Virtual ICANN Meetings – YES, Please

In the early 2000s, when I began working in the domain name industry, I remember hearing from colleagues about these seemingly elusive ICANN meetings invariably hosted in some pretty incredible places, including Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Cape Town. I remember how some of my colleagues complained about being stuck in windowless conference rooms for hours on end, but secretly thinking that they were probably going to a few meetings, but then actually enjoying a fabulous vacation.

Verisign Expands MANRS Relationship to Strengthen Global Routing Security

Verisign has been involved with an initiative known as Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security, or MANRS, since its inception. MANRS, which is coordinated by the Internet Society, focuses on strengthening the security and resiliency of IP networks throughout the world by identifying and providing best practices for mitigating common routing security threats. MANRS began as a collaboration among network operators and internet exchange providers, with Verisign formally becoming a participant in its Network Operator Program in 2017.

Questions on the Impact of Trees on SpaceX Starlink

The Starlink Web site says, "Starlink is targeting service in the Northern U.S. and Canada in 2020, rapidly expanding to near-global coverage of the populated world by 2021," but the rollout will not be uniform. The initial coverage will be centered around 53 degrees latitude, and locations with unobstructed views of the sky will have an advantage. Like many folks, I wonder about coverage at my particular location in a wooded mountain area at 34.8462° N latitude.

Big Regional Network Outages

T-Mobile had a major network outage last week that cut off some voice calls and most texting for nearly a whole day. The company's explanation of the outage was provided by Neville Ray, the president of technology... In plain English, the electronics failed on a leased circuit, and then the backup circuit also failed. This then caused a cascade that brought down a large part of the T-Mobile network.

Marking the 30th Anniversary of the Internet and Cybersecurity Treaty

Next week on 1 July 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most significant treaty instruments in modern times. On 1 July 1990, the Melbourne Treaty came into force as the first and only global treaty that enabled worldwide internets and mobile networks to exist, together with the cybersecurity provisions designed to protect those infrastructures. The achievement remains as an enduring tribute to Richard Edmund Butler of Australia who was one of the most influential, and best-loved Secretaries-General of the ITU.

Meta 2020: Talking Internet on the Internet

As with other meetings and conferences, the IGF-USA decided to move our annual event to a virtual format held on 22-23 July. We will discuss important matters of the Internet, using the Internet from our secure Internet access points. This format allows us to continue critical dialogue safe from viruses, murder hornets and whatever else is thrown at us this year.

Building a New Era of Trust on the Internet

Since Tim Berners-Lee first introduced us to the world wide web, we have seen several major phases of its growth. From the early years -- where researchers and open Internet pioneers led the way; to the dot-com boom; to the era of social media domination; the web has come a long way. While the pandemic circling the globe has undermined many critical systems and institutions of our society, I believe it also has the potential to strengthen is the resolve of the Internet community...

Article 22 of the GDPR Should Not Preclude Contemplated Automation

There is an ongoing disagreement among various members and groups in the ICANN community regarding automation -- namely, whether and to what extent automation can be used to disclose registrant data in response to legitimate data disclosure requests. A major contributing factor to the complications around automation has been confusion about how to interpret and apply Article 22 of the GDPR.

A DNS View of Lockdown

At NANOG 79 earlier this month Craig Labowitz from Nokia Deepfield presented on the impact on the COVID-19 pandemic on Internet use. The approach to the analysis used real-time streaming telemetry from Communication Service Provider (CSP) backbone and aggregation routers, and the data analysis covered content provider networks in North America, Europe and parts of Asia.

ISPs, COVID-19 and the Coming Year of Confusion

I've had a number of people ask me about how I think COVID-19 will impact the ISP industry over the next six months. It's an interesting question to consider because there are both positive and negative trends that ISPs need to be concerned about. The chances are that these various trends will affect markets and ISPs differently - making it that much harder for an individual ISP to understand what they are going to see over the next six months.