News Briefs

Domain Seizures for Copyright Infringement Likely to Move Beyond U.S. Based Registries

Efforts to take down websites for copyright infringement are likely to move beyond U.S.-based domain name registries, with ICANN promising to more closely cooperate with global law enforcement agencies and governments. During an open session with the Government Advisory Committee (GAC), the ICANN board confirmed that it will enforce its contracts with registrars more effectively in order to meet expectations from governments and law enforcement authorities. more

Free Pool of IPv4 Addresses Drops to 8.5 Percent

A new report issued by the Number Resource Organization (NRO) has found that demand for both IPv4 and IPv6 address space is continuing to grow. The Internet Number Resource Status Report for the first quarter of 2010 is based on data collected by the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) that oversee the allocation of all Internet number resources, and outlines RIR allocation of IP address space (IPv4 and IPv6), as well as AS number assignments. In the report, the NRO notes that allocations of IPv4 addresses in Q1 have reduced the IANA free pool of IPv4 addresses to 8.5 percent. more

Netflix Becomes Largest Source of Internet Traffic in North America

Netflix has become the largest source of Internet traffic in North America, according Sandvine's Spring 2011 Global Internet Phenomena Report. Company further reports that currently, Real-Time Entertainment applications consume 49.2% of peak aggregate traffic, up from 29.5% in 2009 -- a 60% increase [see figture]. Sandvine forecasts that the Real-Time Entertainment category will represent 55-60% of peak aggregate traffic by the end of 2011. more

Microsoft Offers $7.5 Million to Buy 666,624 IPv4 Addresses

Jaikumar Vijayan reporting in InfoWorld: "Microsoft has agreed to pay $7.5 million to purchase a block of 666,624 IPv4 addresses from bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker Nortel in a move that some see as a signal of the increasing value of IPv4 addresses. Last week, Nortel filed a motion seeking approval for the sale from the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. If the deal is approved, Microsoft would assume control of the IPv4 addresses, currently owned by Nortel, for about $11.25 a piece." more

IDN Introduction Biggest Technical Change to Internet in Its 40-Year History, Says ICANN Chairman

The Internet is on the verge of undergoing one of its most significant changes in its 40-year history. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is finalizing plans to introduce non-Latin characters such as Arabic, Korean, Greek, Hindi, Japanese and Cyrillic. Non-Latin domain names -- commonly referred to as Internationalized Domain Names or IDNs -- could be up and running as early as middle of next year according to ICANN. Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of the ICANN board, told reporters: "This is the biggest change technically to the Internet since it was invented 40 years ago... [a] fantastically complicated technical feature." more

UPDATEDDepartment of Commerce Cancels IANA Contract RFP

The United States government has cancelled IANA Request for Proposal (RFP) SA1301-12-RP-IANA according to an updated page made today on the FedBizOpps website. The change -- time stamped Mar 09, 2012 2:44 pm -- states: "The Department of Commerce intends to reissue the RFP at a future date, date to be determined (TBD). Interested parties are encouraged to periodically visit www.fbo.gov for updates." more

Politico Writes of Comcast’s IPv6 Effort

Larry Seltzer writes: Politico? Comcast's PR gets an 'A' for this article, an upbeat tech-lite description of the impending depletion of the IPv4 space and efforts to adopt IPv6. It also seems that the Obama administration is behind this, and that the Federal government has had "remarkable foresight on this issue." I feel better already. more

Demand for Online Video Drives Akamai Single Day Traffic to 3.45 Tbps

Leading Internet content distribution service provider, Akamai, has announced that its global network is now serving as much as 3.45 Terabits per second (Tbps) of content per day. "The traffic peak of 3.45 Tbps is roughly equivalent to the capacity needed to download the entire printed contents of the U.S. Library of Congress in less than a minute," says the company. Paul Sagan, Akamai's President and CEO, says increasing demand for high definition video streaming is a key factor in these recent delivery milestones. more

Gold Dragon Helps Olympics Malware Attacks Gain Permanent Presence on Systems, Reports McAfee

A report recently released by McAfee Advanced Threat Research (ATR) revealed a fileless attack targeting organizations involved with the Pyeongchang Olympics. more

A Look Inside the Emerging Private IPv4 Market

A significant quantity of unused, previously allocated IPv4 addresses are becoming readily available for re-distribution to IP network operators in need of the depleted addresses. Network World has published a report that takes a look at this emerging private market that's allowing companies with excess numbers to sell them to those in need. more

Internet Census: 4 Billion Addresses Just Not Enough for 7 Billion People

As Internet authorities prepare to announce that they have handed over all of the available addresses, a USC research group that monitors address usage has completed the latest in its series of Internet censuses. There is some good news, according to computer scientist John Heideman, who heads a team at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Information Sciences Institute that has just released its results in the form of a detailed outline including a 10-minute video and an interactive web browser that allows users to explore the nooks and crannies of Internet space themselves. more

DNC Emails Hacked Using Fake Gmail Login Forms

A new report from SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit has revealed a hacking group operating from the Russian Federation, implemented spearphishing techniques involving use of look-alike Google login pages to gain access to DNC emails and other data. more

UPDATEDFirst Three IDN ccTLDs Are Now Live

Announced in a blog post today, ICANN's Manager of Root Zone Services, Kim Davies, reports: "Today the first three production non-Latin top-level domains were placed in the DNS root zone. ... The three new top-level domains are ????????. (“Al-Saudiah”), ??????. ( “Emarat”) and ???. (“Misr”). All three are Arabic script domains, and will enable domain names written fully right-to-left. Expect more as we continue to process other applications using the “fast track” methodology." more

Global IPTV to Reach 81 Million Users by 2013, 32% Annual Growth

The number of global IPTV subscribers will grow from 26.7 million in 2009 to 81 million in 2013, a compound annual growth rate of 32%, according to the latest Research and Markets IPTV Global Forecast Report. Regarding service revenue, the Global IPTV market is $6.7 billion in 2009 and growing to $19.9 billion in 2013, a compound annual growth rate of 31%. By 2013, the report forecasts Europe and North America will generate a larger share of global revenue, due to very low ARPUs (average revenue per user) in China and India, the fastest growing (and ultimately, the biggest markets) in Asia. more

Domain Registrations in New TLDs Overwhelmingly for Defensive Purposes, INTA Study

During the ICANN meeting in South Africa last week, the impact of new gTLD rights protection mechanisms (RPMS) was the subject of key discussions, and some concerns were voiced regarding trademark owners themselves registering domain names excessively and technically abusing the sunrise period. more