Fair Use Registration of Domain Names for Artists and Hobbyists

There is in the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act a provision not expressly found in the UDRP (at least, not in so many words) but the concept is nevertheless present in the Policy by construction... The term "fair use" is typically associated with protected speech (criticism and commentary), fan websites, and nominative use of domain names but it is not limited to those uses. It's a flexible principle in both trademark and copyright law. more

Kazakhstan Using Malware Against Journalists, Political Activists, Lawyers

Journalists and political activists critical of Kazakhstan's authoritarian government, along with their family members, lawyers, and associates, have been targets of an online phishing and malware campaign believed to be carried out on behalf of the government of Kazakhstan, according to a new report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). more

Verizon-Yahoo! Incumbents Never Seem to Learn

It is amazing that after the dozens of examples of failed business decisions made by telcos in relation to the digital economy, Verizon has clearly not learned any lessons and is willing to waste $4.8 billion in its purchase of Yahoo. This investment will be totally useless and will not provide any new revenue for the telco. They seemed to be attracted by the people-tracking facility (surveillance marketing) that companies such as Yahoo use, and they aim this for their own purposes to attract new advertising revenues. more

Comcast Says FCC has no Authority to Prohibit Pay-for-Privacy Model by ISPs

Amidst debates concerning privacy rules for ISPs, Comcast in an FCC filing on Monday has urged the Commission to not interfere with business models offering discounts or other value to consumers in exchange for allowing ISPs to use their data. more

IoT to Reach 27 Billion Devices, Will Generate $3 Trillion by 2025, Says Machina

Machina Research, market intelligence provider on the Internet of Things, today published its annual report on the size of the IoT where it has predicted the total number of IoT connections will grow from 6 billion in 2015 to 27 billion in 2025 - a compound annual growth rate of 16%. more

FBI Withheld Warning Democratic National Committee of Suspected Russian Role in Hack

Russian hackers believed to be affiliated with the Russian government continued to have access to Democratic Party computers for months during the critical phase in the U.S. presidential campaign, the sources have said. more

WiFi QoE Assurance with TR-069 - Part 2: Optimizing a Single Access Point

As we have seen in the first installment of this series, TR-069 offers unprecedented visibility into the customer premises network to highlight devices beyond the gateway, and in the case of WiFi, the issues affecting service quality. Insights into the surrounding WIFI landscape alone provide ample data to provision the access point (AP) to operate in a part of the spectrum with the least amount of interference. more

Would the Internet Survive a Trump Apocalypse?

Presidential nominee Donald J. Trump and his supporters are pursuing platforms to create an altered America in a different world that is profoundly different in almost every respect from what has existed until now -- it is a new world best described as the Trump Apocalypse. Would the Internet as we have known it continue to exist? The short answer is probably not. Here is why. more

Nigerian Scammer, Ringleader of International Criminal Network Arrested

The 40-year-old Nigerian national, ringleader of a global network believed to be behind scams totalling more than USD $60 million has been arrested in a joint operation by INTERPOL and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). more

Losing and Reclaiming Domain Names

For registrants who are not trademark owners losing their domain names can be an irretrievable loss; and for trademark owners, perhaps not irretrievable but fraught with uncertainties of recovery. ICANN attempted to solve the problem of inadvertent lapses of registration in the Expired Registration Recovery Policy (ERRP) and its companion the Expired Domain Name Deletion Policy (EDNDP), implemented in 2013. more

U.S. Court Urged to Reverse Net Neutrality Rules, FCC Chair Says Petition ‘No Surprise’

Several wireless, cable and broadband trade associations today called on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reverse the net neutrality ruling that passed last month in a 2-1 decision by a three-judge panel. more

ICANN Confirms: .WEB Sold for Record Breaking $135 at Auction

"NU DOT CO LLC prevailed in the auction for the price of $135 million to operate the .WEB gTLD, announced ICANN today confirming earlier unofficial reports suggesting the amount. more

U.S. Issues Cyber Incident Coordination Policy

White House has issued new directive spelling out how the Federal government will coordinate its incident response activities in the event of a large-scale cyber incident. more

German Police Force Shifts More Focus to Darknet After Mass Shooting

"German police will do more to fight crime committed on the dark net'," was the announcement days after mass shooting by a gunman with weapon bought from the darknet. "We see that the darknet is a growing trading place and therefore we need to prioritize our investigations here," said Holger Muench, head of Germany's Federal Police (BKA). more

WiFi QoE Assurance with TR-069 - Part 1: The Toolbox

Subscribers today expect to be connected at all times with exceptional service quality. For communication service providers operating in urban environments, multi-dwelling units (MDUs) are a big cause for concern. Delivering consistently high WiFi service quality in high-density environments is a challenge. The sheer number of nearby access points, electronics, and outside influences can result in a host of WiFi service quality issues... more