Google’s Chief Suggests Applying Open Principles of Internet to Energy Infrastructure

Google's Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt, a member of President-elect Barack Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board, said the government needs to focus on the areas of broadband infrastructure, research and alternative energy in an effort to rebuild the nation's economy. Openness is critical for that, he argued. The end-to-end principle that underlies the Internet, the open network, is a must. "It is that openness, the ability that anyone can play ... that drives the modern economy... Why don't we do the same thing with the energy grid? ...isn't it obvious?" more

Using Bigger Bandwidth Applications

The recent Cisco Annual Internet Report for 2018–2023 had one chart that I found intriguing. The purpose of Cisco's report is to look at the future of broadband usage, and the report included a chart showing the amount of bandwidth needed for various web functions. To me, this list was reminiscent of the list that the FCC made in 2015 when they set the definition of broadband at 25/3 Mbps -- except that all of the items on this list require more bandwidth than the functions the FCC foresaw just five years ago. more

Grenadian Prime Minister Calls for Caribbean Businesses to Invest in AI

Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is calling for Caribbean policymakers and business leaders to recognise the significance of artificial intelligence technologies. Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to the ability of computer systems to do tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making. more

Dish Network Confirms Network Outage Was a Cybersecurity Breach Impacting Customers and Employees

The satellite television provider, Dish Network is currently dealing with a cybersecurity incident that has affected its internal networks, customer support systems, and websites such as boostinfinite.com and dish.com. It is currently investigating the incident and has confirmed certain data was extracted from its IT systems as a result. more

UK’s Proposed Spy Law Can Force Apple to Bypass Security, Plus a Gag Order

The newly proposed British spying law, the Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB), is reported to include methods that would permit the British government to order companies like Apple to re-engineer their own technology, similar to current demands from the FBI. In addition, if the law passes, it would be accompanied by a gag order. more

November 2016 U.S. Elections and the Fate of Internet Privatization

The currently ongoing process of privatizing the Internet technical functions under the IANA Contract -- outside the direct control of the U.S. government -- will not happen before March 2017, predicts Sophia Bekele in an op-ed published in The Hill. more

Unintended Consequences of Satellite Constellations

Astronomy & Astrophysics published a research paper recently that looked at "Unintended Electromagnetic Radiation from Starlink Satellites." The study was done in conjunction with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope in the Netherlands. The LOFAR telescope is a network of over forty radio antennas spread across the Netherlands, Germany, and the rest of Europe. more

ICANN67 Round-Up

This past meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), ICANN67, was intended to be held in person in Cancun, Mexico, but was actually the first meeting to be held entirely online and virtually. It was a well-managed affair with fewer sessions than the in-person meetings and less opportunity for the community to convene and meet as individuals. The last-minute change from an in-person to a virtual meeting impacted ICANN's ability to provide translation services for the full set of UN-supported languages, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. more

Asia, Europe Top the Charts on Conficker Worm Infections

Amidst hype and anticipation of the Conficker worm which is expected to become active in millions of Windows system within the next few hours, IBM Internet Security Systems team reports they have been able to locate infected systems across the world by reverse-engineering the communications mechanisms. Holly Stewart, X-Force Product Manager at IBM Internet Security Systems, writes: "... the details are still unfolding, but we can tell you from a high level where most infections are as of today. Asia tops the charts so far. By this morning, it represented nearly 45% of all of the infections from our view. Europe was second at 31%. The rest of the geographies held a much smaller percentage overall." more

The Loss of a Friend

Dear colleagues and friends, it is very, very difficult to write these words. The loss of a young person is always a tragedy. The untimely loss of a friend is even worse and is always a very difficult time. The loss of a fellow Internet pioneer is like losing a brother. Tarek Kamel was a great friend of the Internet Society–Bulgaria. I remember him giving an interview for the Bulgarian public television in Yokohama during the INET 2000 meeting... more

Internet Society Seeks Nominations for 2026 Board of Trustees

The Internet Society is seeking nominations for its 2026 Board of Trustees. Four seats are open across its global stakeholder communities, offering an opportunity to help steer the future of a trusted, open Internet. more

Ukraine’s Power Outage Due to Cyberattack, Says Country’s National Power Company

A power blackout in Ukraine's capital Kiev last month was caused by a cyber attack, according to Ukraine's National power company, Ukrenergo which hired investigators to help it determining the cause. more

Cyberattackers Targeting Iranian Infrastructure and Communications Companies

Internet based attacks have targeted Iranian infrastructure and communications companies, disrupting Internet access across the country, according to today's reports. Country's secretary of the High Council of Cyberspace, has been quoted telling the Iranian Labour News Agency: "Yesterday we had a heavy attack against the country's infrastructure and communications companies which has forced us to limit the Internet. ... Presently we have constant cyber attacks in the country." more

U.S. Cyber Command to Split Off from NSA

The Unites States is finalizing plans to revamp the nation’s military command for defensive and offensive cyber operations in hopes of intensifying America’s ability to wage cyberwar against the Islamic State group and other foes, according to U.S. officials. more

Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress Announces 2014 Date

Momentum today announced the date for its third Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress: March 3-4, 2014 in New York. The event will once again bring together the leaders of the brand and domain community for two days of advanced learning and real-world launch case studies timed to coincide with the anticipated delegation and launch of the initial wave of new TLDs. more