CarPIF Regional Connectivity Meeting to Address Affordable and Resilient Internet Access

The Eastern Caribbean island of Grenada has been selected as the venue for the fifth regional meeting of the Caribbean Internet Peering and Interconnection Forum, CarPIF, set for June 12 to 13. The annual international event, which draws Internet giants like Facebook and Google to the region, is focused on developing the Internet in the Caribbean by improving policy and building relationships between network operators and content providers. more

Close to 7.9 Million Domain Names Registered in Q2 2016

VeriSign, in its latest latest Domain Name Industry Brief, reports approximately 7.9 million new domain name registrations in the second quarter of 2016 which brings total number of domain name registrations to approximately 334.6 million across all top-level domains (TLDs) as of June 30, 2016. more

Pursuit of Sikh Separatist Prompts Widespread Internet Shutdown in Punjab, India

Indian authorities have instituted a mobile internet and text messaging blackout in the state of Punjab, which has a population of around 27 million, in an effort to capture a Sikh separatist. The ban began midday Saturday and was extended for another 24 hours on Sunday. more

Video Interviews from ICANN 52 in Singapore

CircleID in collaboration with the team from Dyn Inc. and ICANNWiki, brings you the following video interviews conducted by Susan Chalmers at ICANNWiki during the ICANN 52 meetings in Singapore (8- 2 February 2015). more

What Would a Human Rights-Based Approach to AI Governance Look Like?

Over the past year, discussions around artificial intelligence (AI) have saturated media and policy environments. Perspectives on it vary widely: from boosterist narratives, which posit the limitless potential of AI-powered technologies to help overcome social inequalities and accelerate industrial development, to apocalyptic framings, which suggest that a (speculative) 'artificial general intelligence' could make humans extinct. more

Fourth Round of Initial Evaluation Results for New TLDs

Mary Iqbal writes to report that ICANN has released the fourth round of Initial Evaluation results, bringing the total number of applications that have passed the Initial Evaluation phase to 131. ICANN is targeting completing Initial Evaluation for all applicants by August 2013. more

ISOC-NY Forum: Civic Representation in ICANN: What Now?

Joly MacFie writes: The Internet Society's New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) will be holding a public forum at NYU on Oct 8 2009 to discuss, in the post JPA world, civic representation in ICANN. Specific concerns are the current restructuring of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council, and the replacement of the At-Large Liaison to the ICANN Board by a seated member. Will the creation of new constituencies serve to balkanize the Noncommercial users and dilute their influence? Will an At-large board member be less answerable to the rank and file? These questions and more will be discussed. The public are welcome to attend and the event will be webcast live. more

The 50th Anniversaries of the Moon Landing and First ARPANET Message

The anniversaries of these milestones remind us of the economic and social returns we have seen from ambitious Federal research and development programs. These events were milestones... the manned spaceflight program and the development of digital telecommunication networks from Morse's telegraph to early electronic digital computers and telemetry experiments, the SAGE early-warning system and eventually the ARPANET and the Internet. more

VeriSign to Recognize Innovators, Leaders That Have Shaped the First 25 Years of .Com

For the upcoming 25th anniversary of .com Top-Level Domain, VeriSign, the registry operator of the domain will launch a year-long initiative to celebrate the event. From the announcement: "In March 1985, the first .com domain was registered, igniting the birth of the consumer Internet that, 25 years later, continues to transform communications, commerce and our society as a whole. Beginning in March 2010, VeriSign, the long-time operator of the .com domain, will lead an industry-wide initiative to recognize the innovators and leaders that have shaped the first 25 years of .com and in doing so transformed our economy and society. The celebration of "25 Years of .com" will kick off with a policy-focused event in Washington, DC on March 16." more

What Is Privacy?

Ask ten people what privacy is, and you'll likely get twelve different answers. The reason for the disparity is that your feelings about privacy depend on context and your experience. Privacy is not a purely technical issue but a human one. Long before computers existed, people cared about and debated privacy. Future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis defined it as "the right to be left alone" in 1890. Before the Web became a ubiquitous phenomenon, people primarily thought of privacy in terms of government intrusion. more

NCUC Sends Urgent Plea to the ICANN Board Regarding Recent Changes Affecting Noncommercial Groups

An open letter from nearly 150 individual and organizational members of ICANN's Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) has been submitted to ICANN's board of directors and CEO. The letter has expresses serious concern over a recent ICANN Board decision regarding the restructuring of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). From the letter: "We believe that the Noncommercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) chartering process has been seriously flawed on both procedural and substantive grounds. We appeal to you to address these problems before permanent damage is done to ICANN's reputation, to the GNSO reform process, and to the interests of noncommercial users of the Internet." more

Accountability Initiatives to Secure a Strong Future for .ORG

Last fall, when we put forth our bid to acquire the Public Interest Registry (PIR), our announcement - made jointly with PIR and its parent, the Internet Society - was met with questions. We took them seriously and made a conscious effort to engage with representative members of the .ORG community to deepen our understanding. We found that a consistent message was that the commitments made by Ethos since this fall addressed most of the community's issues, but there was a question as to whether they were enforceable and if so, how? more

US Seeks to Intervene in EU vs Facebook Case

At a hearing in the Irish High Court, the US government has sought to intervene in the case between a privacy activist and Facebook. Consequently, the court has been adjourned for two weeks to give it - and other parties - time to file a motion in this regard. more

VoIP: Beyond the Status Quo

On New Year's Eve 2008 I felt compelled to respond to the stories being written about the Death of VoIP which lead to my recent blog post: VoIP is NOT Dead!. Since then, I've enjoyed many of the conversations that have continued to take place in the comment sections of a number of blogs, including this one. My belief is the future is unwritten and if the conditions are right people will return to the space. But we need to embrace innovation and change and encourage people to be disruptive. What follows is a continuation of the conversation. more

ISOC-NY EVENT: Dot NYC - How Are We Doing?

The Internet Society - New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) has for some years been following the .nyc and ICANN process on behalf of the NYC community and will, on May 8 2010, host a symposium "dot nyc - How are we doing?" at NYU. At 1pm NYC Council Member Gale Brewer will deliver keynote remarks, then Vendor Eric Brunner-Williams of CORE Internet Council of Registrars will reveal details of their proposal to the City, and Antony Van Couvering of Minds + Machines earlier comments to the City Council concerning their proposal will be shown in video. ...there will be a discussion "What's it for?" about possible applications - civic, community, commercial, and "outside the box" - for a local top level domain. more