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Australia to Block Domain Names That Host Extremist Content During Attacks

Following the Christchurch massacre in March which resulted in the killing of 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison while attending the G7 summit in France, said the government will establish a new framework to block domains linked to violent attacks. more

A Template for Adequacy: EU Pitches for Data Protection Gold Standard

Largely unnoticed by technology and Brussels wonks, the European Commission's on adequacy for international data flows was released in early January. The primary aim of this document is to promote the EU's data protection regime as the global gold standard, to which other countries should aspire. In so doing, the Commission wants to remove data protection as a bargaining chip in free trade negotiations, insisting this should instead be dealt with separately, by opening adequacy negotiations with the Commission. more

Internet Society Posting Updates from ITU Plenipot 2014 in Busan

If you are, like me, not in Busan, South Korea, for the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference but are curious about what is going on there, my Internet Society colleagues on our public policy team have been posting regular updates to the Internet Society's blog and to the @ISOCPolicy Twitter account... Given that I work in the technology side of Internet Society's work and don't have the cycles to keep up-to-date with everything going on there in Busan, I've found these updates very helpful in understanding some of the major events happening at the ITU Plenipot 2014. more

No Cyberattack on Wall Street

In case you missed it, last Thursday, May 6, we saw a remarkable day on the stock markets. The day started off with some selling which went down neat and orderly. Suddenly, around 2:40 pm eastern time, the market started selling off rapidly taking huge hits in in the span of 30 minutes. It was an incredible ride and at one point, the Dow Jones average was off 1000 points for the day, the largest drop in history (though not the largest percentage drop). It was kind of like October of 1987. more

Damaged Internet Subsea Cables Repaired in Red Sea Amid Militant Attacks on Ships

Repairs on three crucial subsea telecommunications cables in the Red Sea, damaged since February, have begun despite ongoing militant attacks. The AAE–1 cable, a significant 25,000-kilometer fiber optic link between Asia and Europe, was repaired by E-Marine. more

Can the US Deliver on the President’s ‘Sputnik’ Vision?

In general I think this was another good political speech from the President. However, as we have seen in the past, skilled rhetoric doesn't necessarily give rise to action. If Congress reflects the mood of the American people then the nation is not yet ready to change - or, as the President said, to embark on a new 'Sputnik' vision. The fact that the word 'Internet' was used several times (in absolutely the right context - and often teamed with 'innovation') clearly shows that the President understands the importance of the digital infrastructure. This has not changed since his original campaign in 2008. more

US Telcos Withdrawing from DSL and Telephony Markets - A Case of Lobbying Power and Poor Regulation

During the last few months the US's main DSL providers AT&T and Verizon have begun retracting from the DSL and landline market in many rural and less commercially viable areas while concentrating on their wireless LTE ambitions. DSL and voice telephony provide relatively low returns, which can be whittled away through network maintenance costs, while LTE promises to deliver proportionately higher profits, based on exorbitant charges by data volume.  more

No Broadband - Lower Real Estate Sales

A survey conducted by US company Comcast Business Class found 90% of building owners and property managers felt that broadband is the most important selling point in the commercial real estate market behind price, parking and location. more

U.S. Lawmakers Wary of Kaspersky Lab, the Russian Cybersecurity Firm

U.S. Congress is growing increasingly suspicious of the popular Russian anti-virus software provider, Kaspersky Lab. more

Live Video Stream of IGF-USA On Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Coming up on this Wednesday, July 16, 2014, the 2014 Internet Governance Forum - USA (IGF-USA) will take place at George Washington University in Washington, DC. I'm told by one of the people involved that there are around 500 people currently registered to attend. The agenda looks quite amazing... If you are, like me, unable to attend in person, the good news is that we can follow along through a live video stream... more

Here They Come

Something has shifted. I think it might be the end of the holding pattern we as new gTLD applicants/followers/enthusiasts and generally speaking, the entire community, have been caught up in. We´re all looking forward to ushering in the next generation of the Internet. Someone press start please. Several major milestones have been reached. more

EURid Releases 74,000 Disputed Names

EURid has unfrozen 74,000 domains that were part of a dispute against domain warehousers. In July, EURid relented to outside pressure as it suspended the registration of 74,000 domains. They claimed these domains were registered directly by three registrars, not on behalf of clients, which violated EURid's terms. But the registrars have won this round... more

Donuts, Rightside Group Merge in a $213M Acquisition Deal

Donuts Inc., a leading domain name registry for new top-level domains and Rightside Group today announced a merger agreement; Donuts has agreed to acquire Rightside for $10.60 per share in an all-cash tender offer, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $213MM. more

DNS Complexity Lessons

Recently, Bert Hubert wrote of a growing problem in the networking world: the complexity of DNS. We have two systems we all use in the Internet, DNS and BGP. Both of these systems appear to be able to handle anything we can throw at them and "keep on ticking." But how far can we drive the complexity of these systems before they ultimately fail? Bert posted a chart on the APNIC blog to illustrate the problem. more

IGF 2015: Running in Place

The Internet Governance Forum, held this year in the Brazilian beach resort town of João Pessoa, completed its 10th annual meeting Friday November 13. The IGF Secretariat claims that nearly 5,000 people attended. Moreover, it looks as if its existence will be continued for another 10 years when the UN meets in New York later this year. Vint Cerf declared it "the best IGF ever" in the closing open microphone session. But how good is "best?" more