News Briefs

Total Domain Names Pass 252 Million Worldwide

More than six million domain names were registered in the fourth quarter of 2012, bringing the total number to more than 252 million domain names worldwide across all top-level domains (TLDs) as of Dec. 31, 2012, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief from Verisign. The increase of 6.1 million domain names globally equates to a growth rate of 2.5 percent over the third quarter of 2012, and marks the eighth straight quarter with greater than 2 percent growth. Worldwide registrations have grown by 26.6 million, or 11.8 percent, year over year. more

Cybercrime Costs German Companies €267 Billion, Organised Crime and Foreign Nations Blamed

German companies have suffered substantial financial losses due to cybercrime and sabotage, totaling approximately €267 billion ($298 billion) over the past year. This represents a 29% increase compared to the previous year, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the industry association Bitkom. more

High-Speed Fibre Makes Up One-Quarter of Fixed Broadband Internet Connections in OECD Countries

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that the share of high-speed fiber in fixed broadband Internet connections in its member countries has risen to 25%, up from 12% eight years ago. more

ICANN Names Steve Crocker as Chair of the Board

ICANN has named, Internet pioneer, Steve Crocker as new Chair of the Board. Dr. Crocker whose involvement with ICANN dates back to 2002, has also served as chair of ICANN's Security, Stability, and Advisory Committee (SSAC) until 2010. He was the SSAC liaison to the Board from 2003 to 2008, a voting member of the Board since 2008, and vice-chair of the Board since December 2010. Crocker succeeds Peter Dengate Thrush, who was Chair since 2007. Also board member Bruce Tonkin, an Australian, was named Vice Chair. He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer for Melbourne IT Limited. more

Harvard Business Review: An Internet Powered by 100% Renewable Energy is Within Our Reach

"If the world is to become ever more efficient and reach global climate goals, internet power will need to play its part," warn Nate Springer and Kelly Gallo of Business for Social Responsibility. more

Software Glitch Causes ICANN to Extend New gTLD Application Deadline

Due to unusual behaviour with the operation of its TLD Application System (TAS), ICANN announced today that it has shut down the system until Tuesday. ICANN has also extended the submission deadline: "In order to ensure all applicants have sufficient time to complete their applications during the disruption, the application window will remain open until 23:59 UTC on Friday, 20 April 2012." more

China’s Top Diplomat Calls for Global Cyberspace Fairness, Urges Resistance to Technological Dominance

In a call for "fairness and justice" in cyberspace, China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, has encouraged emerging economies to collectively resist any attempts at dominance in science, technology, or the internet. more

China Accused of ‘Weaponizing’ Global Internet Users to Launch DDoS Attack

Activists battling internet censorship in China are reporting that they have proof of a massive online assault on their websites by the Chinese authorities. The attack, which began last Thursday, targeted two GitHub projects designed to combat censorship in China: GreatFire and CN-NYTimes, a Chinese language version of the New York Times. more

Internet Domain Shutdowns: Ineffective and Risky, Experts Warn

Efforts to curb illegal online content through domain shutdowns are proving ineffective and carry significant risks, according to a new report by eco and its topDNS initiative. more

Conflict of Interest Mingled Into ICANN’s DNA, Says Insider

"ICANN ethical conflicts are worse than they seem," says Beau Brendler, chairman of the North American Internet user advisory committee to ICANN (NARALO), in an op-ed post published today. Brendler writes: "Whatever might be said about outgoing ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom, Internet users worldwide should be thanking him. Last week in Costa Rica, at the organization's 43rd meeting, Beckstrom blew a harsh blast of cold Arctic reality into the room about the board's conflicts of interest. more

UPDATEDGoogle Launches Public DNS Service

Today Google announced the launch of its own public DNS resolver called Google Public DNS - claimed as part of the company's effort to "make the web faster". Google product manager, Prem Ramaswami, writes: "As people begin to use Google Public DNS, we plan to share what we learn with the broader web community and other DNS providers, to improve the browsing experience for Internet users globally. The goal of Google Public DNS is to benefit users worldwide while also helping the tens of thousands of DNS resolvers improve their services, ultimately making the web faster for everyone." more

Verizon and AWS Expand Network Ties to Meet AI Data Demands

Verizon and AWS have deepened their collaboration to build dedicated fiber infrastructure, addressing the growing need for low-latency, high-capacity connectivity to support the rapid expansion of enterprise-scale artificial intelligence workloads. more

Senate Appropriations Committee Critical of NTIA Role Within ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee

On July 18th the Senate Appropriations Committee issued Report 113 - 78 on S. 1329, the "DEPARTMENTS OF COMMERCE AND JUSTICE, AND SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2014". more

A Survey of Internet Users from 24 Countries Finds 83% Consider Affordable Access Basic Human Right

A survey of Internet users in 24 countries has found that 83% believe affordable access to the Internet should be a basic human right, according to the "CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust." The results of the new survey, commissioned by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and conducted by global research company Ipsos, were presented today in Ottawa, Canada. more

GlavMed Hacks U.S. Government Website

Garth Bruen writes: A report in LegitScript takes a look at Russian rogue Internet pharmacy hacking US government website. "As rogue Internet pharmacy networks become more sophisticated, even US government websites are at risk. Today, we're taking a look at how a rogue Internet pharmacy linked to a criminal network operating out of Russia and Eastern Europe has hacked into a US government website. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US foreign aid agency, utilizes a ".gov" top-level domain, which is assigned to the control of the US government. Domain names ending in .gov are typically administered by the General Services Administration." more