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A Supreme Court judge in Mauritius has been appointed to investigate AFRINIC, Africa's IP address registry, following allegations of misconduct, legal irregularities, and criminal falsification. The inquiry marks a pivotal moment in African internet governance, with implications for regional digital infrastructure and the continent's credibility in managing critical online resources. more
Many previous pieces of research have focused on the desirability of a comprehensive scoring system, to be used for ranking results identified as part of a brand-protection solution, according to their potential level of threat. Such scoring systems offer the capability for identifying prioritised targets for further analysis, content tracking or enforcement actions. more
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has issued a stern open letter to the Government of Mauritius and the court-appointed receiver of AFRINIC, the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa and the Indian Ocean. The letter, dated July 16th, expresses grave concern over AFRINIC’s governance failures, opaque election practices, and recent attempts by a controversial resource member to dissolve the organization. more
What might look like a routine procedural dispute over votes is, in fact, a glaring reminder that Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are now geopolitical pressure points - and that ICANN's oversight of RIR governance must evolve to meet these risks. On 23 June 2025, AFRINIC, the RIR that serves Africa, attempted to hold long-delayed elections to restore stability after years of legal battles and board paralysis. Yet instead of restoring trust, the process imploded almost immediately. more
The European Union is increasingly wielding domain name deletions as a tool of financial enforcement - a trend sparked by the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and now spreading across other legislative efforts such as the Financial Data Access Framework (FiDA) and the Payment Services Regulation (PSR). more
Afnic, the French association in charge of the .fr domain and several other Internet Top Level Domains, has published the 2024 edition of its annual analysis "The Global Domain Name Market". Here is a summary of the overarching trends and key figures. more
This study analyzes the differences in domain name and IP address strategies among a number of current mainstream artificial intelligence (AI) service providers. We find that these technical choices not only reflect deployment decisions but also deep-seated corporate knowledge and capabilities in Internet infrastructure service provision, as well as brand positioning and market strategies. more
At the 20th Internet Governance Forum in Lillestrøm, Norway, the UN Internet Governance Forum's dynamic coalition Internet Standards, Security and Safety (IS3C) released its new report on post-quantum policies. This report presents the findings of a collaborative study undertaken by IS3C and the French domain name registry Afnic and examines the critical need for Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) to achieve greater security in the ever-expanding global IoT landscape. more
As published on June 24, 2025, it is with no surprise that the AFNIC was renewed as the backend registry provider of the .PARIS new generic Top-Level Domain. What caught my attention in the announcement was this paragraph: “Afnic’s remit will also be expanded to include communication and promotion of the .paris TLD, as well as the development of initiatives designed to increase its adoption by businesses and private individuals.” more
Mounting governance woes at the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) have drawn a sharp rebuke from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which has issued a stern warning of a potential compliance review. more
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has issued a formal call for greater transparency and procedural integrity in the ongoing board elections of the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC). more
We have just released the 2025 edition of the DOTZON study "Digital City Brands." Since first presenting the study in early 2017, DOTZON has now analyzed for the ninth consecutive year how cities successfully use their Digital City Brands. The Digital City Brand represents the digital aspect of a city's brand and reflects how digitally advanced a city is. The emergence of the Internet was the reason Digital City Brands were created in the first place. more
The NetBeacon Institute is pleased to publish its White Paper: Proposal for PDPs on DNS Abuse. We created this paper to support and advance ICANN Community discussions on potential policy development related to DNS Abuse. From our unique perspective, we believe there are a number of issues that are constrained enough to be a successful ICANN PDP and can make a meaningful difference in our collective work against DNS Abuse. more
As the European Union presses ahead with its European Democracy Shield (EUDS) to counter foreign disinformation, European country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registries are urging caution. more
The ability to rank results according to the level of threat they pose (based on factors such as, for example, the extent to which a webpage relates to a brand of interest) is a key component of many brand protection services. The prioritisation process has a number of purposes, including the identification of: (a) priority targets for further analysis; (b) candidates for content tracking (i.e. regular reinspection of content or configuration, and the generation of an alert if high-concern findings are identified) - as may be appropriate in cases where a domain name presents a high potential level of risk but is not currently associated with any live site content; and (c) priority targets for enforcement actions. more
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