The Future of the Internet From the Perspective of a NextGen@ICANN 78

This year, the 25th anniversary of the creation of ICANN was celebrated. The date carries a commemorative meaning, highlighting the trajectory of this institution that has been fundamental in the coordination and administration of Internet resources. However, this milestone also highlights the growing challenges facing Internet Governance in the current global landscape. more

WHOIS Disclosure Questions

In 2020, the ICANN Generic Name Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council approved a plan to revamp the WHOIS system as per the recommendations given by the ICANN Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP). This plan directed ICANN to develop a centralized System for Standardized Access/Disclosure (SSAD) for WHOIS records. After much debate regarding the suitability and cost of such a system, ICANN brought together a group... more

EU Considers Integrating New Norms of Cyberwar Into Security Policies

"The European Parliament has been asked to adopt a new set of 'norms' about online conflict," reports Simon Sharwood in The Register. more

Internet Accounting for 4.7% of U.S. Economy

The Internet is contributing more to the American economy than the entire federal government, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group. The Internet accounted for $684 billion, or 4.7% of all U.S. economic activity in 2010, according to latest report released by Boston Consulting Group. more

The Huawei Issue in the Broader Context of Global Politics

It is very sad to see that Huawei has become a victim of US-China trade war politics and it will be very interesting to see how their court case against the US Government will pan out, the company claims that the ban of its products is "unconstitutional." There is no indication that Huawei has been involved in any spying activity; nor does it appear to have any intention of doing so. more

Do Not Track: Not as Simple as it Sounds

Over the past few weeks, regulators have rekindled their interest in an online Do Not Track proposal in hopes of better protecting consumer privacy. ... There are a variety of possible technical and regulatory approaches to the problem, each with its own difficulties and limitations, which I'll discuss in this post. more

Is There a Business Case for Fast Cellular?

We've gotten a glimpse of the challenges of marketing faster cellular usage since the two major cellular providers in South Korea made a big push in offering ultrafast cellular broadband. South Korea has two primary cellular carriers – SK Telecom and KT – and both have implemented cellular products using millimeter wave spectrum in Seoul and other dense urban areas. more

The Growth Rate of Broadband Speeds

Cisco has changed the name of its periodic predictions of broadband usage from the Visual Networking Index to the Annual Broadband Report, and recently issued a report that covers the period from 2018 to predictions made through 2023. Cisco is one of the few industry players that projects future broadband usage. Their past reports have been spot on in terms of predicting future broadband usage. more

No Government Veto Over Future Top-Level Domain Names

Declan McCullagh reporting in CNET News: "The Obama administration has failed in its bid to allow it and other governments to veto future top-level domain names, a proposal before ICANN that raised questions about balancing national sovereignty with the venerable Internet tradition of free expression. A group of nations rejected that part of the U.S. proposal last week, concluding instead that governments can offer nonbinding 'advice' about controversial suffixes such as .gay but will not receive actual veto power." more

The US-China Cold War in Cyberspace

In 2019 and 2020, the economic conflict between the US and China reached a peak. There was a months-long tariff battle that is still not fully resolved. After blocking Chinese-centered equipment manufacturer Huawei from its own markets, the US pushed hard to get the Five Eyes and all of its allies to block Huawei from foreign markets, too. Then the US started blocking its own companies... more

Rio Becomes First Latin American City to Offer Its Own TLD

Rio de Janeiro has become the first Latin American city with its own dedicated top-level domain (.rio), allowing individuals and entities who want to identify themselves with the Brazilian city to register their desired domain names with the new extension. more

Twitter Worker Who Disabled Trump Account Likely Violated Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Says Lawyer

A prominent attorney for cybersecurity issues says the unnamed Twitter worker who deactivated President Trump's Twitter account not to say anything and get a lawyer. more

The Security Talent Gap Is Misunderstood and AI Changes It All

Despite headlines now at least a couple of years old, the InfoSec world is still (largely) playing lip-service to the lack of security talent and the growing skills gap. The community is apt to quote and brandish the dire figures, but unless you're actually a hiring manager striving to fill low to mid-level security positions, you're not feeling the pain -- in fact, there's a high probability many see problem as a net positive in terms of their own employment potential and compensation. more

The Growth of DNS-OARC Highlights Great Strides in DNS Research

This past weekend several of my Dyn colleagues and I attended the DNS-OARC annual meeting and fall workshop in Montreal. "OARC" in the organization's title stands for "Operations, Analysis and Research Center". DNS-OARC was founded by the Internet Systems Consortium (best known as the maintainers of the BIND DNS software) in 2004 to address a gap in the DNS community. Engineers working to extend the DNS protocol itself have always had a home in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), but there was no corresponding community for those who operated DNS infrastructure and did research using data gleaned from DNS operations. more

ICANN Begins Negotiations for the Approval of dot-XXX Domain

The board of ICANN on Friday gave initial approval for the addition of .xxx Top-Level Domain... Dot-XXX domains won't start appearing right away. ICANN must first conduct a "due diligence" study of ICM's business plan for the domain, and then the board will review the contract proposed for the operation of the domain. That may involve referring the matter to ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee, which is next scheduled to meet in December in Colombia, said board member Bruce Tonkin. "There is a potential that this is a prolonged process,"... more