk Award

This morning M³AAWG announced the creation of the J.D. Falk award to recognize and honor people like J.D. who work to make the Internet safer for all users... J.D. was a legend in the abuse prevention world when I first started learning about spam and abuse prevention back in the late 90's. more

Is Cable Broadband Equal to Fiber?

As I have blogged over the years, I have to give kudos to the folks at the big ISPs who have steadily provided controversial quotes that are worth writing about. The latest comes in an article by Linda Hardest at FierceTelecom. She quotes Charter's CEO Tom Rutledge talking about comparing cable broadband to fiber. She quotes Rutledge as saying... more

In Whose Language? Cybersquatting by Foreigners

There are no gatekeepers to prevent registrants from acquiring domain names incorporating marks that potentially violate third-party rights. Anyone anywhere can acquire domain names composed of words and letters in languages not its own through a registrar whose registration agreement is in the language of the registrant. For example, a Chinese registrant of a domain name incorporating a Norwegian mark as in <statoil.store> in which Complainant requests the proceeding be in English notes that Chinese is not an official language in Norway. more

First Root Zone DNSSEC KSK Ceremony

ICANN will hold the first Root Zone DNSSEC KSK Ceremony on Wednesday 2010-06-16 in Culpeper, VA, USA. ... Attendance within the key ceremony room itself will be limited to just those with an operational requirement to execute the ceremony. However, since this event has generated significant interest, we have made additional space available in an adjacent room for observers who wish to attend the event. more

A Template for Adequacy: EU Pitches for Data Protection Gold Standard

Largely unnoticed by technology and Brussels wonks, the European Commission's on adequacy for international data flows was released in early January. The primary aim of this document is to promote the EU's data protection regime as the global gold standard, to which other countries should aspire. In so doing, the Commission wants to remove data protection as a bargaining chip in free trade negotiations, insisting this should instead be dealt with separately, by opening adequacy negotiations with the Commission. more