A Tale of Tackling the Digital Divide

A new book came out in November that tells about one of the first attempts to solve the digital divide on a large scale. The book is 'The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death, and Legacy of One Laptop per Child' published by MIT Press and available on Amazon and other places online. In 2005, Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of MIT Media Lab, created a program that he hoped would solve the digital divide in the third world. more

5G Funny Numbers: 10M Sign on October, Only 5M Phones in November

Ten million Chinese "reserved" 5G phones in the first two weeks of October, a powerful signal of high demand. Huawei thought they could all get phones in October. But the official figures are less than 1M 5G phones in October and ~5M in November. WTF? It could be an ordinary problem of ramping supply of a new product. It could be the official figures on phone sales are lagging reality by several weeks. more

2019 Domain Name Year in Review

And so it goes, we are coming to the end of 2019, and that can mean only one thing. It's time for another Domain Name Year in Review. And unlike years past, this year was a real doozy. So without further ado, here are the domain name industry's top 10 biggest stories for 2019... To date, 48 leading registries and registrars have signed onto the "Framework to Address Abuse." The initiative was launched in November 2019, just prior to the ICANN meeting in Montreal. more

Why the EPDP is Essential for a Long-Term Solution for WHOIS

Major European legislation, the General Data Protection Regulation, evoked substantial change in the way we deal with the visibility of domain name registration information, and understandably those that use that data to solve problems are concerned about these changes, and some have even called for a U.S. legislative fix. However, a more in-depth look at the issue and the policy-making surrounding it will show that there is, in fact, a process already well underway to address the situation. more

Prime Real Estate in the Cloud

In the physical world of real estate, value is all about location, location, location. In the virtual world of enterprise business, value is all about performance. The catch is that enterprise performance today is often driven by... location, location, location. When it comes to your digital transformation, and the migration of services to the cloud, the location of your data is paramount. To reach a customer looking to complete an on-line purchase or enable a group of employees trying to collaborate on a shared document, data needs... more

DNS, Domain Names, and Certificates: The Missing Links in Most Cybersecurity Risk Postures

In 2019, we've seen a surge in domain name system (DNS) hijacking attempts and have relayed warnings from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, U.K.'s Cybersecurity Centre, ICANN, and other notable security experts. Although the topic has gained popularity amongst CIOs and CISOs, most companies are still overlooking important security blind spots when it comes to securing their digital assets outside the enterprise firewalls -- domains, DNS, digital certificates. more

How AI Affects ComSec and Accessibility

Data transmission is one area where security should be among the biggest concerns. Overseeing data integrity is the realm of communications security (ComSec) teams, and they're getting a lot of assistance these days from artificial intelligence (AI) via machine learning and other AI components that also prove helpful in improving accessibility. Under the umbrella of AI, advances like assistive technologies promote accessibility while preserving data integrity and the flow of communications. more

Revisiting Reverse Domain Name Hijacking

The conduct that reverse domain name hijacking (RDNH) was crafted to punish is "using the [Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy] in bad faith to attempt to deprive a registered domain-name holder of a domain name." There are several variations ranging from the plain vanilla, claims that should never have been brought – mark owners whose rights postdate the registration of the challenged domain name as in Vudu, Inc. v. WhoisGuard, Inc. / K Blacklock, D2019-2247... more

The Upcoming 5G Confusion

Until now, the 5G industry has spread a lot of hype, but it hasn't affected customers. That's all starting to change as the cellular carriers are starting to offer 5G phones. Many customers who spend extra for 5G phones are going to quickly be frustrated and disappointed as they try to participate in the new 5G world. Consider both AT&T and T-Mobile. Both companies are introducing both a low-band and a high-band 5G phone, and customers who want 5G will have to choose... more

It’s Time for a Referendum on Orgxit

The worst thing about Brexit wasn't the referendum. It was the fallout. David Cameron decided that the best way to manage a small risk was to take a big one. Finally, over three agonizing years later, the UK looks set to move on. The Internet Society – which has run the .ORG domain since 2002 – was in the same position as Cameron. They became convinced that it was worth dealing with a small risk by taking a huge one. more

Internet Reporting Hotlines Are Censoring Art as Child Sexual Abuse

This week United States Attorney-General William Barr cited the need to address child exploitation as one of the factors motivating a mooted review of law called CDA 230, which provides that Internet companies aren't responsible for what their users say or do online. There are many dimensions to the problem of child exploitation, ranging from inappropriate comments on Instagram photos to child grooming on Fortnite... more

Counting Gigabit Households

I ran across a website called the Gigabit Monitor that is tracking the population worldwide that has access to gigabit broadband. The website is sponsored by VIAVI Solutions, a manufacturer of network test equipment. The website claims that in the US, over 68.5 million people have access to gigabit broadband or 21% of the population. That number gets sketchy when you look at the details. more

Internet Governance and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Part 1: Foundations

One could think that the authors of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) -- adopted in 1948 -- had the Internet in mind when they declared in Article 19: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." All human beings are entitled to certain rights, and it makes no difference if they choose to exercise them in a town square or an Internet chatroom. more

The Ghosts of Deletions Future – December 2018 Versus December 2019

In the absence of data on renewals and deletions which are yet to happen, it can be enlightening to compare the domain names from the zone files of a year ago to the domain names in the current zones. The first group is the legacy gTLDs. The "Retained" domain names are those still in the December 2019 zone files. The "Deleted" domain names are those which are no longer in the current zones. Some of the retained domain names may have been reregistered, but these are not renewals charts. more

Unpacking the Framework to Address DNS Abuse

As the Internet has grown, so too have the abuses that go along with one of the world's most transformative technologies. For all of the positives the Internet brings, negatives like phishing, malware and child exploitation are a reality online. As of December 9, 2019, 48 registrars and registries have signed onto the "Framework to Address Abuse." This initiative was launched last month by a number of domain name registries and registrars, just prior to the ICANN meeting in Montreal. more