How the Clinton “Village” Transformed Internet Paradigms: Together Making a Difference

U.S. Presidential elections and the resulting Administrations can make an enormous difference on many levels and become profound points of inflection. This reality is certainly starkly visible today. Perhaps for the Internet community as well as the general public, some of the largely unknown events and actions surrounding the Internet and the Clinton team from 25 years ago can provide a basis for engagement over the coming months. more

Who Will Give Birth to the gTLD’s First Billion-Dollar Domain Baby?

When all you have is a hammer, everything appears to be a nail. The generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) are not just about trademark filing and battle posturing or cyber-squatting. They are about the potential to create unusual global intellectual properties offering multiple opportunities for rapid image expansion and - most importantly - the achievement of market domination via name identity. more

ICANN Reveals Evaluation Timing for New gTLDs

Having consigned to oblivion the unpopular "digital archery" method of determining who goes first in the new gTLD round, ICANN today announced that it was going to evaluate all new gTLD applications concurrently (the "single batch"), and release all results simultaneously. The decision is a victory for clarity and a very good result for new gTLD applicants. more

Which Internet Extensions (gTLDs) to Apply For?

The number of possible new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) to apply for is daunting. Where do you start? This essay warns against some common pitfalls and outlines three logical steps that you need to follow in making your selection. Remember that there is money to be made in owning the right gTLD. Skeptics focus on the success, or lack of it, of previous expansions such as .name, .biz, and .info. They're using the wrong lens. more

To What Extent Will the US Broadband Stimulus Package Provide a… Stimulus?

The story of America's lacklustre broadband performance is relatively well known. Part of that story relates to its low broadband penetration levels when compared with other developed economies... Another aspect of the story relates to broadband speeds... in terms of broadband technology levels, the USA still trails behind leading countries such as Japan and Korea, and some European countries such as France and Italy, by a full generation. more

Security is a System Property

There's lots of security advice in the press: keep your systems patched, use a password manager, don't click on links in email, etc. But there's one thing these adages omit: an attacker who is targeting you, rather than whoever falls for the phishing email, won't be stopped by one defensive measure. Rather, they'll go after the weakest part of your defenses. You have to protect everything -- including things you hadn't realized were relevant. more

Israeli Officials Dispute Claims of Stuxnet’s Joint US/Israel Effort

A few weeks ago, the New York Times published an article saying that the Stuxnet worm, which infected a large number of Iran's nuclear power plants, was a joint effort between the United States and Israel. The program began under former president George W. Bush and continued under President Obama. Last month, the Washington Post ran an article saying that the US and Israel collaborated in a joint effort to develop Flame and that work included Stuxnet. more

Online Reviews Provide Insights into gTLD Customers’ Needs

There is a high degree of uncertainty when launching a product, and new gTLDs are no exception. However, registries that have introduced them -- or will introduce them in the second round of new gTLDs -- can improve their odds. A key move: go to established domain name forums and check out their specialized sections for new gTLDs. What users say there can help companies refine tactics and strategy. more

Comcast Sneaks in Another Billing Line Item and “Earns” an Additional $1 Billion

My Comcast bill arrived today with a sneaky new $2.68 charge, $2.50 for leasing one (and only one) set-top box and $0.18 for the remote. This new billing line item, like the many others Comcast has introduced, adds to its bottom line with no additional capital expenditure. It shows how resisting the obligation to return to accepting set-top box free, "cable ready" sets was a smart strategy. more

A “G12” to Oversee ICANN? Not Likely

Viviane Redding, the Information Society and Media Commissioner for the EC posted a video blog this week noting that the JPA between ICANN and the US Department of Commerce ends this September. In it she proposes that ICANN be overseen by a "G-12 for Internet Governance" with 12 geographically balanced government representatives from around the world. That's such a non-starter that I'm baffled that she would even propose it... more

France Proposes Internet Tax - An Old War resurfacing

France is proposing an Internet Tax which was reported in the New York Times. The proposal if it follows through will affect the landscape of internet governance in days ahead. The Actual Report was commissioned by President François Hollande, which described various measures his government was taking to address what the French see as tax avoidance by Internet companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook. more

Even if Do-Not-Track Were a Good Idea, Could It Ever Work?

In a recent article, I read about increasingly intrusive tracking of online users, which has lead to a proposal at the FTC, "FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said the system would be similar to the Do-Not-Call registry that enables consumers to shield their phone numbers from telemarketers." Maybe I'm dense, but even if this weren't a fundamentally bad idea for policy reasons, I don't see how it could work. more

DNS Survey Results Pandora’s Box of Both Frightening and Hopeful Results, Says Cricket Liu

The fifth-annual survey of domain name servers (DNS) on the public Internet -- called a "Pandora's box of both frightening and hopeful results" -- was released today by The Measurement Factory in partnership with Infoblox. more

ANA “Vigorously” Opposes Implementation of ICANN’s New gTLD Program, Citing Major Flaws

In a letter to Mr. Rod Beckstrom, President, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has expressed major flaws in ICANN's program for introducing new generic Top-Level Domains. A program which ANA warns would allow as many as 1,000 new Top-Level Domains in the first year and the same cap every year thereafter. more

What It Takes to Prove Common Law Rights in UDRP Complaints

The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy now has seventeen years of history. A high percentage of disputes are indefensible and generally undefended. As the history lengthens, early registrants of dictionary word-, common phrase-, and arbitrary letter-domain names have been increasing challenged in two circumstances, namely by businesses who claim to have used the unregistered terms before respondents registered them and later by emerging businesses with no history prior to the registrations of the domain names. more