ICANN

Video: Highlights of the DNSSEC Key Signing Ceremony

ICANN video highlighting last week's historical DNSSEC key signing ceremony held in a high security data centre located in Culpeper, VA, outside of Washington, DC. "During the ceremony, participants were present within a secure facility and witnessed the preparations required to ensure that the so-called key-signing-key (KSK) was not only generated correctly, but that almost every aspect of the equipment, software and procedures associated with its generation were also verified to be correct and trustworthy." more

ICANN’s “Hallway” Agenda

On Monday, June 21, ICANN convenes in Brussels, hosting its "Welcome Ceremony" for attendees. In advance of the session, the agenda for the Board meeting on Friday, June 25 has been released. As is the fashion, it lists significant issues without being too specific or tipping the Board's hand. It also allows for matters that arise organically during the week of the meeting to (possibly) be heard. more

The Internet Tribe & New gTLDs

Much has already been written about the prospects and challenges associated with the introduction of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). This post were originally written for my personal blog but a good industry friend has persuaded me to post it (and more) on CircleID. During this series I will attempt to show how the introduction of new gTLDs is ultimately a "win win win" scenario. A win for innovation, a win for commerce and most importantly a win for internet users. So where to begin? more

Don’t Rely on Initial TLD Registration Volumes

When deciding to register a given domain name under any of the new ICANN-proposed top-level domains (TLDs), remember that a relatively high initial registration volume does not necessarily imply that the domain names will command high market value or that demand for them will grow. Below are some of the reasons... more

By the way… Your IDN is Live.

Just when you think ICANN has got it right, it shoots itself in the foot as only ICANN can. Unfortunately it seems this is yet another case of one step forward and two steps back. While we should be celebrating the fact that Internationalised Domain Names (IDN's) have finally been entered into the Root Zone, we are instead left shaking our heads at the seemingly nonexistent process lines nor communication lines between ICANN and its technical off-shoot IANA. more

ISOC-NY Event: dot nyc - How Are We Doing? (Sat Apr 10)

Joly MacFie writes: Last October the NYC Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications (DoITT) issued a request for proposals for "services to obtain, manage, administer, maintain and market the geographic Top Domain name .nyc.". At ICANN's recent 37th meeting in Nairobi, consensus was reached on the "overarching" issue of intellectual property protection. This leaves only the issue of the final (4th) draft of the Applicants Guidebook, expected before the 38th meeting in Brussels in June 2010... more

Current ICANN Policy Precludes the ITU Becoming an IP Address Registry

Lost in all the discussion around the recent ITU meeting (TIES account required of course) is any discussion of the current policy regarding the formation of new RIRs. You may recall that one of the reports that the ITU commissioned on this subject suggests that it would be possible, even desirable for the ITU to be allocated a /12 of IPv6 from the IANA to be further allocated to Country Internet Registries. more

EI, EI - NO!

For those closely following the ICANN Meeting in Nairobi this week, the EOI (Expression of Interest) model seemed like a foregone conclusion. In fact, ICANN had scheduled a webinar on March 18th to explain the process despite the complaints of the community and large-scale disagreement amongst proponents of the EOI. more

ICANN’s Board Decisions in Nairobi Will Determine Its Credibility and Respect for Years to Come

Today is the morning of the most revered Thursday in the ICANN meetings calendar -- The public forum. It is tradition personified. It is the day when the show and the showcasing really begin. It is the stage and the choreography of the open microphone that can help influence ICANN decisions one way or another and make the supposed bottom up model appear at its best. more

Whither .XXX?

What's going to happen this week on .XXX? Nairobi is the first public board meeting since the independent review panel's nonbinding declaration in February that ICANN acted against its own rules in refusing to go ahead with .XXX. Reports that ICANN is going to 'do something' about .XXX have gone around the world via BBC news, and even surfaced on the radio in rural Ireland. The ICM team are out in force here in Nairobi, and there is endless speculation about what will happen at the Board's meeting on Friday. more

ICANN CEO Urges African Telcos to Shatter Monopolies

ICANN CEO, Rod Beckstrom, urges African leaders to "shatter" telecommunications monopolies in their nations in order to help lower the price of Internet access to their citizens during his opening remarks at the start of the 37th ICANN meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. Beckstrom noted that while 15 percent of the world's population lives in Africa, Africans make up less than 7 percent of all Internet users. more

How to Manage Internet Abundance

The Internet has two billion global users, and the developing world is just hitting its growth phase. Mobile data traffic is doubling every year, and soon all four billion mobile phones will access the Net. In 2008, according to a new UC-San Diego study, Americans consumed over 3,600 exabytes of information, or an average of 34 gigabytes per person per day. Microsoft researchers argue in a new book, "The Fourth Paradigm," that an "exaflood" of real-world and experimental data is changing the very nature of science itself. We need completely new strategies, they write, to "capture, curate, and analyze" these unimaginably large waves of information. more

Las Vegas City Council to Debate the Support of .vegas Domain

Joe Schoenmann of the Las Vegas Sun reports: "The Las Vegas City Council will debate today whether to strike a deal with an Internet entrepreneur who seeks to use the Internet suffix .vegas -- over the objections of Clark County officials and one local company who say the city is jumping the gun and in the process likely shortchanging Las Vegas and county taxpayers. The council will consider endorsing a proposal by Dot Vegas Inc., to create the top-level Internet domain ".vegas" -- a new suffix that could be used in addition to the familiar .com, .net, .gov or .org suffixes that end most Web addresses." more

ICANN Begins Public DNSSEC Test Plan for the Root Zone

The deployment of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) for the root zone got an official start today with its public signing for the first time. DNSSEC for the root zone is a joint effort between ICANN and VeriSign, with support from the U.S. Department of Commerce to improve security of the Internet's naming infrastructure. Kim Davies, ICANN's Manager of Root Zone Services, says: "What happened today was the deliberately un-validatable root zone started being published on l.root-servers.net. It is anticipated this will be rolled out across the other root servers over the coming months. This phase is designed to identify any issues with the larger DNS response sizes associated with DNSSEC data." more

ICANN’s Weak Accountability Remains a Problem

The JPA is dead, and in its place is the Affirmation of Commitments. Much debated, this change is anticipated to bring more global participation into ICANN's governance. Increased globalization may turn out to be beneficial for the Internet community, if it helps to shore up ICANN's institutional weaknesses. But the Affirmation leaves important questions unanswered... more