News Briefs

ICANN Has No Plans to Delay or Restrict New gTLD Program

ICANN will not delay the launch of its much anticipated program to create hundreds, possibly thousands, of new Internet extensions, nor run a limited ‘pilot program’, as reported today by Kieren McCarthy of .Nxt. "Steve Crocker [ICANN's chairman] admitted that the organization’s Board will be holding a special meeting in the first week of January and that the meeting’s focus will be the launch of the new gTLD program the following week." However that meeting will not consider a delay or limited rollout option. more

US Continues to Lead As Top Country Hosting Phishing Attacks

Recent study indicates that US continues to widen its lead as the number one country when it comes to hosting phishing sites. According to the latest Brandjacking Index just released by MarkMonitor, US-hosted phishing sites grew by ten percent from last quarter -- up from 36 percent to 46 percent. Canada is now at second position with 4.7 percent of all phishing attacks, followed by the Russian Federation (4.5 percent), France (4 percent), and Denmark (4 percent). more

Biden Administration Alerts Governors to Rising Cyber Threats on U.S. Water Systems

The Biden administration has issued a stark warning to the nation's governors about the increasing threat of cyberattacks on the United States' water and wastewater systems. more

Making Internet Faster: Google, OpenDNS and Others Announce Joint Effort

Google, OpenDNS, content delivery networks and other operators have announced a joint effort called "The Global Internet Speedup," to "make the Internet faster". According to the group, this collaboration will be executed via an open IETF proposed standard called "edns-client-subnet" in order to help better direct content to users thereby decreasing latency, decreasing congestion, increasing transfer speeds and helping the Internet to scale faster and further. more

NSA to Stop Collecting American Emails To and From Overseas

U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) will halt its controversial warrantless surveillance program which collects Americans' emails and texts sent to and from people overseas and that mention a foreigner under surveillance, according to a New York Times report today. more

Gigabyte Motherboard Firmware Exposes Millions of PCs to Potential Cybersecurity Threats

In a potentially damaging cybersecurity revelation, researchers from the cybersecurity company Eclypsium have identified a hidden mechanism in the firmware of motherboards manufactured by Taiwanese company Gigabyte. more

Over 80 European Organizations Demand Protection for Net Neutrality

Today, more than 80 organizations, represented by The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) and European Digital Rights (EDRi), sent a letter to the European Commission demanding the end of dangerous experimentation with the functioning of the Internet in Europe and the protection of the principles of openness and neutrality. more

ISPs May Be Required to Remove Content, Shutdown Websites Under New EU-Wide Rules

Under a draft legislation approved by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee on Tuesday, national enforcement authorities would be required to have a set of powers to detect and halt online breaches of consumers' rights across the European Union. more

ICANN Warns of Governance Crisis at AFRINIC Amid Allegations and Legal Challenges

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has issued a stern open letter to the Government of Mauritius and the court-appointed receiver of AFRINIC, the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa and the Indian Ocean. The letter, dated July 16th, expresses grave concern over AFRINIC’s governance failures, opaque election practices, and recent attempts by a controversial resource member to dissolve the organization. more

Critics Say FCC’s New Report Declaring US Broadband Healthier Than Ever is Based on Flawed Data

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its 2019 Broadband Deployment Report on Wednesday stating the digital divide is shrinking substantially, and more Americans than ever have access to high-speed broadband. more

Scientists in Italy Set Wireless Network Speed Record

A team of Scientists in Pisa, Italy are reported to have set a new world record in wireless data transmission speed. Italian researchers from Sant'Anna University along with the Japanese Waseda University and the National Institute of Information and communication technology in Tokyo, for the "first time in the history of telecommunications" achieved throughput speeds of above 1.2 Terabits per second. Previous record, set in Korea, had been160 Gigabits per second. more

6G Collaboration by U.S. and Allies Against Authoritarian Control

The United States, along with key global partners, has formally committed to principles guiding the development of 6G technology, as announced by the White House. This move comes amidst a strategic contest to shape the future of wireless communication standards, driven by concerns over authoritarian regimes exerting greater control over the internet within their borders. more

Thailand Passes Law Giving Sweeping Powers to State Cyber Agencies

Thailand's military-appointed parliament on Thursday passed a controversial cybersecurity law which gives sweeping powers to state cyber agencies. more

American Households Estimated to Save Over $30 Billion a Year on Broadband With LEO Satellites

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are still in their infancy, but according to one analysis, the technology could save American households more than $30 billion per year by intensifying broadband competition more

12 Million New Domains Registered in Frist Quarter 2016, Total Domains Reach 326.4 Million Worldwide

Total number of domains names across all top-level domains grew to 326.4 million in the first quarter of 2016, Verisign reported today. more