Featured Blogs

Brand Abuse and IP Infringements – Part 2: Enforcement and Return on Investment

In the first article in this two-part series, we looked at the impact of brand abuse and infringements against intellectual property (IP) on an organization's brand value. In this second article, we delve into how action against enforceable infringements can deliver tangible return on investment (ROI) for a brand, and demonstrate the importance of a robust brand protection program. more

The Global Digital Compact and the Future of Digital Governance

The unveiling of the Global Digital Compact's (GDC) zero draft on April 1, 2024, heralds a critical juncture in the quest to frame a digital future that is equitable, secure, and human-centered. Orchestrated under the leadership of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the initiative endeavors to forge a consensus-driven framework for global digital cooperation. more

Update on Satellite Broadband

The first announcement came from OneWeb. The company successfully launched 36 new satellites with rockets supplied by NewSpace India Limited. This new rocket company was formed in 2019 and is a public-sector undertaking sponsored by the Indian Government and an arm of the India Space Research Organization. This launch is a reminder that many parts of the world are now interested in the space business. more

Almost All 5G Estimates for 2019-2020 Need to Be Doubled

The remarkable take rate in Korea and China is invalidating almost all projections of 5G subscriptions. The 5G promotion has consumers wanting to buy, buy, buy. Huawei Mate 20 5G is selling for only US$30 more than the 4G model. At that price, who would want to buy a 4G phone that could be obsolete in a year or two? In the first two weeks of sale, over a million Chinese bought Huawei's 5G phone. more

COVID-19: Business and Brand Protection Response

With the COVID-19 health crisis evolving so quickly, it's hard to predict the extent of the long-term impact on business and the economy. While every business sector is facing different considerations, it's safe to say all are handling challenges from supply chain interruptions, rapid shifts to remote work, and massive changes in consumer spending and communication habits. more

Hosters: Is Your Platform Being Used to Launch DDoS Attacks?

As anyone who's been in the DDoS attack trenches knows, large multi-gigabit attacks have become more prevalent over the last few years. For many organizations, it's become economically unfeasible to provision enough bandwidth to combat this threat. How are attackers themselves sourcing so much bandwidth? more

Telecoms Development Booming in the French Pacific Territories

After the nuclear submarine debacle with France, political ties have been restored, and both France and Australia have agreed on further cooperation in the South Pacific, where France has several overseas territories. Also, here telecoms is a key issue. Such cooperation has become more urgent with the increased political interest of China in the region. more

Cybersecurity Standards Competition

The conventional wisdom in the world of legacy standards-making is that monolithic standards produce, if not accelerate, better products and services. Conformance, certification, and associated labelling schemes to implement those standards were believed essential to trust. Although competition law seems now evolving in the other direction, regulatory standards-making bodies themselves have been accorded considerable anticompetitive cartel liability protection. more

In the 5G Era, at Least 20 Million U.S. Homes Will Rely on Wireless for Broadband

There now can be no doubt that fixed wireless, mostly 5G, will be a viable business in the right locations. Today's wireless has enormous capacity, enough to supply the broadband needs of a significant population. It's better than most DSL and a workable alternative to cable in many locations. Traffic demand is falling, with Cisco predicting the U.S. will fall to 31% growth in 2021. more

ICANN’s Registration Data Request Service: Open Working Session at ICANN79

Last November, ICANN launched a ticketing system for those interested in obtaining domain name registration data ("WHOIS"). Titled Registration Data Request Service, or RDRS, the portal aims to direct requests for WHOIS data to participating registrars, who then decide whether or not to disclose the data. more

A Call to Action for an Inclusive WSIS+20 Review

Last week, GPD, together with 114 organisations and 57 individual experts from civil society, the technical community, industry and academia, presented a set of cross-stakeholder community recommendations aimed at operationalising the modalities for the twenty-year review of the WSIS (WSIS+20). The open letter responds to the adoption on 25 March of a UN General Assembly resolution on WSIS+20 modalities, advocating for a transparent and inclusive review process that meaningfully engages all relevant stakeholders. more

Characterizing the Friction and Incompatibility Between IoC and AI

Many organizations are struggling to overcome key conceptual differences between today's AI-powered threat detection systems and legacy signature detection systems. A key friction area -- in perception and delivery capability -- lies with the inertia of Indicator of Compromise (IoC) sharing; something that is increasingly incompatible with the machine learning approaches incorporated into the new breed of advanced detection products. more

Should You Pay Ransomware Demands?

Ransomware is a huge problem for small and medium businesses, and the most important question is this: should you pay the ransom? Ransomware has proven a successful revenue generator for criminals, which means the risk to businesses will grow as ransomware becomes more sophisticated and increasing numbers of ethically challenged criminals jump on the bandwagon. more

Crypto Back Doors Are Still a Bad Idea

In the always interesting Lawfare blog, former FBI counsel Jim Baker in a piece called Rethinking Encryption reiterates his take on the encryption debates. There's a certain amount that makes me want to bang my head against the wall... But it's worth reading to remind us of what the other side is thinking, even with a lot of motivated reasoning that makes him conclude that Congress can pass some laws and the going dark problem will be solved. more

Freedom to Connect

Over the last ten years, Andrew Odlyzko has been writing about a pricing algorithm that would assure reasonable service levels at reasonable prices. If you're going to F2C, you might want to read that brief article or this slightly more complex one to learn (or refresh your sense of) PMP -- Paris Metro Pricing models to deal with network congestion. You'll also get a sense of why throwing bandwidth at the network will not be sufficient. Here's a great article from 1995... more