ICANN’s 52nd Meeting Kicks Off in Singapore

Singapore's Minister of Communications and Information, Dr. Yaacob bin Ibrahim, and former Senior Advisor to President Bill Clinton, Ira Magaziner, spoke to the success of the multistakeholder model of Internet governance during the Opening Ceremony of ICANN's 52nd public meeting today... more

Code Released by ‘Shadow Brokers’ Raises Alarming Concerns on Whether NSA Was Hacked

The release on websites this week of what appears to be top-secret computer code that the National Security Agency has used to break into the networks of foreign governments and other espionage targets has caused deep concern inside American intelligence agencies, raising the question of whether America's own elite operatives have been hacked and their methods revealed. more

Internet 2008 in Numbers

In a blog post today, Royal Pingdom has posted a variety of statistical answers to questions for 2008 such as: How many websites were added? (A: 31.5 million) How many emails were sent? (A: 210 billion per day) How many blog posts were published? (A: 329 million) Other numbers include total number of Internet users in the world which, according to June 2008 data, is recorded at 1,463,632,361 with Asia having the highest percentage of users (39.5%) followed by Europe as the second largest (26.3%) and North America as the third (17%). Numbers have been gathered using a wide variety of sources from around the Web. more

ICANN Needs to Tighten Director-Conflict Policies, Says CEO

ICANN needs to strengthen conflict-of-interest policies for its board of directors, said Rod Beckstrom, CEO, in his opening remarks during the organizations 43rd public meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica. "It is time to further tighten up the rules that have allowed perceived conflicts to exist within our board. ... ICANN must place commercial and financial interests in their appropriate context," said Beckstrom, who plans to step down in July. "How can it do this if all top leadership is from the very domain name industry it is supposed to coordinate independently?" more

Berners-Lee Urges Citizens to Comment: “Four Days to Save the Open Internet in Europe”

In an open letter released today, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Professor Barbara van Schewick, and Professor Larry Lessig are urging citizens, lawmakers and regulators, to speak up. more

Lawsuit Against IANA Transition Dropped

Four US states attorneys general have quietly thrown in the towel in their attempt to have the IANA transition blocked," reports Kevin Murphy this morning in Domain Incite. more

IRAN Nuclear Deal; the Flag of Changes? the End of Civil Society Isolation? or What?

The crucial importance of Iran Nuclear Deal and, hopefully, the imminent expectation, for reaching to an indisputable solution and agreement among 5+1+ Iran (as well as the other parties who claim to have interest in this matter) all have created a special climate and proper ground for all the activists and the observers in order to seriously sit and make a review of the actual situation and the potentials of the main player of the field, say Iran, or Civil Society of Iran... more

ICANN Releases Call for Public Input for NTIA’s Stewardship Transition of IANA

On 8 April 2014, ICANN released the "Call for Public Input: Draft Proposal, Based on Initial Community Feedback, of the Principles and Mechanisms and the Process to Develop a Proposal to Transition NTIA's Stewardship of the IANA Functions." more

Internet Activity in Britain Stored for a Year Under New Surveillance Law

The internet activity of everyone in UK will have to be stored for one year by Internet service providers, under the new surveillance law plans. "This duty would include forcing firms to hold a schedule of which websites someone visits and the apps they connect to through computers, smartphones, tablets and other devices. Police and other agencies would be then able to access these records in pursuit of criminals -- but also seek to retrieve data in a wider range of inquiries, such as missing people." more

Obama, Xi Reach ‘Common Understanding’ on Curbing Cyber Espionage

resident Obama announced today that he has reached a "common understanding" with Chinese President Xi Jinping on curbing economic cyber espionage, but threatened to impose U.S. sanctions on Chinese hackers who persist with cyber crimes. more

Open, Inclusive Internet Depends on Enriched Debate About Policy Creation, Says Global Business

At the ninth Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Istanbul, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) have welcomed the reaffirmation of the IGF's relevance and continued importance as well as the opportunity to work collaboratively with other stakeholders to further improve it. more

Ed Felten Named FTC’s First Chief Technologist

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has named Edward Felten, a Princeton professor of computer science and public affairs, as its Chief Technologist, effective January 1. Felten's main role will be to provide advice on technology policy issues. more

Trojans Fastest Growing Category of Data-Stealing Malware

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) recently reported that the number of sites infecting PCs with password-stealing crimeware reached an all time high of 31,173 in December 2008 - an 827 percent increase from January. And according to a report just released by Trend Micro's Focus Report, 93 percent of data-stealing malware have been identified as Trojans in the first quarter of 2009. more

A School Without WiFi: Learning in America’s Quiet Zone

There was an interesting article in the Washington Post that talked about an elementary/middle school in West Virginia that is finally going to get WiFi for students. The Green-Bank Elementary-Middle School is located within the National Radio Quiet Zone. more

Harvard’s Berkman Center to Study ICANN’s Accountability and Transparency Review Process

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University announced today that it "will conduct an independent, exploratory study analyzing ICANN's decision-making processes and communications with stakeholders." The study is aimed at developing a framework and recommendations for understanding and improving ICANN's accountability and transparency. "The Berkman Center's final report will be made publicly available after ICANN's Accountability and Transparency Review Team has had the opportunity to utilize its findings in recommendations to the ICANN board." more