Web Localization: Sometimes as Simple as a Black and White

The death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej has led to stores running out of black and white clothing as the population mourns its leader in color-appropriate clothing. What does this mean for website localization? ...Web localization isn't just about creating a localized website and forgetting about it. It's about creating a living and breathing website that responds quickly to local events. Web localization is about respect. more

Geist on the Bodog.com Seizure Case

Reporting further on the recent Bodog.com domain name seizure case based on gambling charges, Michael Geist writes: "In the Bodog.com case, U.S. officials targeted a site with limited connections to the country as the site had licensed out the bodog.com domain name in 2006 and stopped accepting U.S. bettors late last year. The legal issues surrounding its operations will be played out in court, but the manner in which the bodog.com name was seized could have a lasting impact on Internet governance." more

U.S. Homeland Security Launches Website Crackdowns, A Dozen Sites Already Seized

TorrentFreak reports: "Following on the heels of this week's domain seizure of a large hiphop file-sharing links forum, it's clear today that the U.S. Government has been very busy. Without any need for COICA, ICE has just seized the domain of a BitTorrent meta-search engine along with those belonging to other music linking sites and several others which appear to be connected to physical counterfeit goods. more

US Fibre Projects: Go-Aheads Omit the Major Telcos

As the recent Senate vote on gun reform legislation has shown (wherein 42 of the 45 dissenting senators had recently received donations from gun industry lobbyists), getting things done for the good of the people is a hard task where legislation is concerned. It has been thus with the US's broadband infrastructure for years. A number of states have legislated against community broadband networks, often resulting from the lobbying efforts of the main telcos affected. State Legislatures commonly pass bills revoking local decision-making authorities from communities, effectively making them dependent on the dominant cableco and DSL provider. more

Women Now Represent 24% of the Cybersecurity Workforce, Study Finds

According to a new study conducted by the nonprofit membership association of certified cybersecurity professionals (ISC)², women now represent 24% of the cybersecurity workforce. more

Pakistan to Get Its Country TLD in Urdu

A resolution was recently passed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board to enable the local community of Pakistan to use and register domain names in its native Urdu language. more

Aussie Football Code Makes Habit of Brand Innovation with Its Branded TLD

The world's first sporting code to launch its own branded Top-Level Domain (TLD) has continued to flex its innovation muscle with a creative new endeavor. The Australian Football League (AFL) has added www.coffee.afl to its existing line-up of .afl sites. The dedicated website offers fans the chance to buy team branded coffee pods, with proceeds going to support their clubs. more

Syrian Internet Shutdown

James Cowie from Renesys reports: "Starting at 3:35 UTC today (6:35am local time), approximately two-thirds of all Syrian networks became unreachable from the global Internet. Over the course of roughly half an hour, the routes to 40 of 59 networks were withdrawn from the global routing table." more

ICANN Released Its Draft for New Top-Level Domains, 45 Day Comment Period Now Open

In follow up to its earlier announcement this year regarding the relaxation of rules for the introduction of new Top-Level Domains, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) yesterday released a draft version of the Applicant Guidebook for those interested in applying for a new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD). Although application comes with a hefty entry fee of close to $200,000, the development of new gTLD introductions will be of particular interest to trademark owners as well as any other company involved with domain names. Among various issues, the guidebook aims at addressing concerns such as who would qualify for '.apple' or '.amazon' gTLDs. more

Coachella Unsuccessful in Domain Name Dispute, Failing to Prove Bad Faith Use and Registration

The Complainant is the owner of the well-known Coachella festival. It owns a trademark registration, issued in 2016, for the mark CHELLA. The Respondent asserted that he intended to use the disputed domain name to set up an online women's clothing store but never did so. He claimed that growing up, his nickname was "Chelle" and that he modified that name to make it sound more feminine for use in connection with the store. more

5G Security – Metrics of the Engaged

This past month on 03-06 March, the global industry sub-group that exists at the center of 5G security met virtually. It is known as SA3 within the 3GPP organization, and it met over a period of five days to deal with some of the most important 5G security requirements. 3GPP is a "partnership" created among all the world's major standards bodies, which over several decades has cooperatively developed and evolved by far the largest and most successful global electronic communications network. more

Outgoing FCC Chairman Warns Republicans Against Overturning Net Neutrality

"Outgoing U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler warned Republicans against dismantling the Obama administration's landmark 'net neutrality' protections," David Shepardson reporting in Reuters. more

Hundreds of Syrian Domains Seized As a Result of Trade Sanctions

"In apparent observation of international trade sanctions against Syria, a U.S. firm that ranks as the world's fourth-largest domain name registrar has seized hundreds of domains belonging to various Syrian entities, including a prominent Syrian hacker group and sites associated with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad," reports Brian Krebs. "The apparently coordinated action ended with each of the site's registration records being changed to include Web.com's Florida address, as well as the notation 'OFAC Holding'." more

Bloomberg: Pricing of New TLDs Seem “Kind of Random”, Sector in “Flux”

Bloomberg's Economic Editor, Peter Coy, suggests that the Top-Level Domain pricing seen in the market today appears to represent a big pricing experiment in a sector of the economy "that's in flux". more

Amnesty International: Popular Mobile Apps Failing to Adopt Basic Privacy Protections

"Tech companies like Snapchat and Skype's owner Microsoft are failing to adopt basic privacy protections on their instant messaging services, putting users' human rights at risk," says Amnesty International. more