A Journey Into the Surreal: The GOP Protecting “Internet Freedom” With 25 Friends

Few people would suggest that much of the life in the U.S. national political scene these days has any nexus to the real world. At national election time, the disconnect and hyperbole in Washington get worse. "Unhinged" seems to be a common term. The recently released GOP platform on "protecting internet freedom" followed up by the "twenty-five advocacy groups" letter to Congressional leaders is definitely an unhinged a journey into the land of the clueless. more

The Truth About Supplemental Filings in UDRP Cases

A typical proceeding under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) consists of a complaint and, sometimes, a response. UDRP Rule 12 makes clear that "further statements or documents from either of the Parties" are appropriate only if "the Panel... request[s], in its sole discretion." In practice, however, such supplemental or additional filings are not uncommon, with the leading UDRP service providers - WIPO and the Forum - issuing guidance about when they may be appropriate. more

How Radix’s New gTLDs Fare with Consumers - An Infographic

ICANN conducted Phase 2 of its Global Consumer Research Survey to determine consumer response to domain names, both legacy and new gTLDs. The ICANN commissioned survey conducted by Nielsen included 5,452 consumers ages 18+ in 24 countries and was conducted in 18 languages. This research was aimed at measuring several variables like TLD awareness, consumers' interaction with sites on classic and new TLDs and their trust in them. more

I Didn’t Put My Name on the Census

On many occasions I have written about the dangers of electronic communications in relation to data retention laws, government e-spying and other activities undermining our democracy and our liberty. To date governments still have to come up with evidence that all of this spying on their citizens has prevented any terrorist attacks. Terrorism has been given as the key reason for the government's spying. more

IoT Developments: NIST Issues Tech Guidance while NTIA Seeks Broad Input, Global Efforts Percolate

As the federal government grapples with Internet-connected devices and applications that make up the Internet of Things (IoT), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is forging ahead to provide "technical leadership" for "the operation, trustworthiness, and lifecycle of IoT". Such efforts complement - and contrast - recent policy efforts at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and elsewhere to promote IoT innovation while addressing security, privacy, and interoperability.  more

WiFi QoE Assurance with TR-069 - Part 3: From Single AP to Large AP Deployments

Last week we investigated how rich data derived from TR-069 can be used to optimize the service quality of a single access point (AP) within the subscriber premises. Often a service provider will control multiple APs within a multi-dwelling unit, university campus, or other public space. This opens up new doors for optimizing service quality - instead of simply optimizing a single AP, you are now able to control other APs in the vicinity as well. more

IBM’s SoftLayer Cloud Infrastructure Service Blocks Cuba - Why Now?

Cachivache Media recently reported that the Bitly URL-trimming service had stopped working in Cuba. Cubans had been using the service for several years, so this resulted in many broken links. Cachivache did not know what had happened, but published a traceroute that timed out at an Akamai router. I contacted Akamai, and they said they could not say anything -- they would only talk with their customers -- Bitly in this case. So I contacted Bitly and had an email exchange with one of their support people. more

Fair Use Registration of Domain Names for Artists and Hobbyists

There is in the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act a provision not expressly found in the UDRP (at least, not in so many words) but the concept is nevertheless present in the Policy by construction... The term "fair use" is typically associated with protected speech (criticism and commentary), fan websites, and nominative use of domain names but it is not limited to those uses. It's a flexible principle in both trademark and copyright law. more

NTP is Still a Security Risk

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) has been in the news a number of times over the past couple of years because of attacks on the protocol, vulnerabilities in the daemon, and the use of NTP in DDoS attacks. In each case, the developers of NTP have responded quickly with fixes or recommendations for remediating these attacks. Additionally, the development team has continued to look ahead and has worked to enhance the security of NTP. Unfortunately, that has not translated to an improved security picture for NTP. more

Verizon-Yahoo! Incumbents Never Seem to Learn

It is amazing that after the dozens of examples of failed business decisions made by telcos in relation to the digital economy, Verizon has clearly not learned any lessons and is willing to waste $4.8 billion in its purchase of Yahoo. This investment will be totally useless and will not provide any new revenue for the telco. They seemed to be attracted by the people-tracking facility (surveillance marketing) that companies such as Yahoo use, and they aim this for their own purposes to attract new advertising revenues. more