The .Org Price Caps Removed Under New Agreement With ICANN

ICANN agrees to remove price caps on .org domain names in the new agreement with the operator of the top-level domain, Public Interest Registry (PIR). The decision follows controversies around the move, which included objections from registrants, non-profit entities, charities, religious organizations and others. more

Round Two of New gTLDs: No Crap

So you're still lost, wondering where to start and what to do to submit your application in the next round of new top-level domain application? Well, you can attend webinars and listen to service providers telling you what you have to do with them "to be prepared"... but please... pay no one for this. Here is why. There are two things to know and one thing to do first. more

GrubHub Accused of Cybersquatting Thousands of Restuarant Domain Names

An investigation by New Food Economy has revealed GrubHub and its subsidiaries have been registering thousands of domain names consisting of existing restaurant names, with over 23,000 domains registered directly under GrubHub. more

Google Announces a New Private Subsea Cable Connecting Africa With Europe

Google on Friday announced a new private subsea cable, called "Equiano," to connect Africa with Europe. This will be Google's third fully funded private undersea cable in addition to fourteen other cable investments globally. more

Responding to “The Case for Regulatory Capture of ICANN”

This past Monday, as ICANN65 was beginning in Marrakesh, the technical review blog Review Signal published a detailed expose, "The Case for Regulatory Capture of ICANN" authored by site founder and "geek-in-charge" Kevin Ohashi. The post was clearly the product of extensive investigative reporting – and what it reveals is deeply disturbing. more

Looking at the Correlation Between Broadband Speeds and Unemployment

Economists at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Oklahoma State University conducted a study that correlates broadband speeds to unemployment. They concluded that unemployment rates are 0.26% lower in counties with faster broadband. They further concluded that broadband has a bigger impact on jobs in rural areas than in metropolitan ones. more

The West Is Shooting Itself in Its IT Foot

In our globalized economy, it is vital that we do establish levels of fair trade, and the USA is right in addressing that issue. However, making technology a key element of the trade war will backfire. Let's take (again) the Huawei issue as an example. The company has admitted that the US boycott is hitting them severely with an estimated loss of $30 billion in revenues. One of the other elements of the trade boycott is that Google is no longer allowed to provide... more

Florida Cities Are Paying Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Ransom to Get Their Data Back

Lake City became the second Florida city to pay a substantial ransomware demand to hackers in less than a week. more

What Modern Businesses Need to Know Regarding Geo Names and Jurisdiction in Domain Name Disputes

The Internet has provided an unprecedented number of opportunities while raising far-reaching legal issues. It has created a complex matrix of national laws, global circumstances and new definitions -- or, at least, definitions in progress. The turmoil over Brexit and the international implications of the EU General Data Protection Regulation are signs of the times; as are issues surrounding domain names. more

Demand for Cybersecurity Workers in the United States Has Nearly Doubled Since 2013

Cybersecurity job postings in the United States has nearly doubled since 2013 and is growing three times as fast as other IT roles, according to a new report from the labor market analytics firm Burning Glass Technologies. more

Amazon’s AWS Ground Station Service Is Now Available

Amazon announced that they would be providing satellite ground station service last year and Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web services, announced its availability in the video at the end of this post. AWS Ground Station is a fully managed, ready-to-go ground station service... This sounds like a compelling case, especially for a small operator or startup, but I don't know how the prices compare to existing services or building proprietary ground stations. more

State-Sponsored Cyberattack Against Telecom Providers Is Targetting Data on Specific Individuals

The researchers at Cybereason Nocturnus have identified an advanced, persistent attack targeting global telecommunications providers carried out by a threat actor using tools and techniques commonly associated with the Chinese-affiliated threat actor APT10. This multi-wave attack is reported to have sought to steal communications data of specific individuals in various countries. more

US Launches Cyberattack Against Iran’s Military IT Systems

The United States in retaliation to the growing Iranian cyber-activity and the shooting of an unarmed US drone last week has launched a series of cyberattacks against Iran's military IT systems. more

Move Fast and Regulate Things

The international community is converging on one notion at least: that Facebook cannot be prosecutor, judge and jury of its own achievements and transgressions. The calls to regulate social media companies first came from various legislative bodies, then from civil society and national policymakers, then from the CEO of Facebook itself, "to preserve what is best about [the Internet]." If some scepticism followed that was natural enough – was the company sincere in calling for more regulation? more

Words and Descriptive Phrases as Trademarks Registered as Domain Names

In a trademark context, who owns or controls, or would prevent others, from using words and phrases commonly available to speakers in a language community, is in persistent tension. While common words alone or combined may become protected from infringing uses under trademark law, their protection is contingent on factors such as linguistic choices and strength or weakness of marks in the marketplace. more