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A Stronger PIR and .ORG: Standing Behind Our Commitments

We respect the right of all parties who wish to express a point of view on the Internet Society's sale of Public Interest Registry ("PIR") to Ethos Capital. However, it's important those views are based on facts -- which has not always been the case. Some have expressed concern that for-profit ownership of .ORG will automatically mean .ORG prices will rise dramatically, or that .ORG's principles will change. more

White House Calls for a Meeting with Domain Registrars, Registries, and ICANN

Brian Krebs reporting in Krebs on Secruity: "The Obama administration is inviting leaders of the top Internet domain name registrars and registries to attend a three-hour meeting at the White House next month about voluntary ways to crack down on Web sites that are selling counterfeit prescription medications..." more

White House Issues Update on Cybersecurity Report

J. Nicholas Hoover reporting in InformationWeek: "The White House on Wednesday issued an update of the Obama administration's ongoing cybersecurity work, detailing some of the steps being taken in an effort to secure the nation's networks against cyber attacks and in the process offering some new insight into the administration's future plans. The progress report, issued immediately after a meeting held by White House cybersecurity coordinator Howard Schmidt with agency secretaries, cybersecurity experts..." more

The Internet’s Address Crisis: IPv4 Stalls, IPv6 Stagnates

Despite the long-anticipated exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, the Internet continues to function through clever workarounds, market transfers, and cautious optimism, while IPv6 adoption remains slow and the future of global connectivity appears uncertain. more

Apple Satellites?

Word has leaked out that Apple is working on a satellite project. The company is at the beginning of the research project, so there is no way to know exactly what they have in mind. For example, is the company considering launching satellites, or would they lease capacity from one of the other planned satellite networks? The fact that Apple is working on the concept is a good segue to discuss the many ways that satellite connectivity could be useful to Apple or other companies. more

DOTZON Study: Digital City Brands 2023

We've just published the 2023 edition of the DOTZON study "Digital City Brands." After introducing the study in early 2017, DOTZON has mapped how successful cities are using their Digital City Brands for the seventh year in a row. The Digital City Brand is the digital dimension of the City Brand and mirrors the "Digitalness" of a city. The advent of the Internet was why Digital City Brands came into being in the first place. more

Looking Back at 20 Years of ICANN

I became interested in the global management of the Domain Name System (DNS) in 1991, soon after helping to create commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Sweden. We moved the Internet Exchange Point (IX) from Academia to the private sector and similarly the management of the SE country code top-level domain. The exercise was fascinating and it really tweaked my interest in the DNS and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. more

T-Mobile, Sprint Announce Merger Plans, Deal Will Combine 3rd and 4th Largest US Telecom Companies

T-Mobile and Sprint on Sunday announced a plan to merge in a deal that would reduce the number of wireless carriers in the U.S. from four to three. more

Study Indicates Spammers Turning Profit Despite One in 12.5m Response Rates

A recent study has revealed some of the economics behind junk mail and spam conversion rates conducted in early 2008 by computer scientists from University of California, Berkeley and UC, San Diego (UCSD). The analysis has suggested that spam operations are able to remain profitable and generate millions from minute response rates. The study is described as the first large-scale quantitative study of spam conversion. more

The ANA and Hand-Wringing

The Association of National Advertisers is at it again, this time spelling the death of new gTLDs barely after they emerge from the gate. In 1982, at the dawn of the video age, Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti infamously told Congress, with more than one unfortunate reference to various types of violent crime, that the advent of the VCR would spell immediate and irrevocable doom to the motion picture industry, and that the device should certainly be thrown to the scrap heap even before its arrival. more

US Facing a Human Capital Crisis in Cybersecurity, Says CSIS

A new study has been released by Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th President that looks into cybersecurity manpower challenges in the United States. The report titled, "A Human Capital Crisis in Cybersecurity," is produced by CSIS - a bipartisan public and foreign policy think tank in Washington. more

We NEED More Young Women to Consider Careers in Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs)

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers are some of the most challenging, dynamic, and lucrative in the world. STEM fields are crucial to driving innovation and sustained economic prosperity, yet finding the right talent to make businesses sustainable appears to be harder than ever before as 2.4 million STEM jobs will be unfilled by 2018. more

Correcting Federal Databases: A Procedural Guide

Federal databases, such as those being compiled by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, contain data about many people and businesses. Although some of this data may be protected personal information (PPI), there is also extensive information in federal databases that is publicly disseminated via the internet. If the information is wrong, it has the potential to be a vector of tortious mischief. more

Tough Questions for ATRT

Public comments on the Proposed Recommendations published by the Accountability and Transparency Review Team ("ATRT") have now been submitted, and it is worth stepping back to evaluate ATRT's work in the context of ICANN's larger challenges. ATRT was constituted to carry out ICANN's commitments under the AoC. Yet at times ICANN acted as if ATRT were an adversary rather than a partner... more

Using LEOs and GEOs

Once you head away from the areas serviced by modern terrestrial cable infrastructure, the available digital communications options are somewhat limited. Some remote areas are served using High-Frequency radio systems, using radio signals that bounce off the ionosphere to provide a long-distance but limited bandwidth service. Or there are satellite-based services based on spacecraft positioned in geostationary orbital slots. more