News Briefs

.COM About to Hit 100-Million Mark

Although not quite there yet, statistical figures indicate total registration for the .com top-level domain will soon be reaching 100 million by the end of this year. The worlds most popular TLD currently has 98 million registered domains and accounts for 45% of all TLDs. more

Time Warner Cable Showing Photos of Melted Fiber-Opitcs Caused by “Freakish Subterranean Fires”

In follow up to a significant outage in New York City's East Village earlier this month, Time Warner Cable has posted a detailed look at the incident caused by fire melting a portion of the fiber-optic network, affecting 24,000 customers in the area. more

Documentary Looks at 60 Hudson Street, World’s Most Concentrated Hub of Internet Connectivity

In a new documentary, filmmaker Ben Mendelsohn, takes a look at New York City's 60 Hudson Street as one of the world's most concentrated hubs of Internet connectivity. "Set in the dense, mixed-use neighborhood of Tribeca, the building's nondescript brick exterior conceals several network interconnection facilities where huge amounts of data are exchanged," writes Mendelsohn. The short documentary titled, "Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors," takes a look at the history behind the building and a peak at the hidden infrastructure within. more

Duqu Reported as Precursor to a Future Stuxnet-Like Attack

Virus researchers at Symantec Corp. have revealed a variant of the Stuxnet worm, named Duqu, that is found to be stealing information about industrial control systems. Symantec reports: "Duqu's purpose is to gather intelligence data and assets from entities, such as industrial control system manufacturers, in order to more easily conduct a future attack against another third party. The attackers are looking for information such as design documents that could help them mount a future attack on an industrial control facility... Parts of Duqu are nearly identical to Stuxnet, but with a completely different purpose." more

Battle for .eco Top-Level Domain Not Over Yet

Sources recently had reported that Al Gore had dropped his bid to win control of the proposed new Top-Level Domain (TLD), leaving the door open for a rival Mikhail Gorbachev-backed consortium. But according to a report from Adam Vaughan in the Guardian, the company that Gore's Climate Reality group was working with remains in the running. "Despite losing the vice-president's backing and switching off its campaigning website, Dot Eco LLC tells me it's hopeful of winning a tussle with its main public rival, the Canadian company Big Room, which is supported by Gorbachev's Green Cross." more

ICANN to Manage Internet Time Zone Database

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today announced that it has taken over operation of an Internet Time Zone Database that is used by various major computer systems. ICANN agreed to manage the database after receiving a request from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The database contains time zone code and data that computer programs and operating systems such as Unix, Linux, Java, and Oracle rely on to determine the correct time for a given location. Modifications to the database occur frequently throughout the year. more

Skype Now Officially Part of Microsoft

Microsoft formally announced the closure of its acquisition of Skype originally announced on May 10, 2011. Microsoft and Skype have declared to remain focused "on their shared goal of connecting all people across all devices and accelerating both companies' efforts to transform real-time communications for consumers and enterprise customers." more

Paper on Civil Society Involvement in ICANN

A paper titled, "Civil society involvement in ICANN: Strengthening future civil society influence in ICANN policymaking," written by Robin Gross, examines the historical role that civil society has played at ICANN in policymaking. more

ANA Says ICANN Needs to Conduct Thorough Review of Conflict of Interest Policies

In a letter submitted to ICANN today, the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) has asked the organization to conduct a thorough and proactive review of the new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) program. ANA has additionally asked for a broader review of conflicts of interest and ethics policies for the organization "so that ICANN can reclaim its legitimacy as an Internet governance body." more

ICANN Launches Online Information Center for New gTLDs

ICANN has launched a micro-site to serve as the online source for New Generic Top-Level Domain (New gTLDs) Program. From ICANN's announcement: "ICANN is in the midst of a major campaign to raise awareness around the world about the impact and possibilities of new gTLDs. The new site represents a foundational expression of the campaign. Many more new articles, tools, and materials will be made available in the coming days and weeks." more

Report on Today’s State of DNS Services

The Domain Name System, or DNS, has come a long way since its early days and the constant expansion of consumer activity and security concerns has raised further awareness about the critical role of the DNS. However, as the Yankee Group Research points out in a recent report, "there are more changes coming that are also raising the profile of DNS -- notably the move to cloud computing and the migration to IPv6." Suffice to say this is "Not Your Father's DNS". The report titled, "DNS: Risk, Reward and Managed Services" takes a fresh look at today's state of the DNS and the pros and cons of in-house, ISP and managed service provider DNS management options. more

OPTA revokes Diginotar License as TTP

Wout de Natris: "In this decision OPTA revokes the registration of Diginotar as a so called Trusted Third Party. Diginotar issued certified certificates for digital signatures. The security breach by Iranian hackers over the summer, which Diginotar did not report to the authorities, lead to severe credibility issues for all Diginotar certificates issued before. This included Dutch government websites, but also led to severe breaches of privacy for Iranian end users, in multiple countries. As a result of OPTA's decision all certificates issued by Diginotar have to be revoked, while at the same she is forbidden to issue new ones. more

Domain Name Registrations Reach 215 Million, 5 Million Added in Q2

The latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by Verisign reports more than 5 million domain names were added to the Internet in the second quarter of 2011, bringing the total number of registered domain names to more than 215 million worldwide across all domains. The increase of 5.2 million domain names marks a growth rate of 2.5 percent over the first quarter. Registrations have grown by more than 16.9 million, or 8.6 percent, since the second quarter of 2010. more

Impact of Hurricane Irene on the Internet

Effects of hurricane Irene were clearly visible in the Internet's global routing table, as tens of thousands of networks were cut off from the rest of the world, according to analysis by Renesys. From the report: "Overall, it seems that the East Coast's power and Internet infrastructure fared pretty well during this storm, with good evidence of restoration after the storm had passed. This is good news, given the important role Twitter now plays in ad hoc rescue coordination, and the importance of the Web for keeping people informed about what they're facing in an emergency situation." more

European Commission Seeking Greater Governmental Control Over the Internet

Kieren McCarthy reporting in .nxt: "An extraordinary series of policy papers drawn up by the European Commission and seen by .Nxt have called for greater governmental control over the Internet's domain name system. ...the measures would provide governments with de facto control over the Internet's naming systems and bring an end to the independent and autonomous approach that has defined the Internet's domain name system since its inception." more