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On November 15, Russia demonstrated its ability to destroy an orbiting satellite, Cosmo 1408, by hitting it with a direct-ascent rocket. In an earlier post, I noted the anti-satellite demonstration and speculated on why Russia may have done it and why the Chinese had not condemned it. In this post, I’ll look at the evolution of the resulting debris cloud and say more about the possible motivation. more
In late 2021, the term Web3 began to increasingly appear in mainstream media outlets. This does not refer, however, to a sudden increase in interest in the Semantic Web as defined by Tim Berners-Lee, but rather to something entirely different. Enthusiasts of cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) seized this term and changed its meaning to reflect a supposed new stage of the Web, running on top of blockchains and having decentralization as its core value. To summarize the narrative being spun, the first generation of the Web afforded independence to the owners of websites, but this did not extend to the average user... more
Decentralization is exciting. Headline-grabbing, even. After all, in a world where frustration levels are sky-high and rising, it should not come as a shock that many individuals are willing to embrace what we might call "anti-system solutions." Decentralized solutions, in our case, which come with the ambitious promise of providing everything their centralized counterpart can provide but without centralized points of failure and regulations. In our previous article, we enumerated several advantages associated with decentralized domain names. more
With solution providers such as Unstoppable Domains or Handshake, and blockchain technology-friendly browsers, such as Brave, that are more than happy to assist on the implementation front, decentralized alternatives to the traditional Domain Name System has been receiving more and more attention lately. Centralized vs. decentralized... what will it be? more
The International Trademark Association's Blockchain Subcommittee is interested in meeting companies working on Blockchain applications related to intellectual property. The Blockchain Subcommittee's mission is to explore the use of blockchain technology in trademark prosecution, maintenance, protection, and practice, including the opportunities and threats to the value of trademarks, brands, and consumer trust in emerging blockchain technologies. more
Just in the last two weeks, two stories in the United States hit the press that highlight behavior from ISPs that would have likely have violated the Net Neutrality rules that were killed by Ajit Pai's FCC. The big ISPs have been surprisingly quiet and have not loudly violated those rules, even though they are no longer in effect. The industry speculation is that the big ISPs are treading lightly because they don't want to trigger a regulatory overreaction should there be a change of party in the administration or Congress. more
China's central bank is a step closer to becoming the world's first major monetary authority to issue its own digital tender. The People's Bank of China will conduct internal tests for the central bank's digital currency (CBDC) across four cities (Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong'An and Chengdu), according to a statement issued by the bank on Friday. more
Apropos of recent news stories about a blockchain-based voting system that was hacked before its first election, someone asked: "Perhaps final recognition that a lot of blockchain is hype? Or simply an interesting side-story?" A blockchain can ensure that the lies you see are the same lies that were published, but that doesn't have much to do with voting. more
Facebook has announced its Libra cryptocurrency. This is good news for cryptocurrencies and market-incentivized networks. I worry that Libra's financial inclusion might come with an attendent loss of privacy or autonomy. After months of speculation, Facebook on Tuesday announced Libra, a cryptocurrency with the mission of enabling a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people. more
You might not understand how crypto-currencies or blockchain wallets work, but Facebook's announcement this week is a clear signal that these new technologies will soon become ubiquitous. Facebook's introduction of its own crypto-currency to its 2 billion users means mass adoption of crypto-currencies and digital wallets are on the horizon. This has implications that trademark owners need to be aware of. more
Facebook today announced a newly formed subsidiary, named Calibra, to provide financial services. The first product Calibra will introduce, according to the company, is a digital wallet for Libra. more
Some of the leading internet messaging companies including Facebook, Telegram and Signal are moving ahead with plans to provide mainstream consumers digital coins. more
A new security report reveals cryptominers infected ten times more organizations than ransomware in 2018, but only one in five IT security professionals were aware their company's networks had been infected by mining malware. more
The company running the new .LUXE top-level domain (TLD) recently issued an update on its progress with the innovative effort to tie the TLD with blockchain. more
In recent times, I've been struggling to determine where blockchain has demonstrated its immensely promised value, delivered true market or stakeholder value, or disrupted an existing ecosystem. And thus far, what I keep coming up with is that "blockchain is truly a solution searching for a problem." Most of all, many of its enthusiasts and proponents are generally conceptual thinkers and/or snake oil salespersons who have little to no experience delivering secure, integrated, complex systems. more
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