Featured Blogs

A Note on Subscriptions with Introductory Pricing

Over the years, I've kept tabs on residential Internet services in my local area (Vancouver, BC) and noticed that almost all providers have the following "limited time offer"... On the surface, this sounds like a great way to entice users to sign up -- or more importantly, switch over. But are we missing something here? After the initial discounted rate, subscribers receive a friendly reminder of what their subscription actually costs. And chances are, they're not going to be happy with their next bill. more

Unleashing the Potential of Internet Governance Professionals

Internet Governance is a complex and constantly evolving field that touches upon many aspects of the global digital landscape. It encompasses everything from technical standards and protocols, to policy and regulatory issues, to the social, economic, and cultural impacts of the internet. With such a wide range of stakeholders and interests at play, it's no wonder that the community of Internet Governance professionals is so diverse. more

The End of Rural Landlines?

Recent coverage by CBS News on Channel 13 in Sacramento, California documented how AT&T had cut off landline telephone from 80-year-old Patricia Pereira in Camp Seco. She called at the beginning of 2023 to ask if landline service could be transferred from a neighboring home to hers. Instead of transferring the service, AT&T cut the copper lines dead on both properties. more

What Defines a Stakeholder in Internet Governance? (Netmundial+10 Special)

What defines a stakeholder in Internet governance? Is it a professional occupation, an ideology, or a specific methodology? One of the key themes emerging in the Netmundial+10 event has been that of stakeholder involvement, participation and representation in different IG mechanisms. The numeric increase in contributors to these processes since the original Netmundial is palpable. However, questions remain about the definition of a stakeholder and the premises under which these actors should engage in policy work together. more

Telehealth Successes: American Medical Association Presents Impactful Case Studies

The American Medical Association fully supports telehealth. The group now has gathered enough evidence of the effectiveness of telehealth and touts the advantages of telehealth to its member physicians. There are still a few ongoing issues involving compensation, privacy, liability, and of course, rural patients without broadband access. more

RIPE 86 Bites: Gigabits for EU

Rudolph van der Berg presented on the latest updates from the ongoing tensions in the Internet industry between carriage infrastructure providers and content providers, with a European perspective. The carriage providers in the EU region are asserting that they're making major capital investments in augmenting the access network infrastructure to carry gigabit traffic volumes, which is largely streaming content, while at the same time the content providers were getting a free ride, or so goes the argument. more

Enhanced Cooperation v2005 is Dead; Long Live Enhanced Cooperation

The page with the WSIS version of enhanced cooperation of Internet governance, developed in 2005, was turned forever on 30 September 2016 with the expiration of the IANA contract between the NTIA and ICANN. The IANA arrangement was the last issue that remained unchanged since the WSIS Tunis phase where the international community discussed Internet governance related issues for the first time. On 1 October 2016, the concept of enhanced cooperation as defined by the Tunis Agenda ceased to exist. more

It’s Time for ICANN to Release a Preliminary Applicant Guidebook

At ICANN's recent virtual meeting, I was fortunate enough to join a panel facilitated by the Brand Registry Group (BRG), an association of organisations promoting the use of brand top-level domains, where we discussed the release of the next round of the generic top-level domain (gTLD) program. The fact that I was participating in a discussion like this is hardly news, as I've been commenting on the policy discussions and debating its role in the digital landscape for years. more

Binding .ORG and the Community Together

In direct response to the enormous interest and input we have seen from the .ORG community over the past several months, Ethos and Public Interest Registry (PIR) have made tremendous strides in laying out our collective vision for .ORG and put forth unprecedented commitments and protections for the .ORG community. Over the last two weeks, in particular, we have taken concrete actions to better align the community's interests with the operations of PIR and .ORG. more

Truth in Broadband Advertising

We're all used to crazy advertising about telecom products that make industry folks shake their heads -- many of the ads about 5G come to mind. Most people don't realize that carriers in the industry routinely challenge the claims made by competitors to force them to modify or drop deceptive ads. Most of the largest corporations in the country belong to the National Advertising Division (NAD), which is part of the Better Business Bureau and arbitrates disputes about advertising between participants in the plan. more

Let’s Get the Politics Out of Infrastructure

I believe the infrastructure of our country, states, and counties is critically important to our future. If we can get focused on infrastructure and global warming, the future for our kids and grandkids will be bright. All it takes is vision, leadership, and investment. Unfortunately, the issues have become politicized. In the case of infrastructure, the politicians have a tough time just defining what infrastructure is. more

Global Domain Market: 368 Million Names and Growth in 2023 (Afnic Observatory)

Afnic, the association in charge of the .fr domain and several other French overseas and generic Top Level Domains, has published the 2023 edition of its annual observatory report "The global domain name market" containing all of the latest key figures and trends in the TLD market... At year-end 2023, the global domain name market represented some 368 million domain names. more

Exploring Common Ground: Human Rights at ICANN

Our relationship to human rights is ambivalent. We take them for granted, we don't want to be without them, but on the other hand, we see them as somewhat abstract and aspirational, a lofty ideal easily forgotten and set aside in our daily struggles. When it comes to the digital domain, human rights are seen by many as an unwanted source of regulations in an industry that demands "unregulated innovation." more

Human Rights and the Digital Domain Primer - Part 2

The digital domain encompasses the different spaces and spheres we use to relate and interact with the people and things that surround us using digital technologies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, as the globally accepted standard, should serve us as the guiding light when it comes to striking the delicate balance between our rights and responsibilities on and offline. more

Legacy or Not to Be?

Over the years, most communication service providers will build up their information systems bit by bit. Every so often as new services are required, a new process and vendor product is installed. Several years later, there can be many legacy processes and vendor products chosen and designed by many different people. Generally, each implementation team is diligently aware of these legacy processes and vendor products. But in a lot of cases the whole enterprise architecture becomes very convoluted and complicated. more