Why Telecoms Regulators Must Ignore ‘Lawgeneers’

My attention was drawn recently to the article Europe Is About to Adopt Bad Net Neutrality Rules. Here's How to Fix Them by Barbara van Schewick from Stanford Law School. Much as I would like to spend my morning doing other work, I can see imminent harm that these (and many similar) proposals cause to the public. As a responsible professional and native European, I would like to summarise why it is imperative for EU regulators to ignore these siren calls (if they want to retain their legitimacy). more

IPv6’s Long March

With the thousands of IPv6 controlled lights dimming over the 2008 Olympics, the long march on the road to IPv6 continues as the Olympic IPv6 Workout enters history. The early objective of full commercial deployment for 2008 proved elusive and more realistic goals were set and met with success. Not wasting any time, the starting shot toward commercial deployment followed on the heels of the closing ceremony with the august 25th announcement... more

Mobiles Moving Into Fixed Networks

There are often confused reports in the media about mobile and fixed broadband, with arguments that one could replace the other. Yet the reality is that they coexist and complement each other - perhaps even more so since one cannot manage without the other. Increasingly, devices such as smartphones, tablets and smart TVs are at the end of fixed lines, with a wireless (WiFi) connection between the fixed line and the device. more

Internet Society Launches Questionnaire on Multistakeholder Participation in Internet Governance

The Internet Society today announced the launch of a survey to gain greater insights into multistakeholder governance perceptions and processes at all levels - national, regional, and international. The questionnaire is open to all interested participants and is available until 30 September 2013. The survey is one component of the Internet Society's broader initiative focused on the open and sustainable Internet. more

Unbridled Discretion and Prior Restraint: The Verizon and Comcast Stories

Let's say that providing communications infrastructure is an inherent function of a state. Most people think of the internet as a telephone system, and most people think the telephone companies aren't supposed to choose which calls will go through based on their content. People think that because they think internet access, like telephone access, is a utility -- like electricity conduit, water pipes, etc. -- that has something to do with the government, and the government isn't supposed to discriminate. more

Opinion: IP Leasing Should Become a Market Standard

The Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for the Asia-Pacific region (APNIC) recently held its 55th meeting in conjunction with APRICOT, from 20 February to 2 March 2023, in Manila, USA. One of the critical discussions at the conference was centered on the APNIC policy that does not accept IP leasing and has a questionable understanding of its necessity. According to the APNIC policy manual, which was referenced during the meeting, APNIC allocates and assigns resources based on need, and 'leasing is not allowed' nor does it form a basis for further need. more

Occam’s ITRs

It's been a quarter of a century since the world's governments convened to draft up a common set of regulations about the conduct of international telecommunications. In December of 2012 the world's governments will convene to reconsider these regulations, to hopefully sign an updated set of regulations. This time around, this activity is generating considerable levels of public interest. Congressional hearings in the United States have been held, and various pronouncements of intent from various governmental, regional, and industry groups have been made. more

Types of Attack

A lot of pixels have been spilled in the last few years about "advanced persistent threats" (APT); if nothing else, any high-end company that has been penetrated wants to blame the attack on an APT. But what is an APT, other than (as best I can tell) an apparent codename for China? Do they exist? After thinking about it for a while, I came up with the following representation... more

A Case of Mistaken Identity

As far as facebook is concerned, your email is your identification. This is true for other social networks like linkedin, and is slowly catching on to many other Web 2.0 services. It actually makes a lot of sense that your unique identifier (your "ID") would be your email -- it's unique by definition, it's easy to remember and most services need the email information anyway... So if email is destined to become the equivalent of your social security number or identification number (depending on which country you live in) how do we proof check that the email address we typed does not contain any typos? more

Cybercriminals Benefitting from Stalled Privacy/Proxy Policy

We've seen alarmingly BIG increases in multiple abusive behaviors – like phishing, hacking and malware – that often leverage the domain name system (DNS) and privacy/proxy services. Cybercriminals capitalize on gaps in DNS security measures, and ICANN is holding the door open for them by failing to implement their privacy/proxy policy. If you are ever targeted, you are not alone. more

ICANN Board Member and Former GAC Chair to Give Evidence in .Africa Case

The controversy over the competing .africa TLD applications has been going on for some time. A recent decision by the International Centre For Dispute Resolution (ICDR) said that ICANN had breached its own by-laws and has questioned why ICANN won't allow a current board member and the former GAC Chair to speak to them and provide evidence. A letter that was published on the ICANN site yesterday suggests that ICANN may have changed their tune... more

The Next Green Initiative is Internet Sustainability

We are all aware of the pollution caused by burning coal and combusting oil. The results are obvious: exhaust spewing from vehicles, factories, and power plants. Many of us don't realize we are actively contributing to the unnecessary burning of energy (natural gas and coal in the US) to power the Internet. We wag our fingers at Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and data centers, but the fact is that our own organizations are wasting electricity every single hour out of ignorance or apathy. more

EU Commissioner Calls on Streaming Services to Switch Streaming Videos From HD to Standard Mode

European Union Internet Market Commissioner Thierry Breton called on streaming services on Thursday, urging them to switch video quality from high definition to standard mode in order to reduce increasing strain on bandwidth during COVID-19 pandemic. Following a phone call with the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, Commissioner Breton, said: "Europe and the whole world are facing an unprecedented situation. more

Google Engineer Ben McIlwain on Why HSTS Could Be a Perfect Fit for .Brands Security

The Google-run .app TLD was always destined to draw attention and scrutiny, from the moment it fetched a then-record ICANN auction price of $25 million. Since it reached General Availability in May it has gained more than 250,000 registrations making it one of the world's most successful TLDs. However perhaps more interesting was Google's choice to add the .app TLD and its widely used .google extension to the HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) Top-Level Domain preload list, offering an unprecedented level of security for all domains under .google and .app. more

A Bad Year for Phishing

Here at the Anti-Phishing Working Group meeting in Hong Kong, we've just released the latest APWG Global Phishing Survey. Produced by myself and my research partner Rod Rasmussen of Internet Identity, it's an in-depth look at the global phishing problem in the second half of 2013. Overall, the picture isn't pretty. There were at least 115,565 unique phishing attacks worldwide during the period. This is one of the highest semi-annual totals we've observed since we began our studies in 2007. more