Website Load Testing Services: Remove Online Roadblocks

We've all experienced it -- that moment when you have ten minutes to get to the office, coffee in one hand and a croissant on your lap, and just as luck would have it you're stuck behind an oversize load and feel like you are going "- 5" MPH. This is exactly what many companies put their online customers through during high-traffic times, such as holidays and sales promotions. By failing to identify bottlenecks and optimize their websites, many companies risk slower performance and, ultimately, loss of revenue. more

Dotless Domains Considered Harmful, Says IAB

In light of recent controversies around the implementation of dotless domains, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) has released a statement calling the practice harmful. From the executive summary: "It has come to the attention of the IAB that there are proposals for so-called "dotless" domains in the root zone, and that some existing top-level domains (TLDs) are already operating in such a mode. TLD operators of dotless domains are intending that single label names -- those containing no dots -- resolve to the TLD itself, rather than be resolved locally, within the context of the local site at which the user resides." more

Standing Up for a Safe Internet

Back when I started working in this industry in 2001, ICANN was small, the industry was tight, and things moved slowly as interest groups negotiated a balance amongst the impacts of change. Change often meant added overhead and, at the very least, a one-time cost effort to implement on the commercial side. Registries and registrars preferred to be hands-off when it came to how their domains were being used. But e-crime became big business during the 2000s. more

No Surprise: Verisign’s Shift on New gTLDs

Five years after ICANN approved the new gTLD policy in Paris, two years after it approved the implementation plan in Singapore, and a year after the application window closed and some concrete steps were taken toward delegation of new gTLDs, a series of scary-sounding "what if" scenarios have mysteriously taken over discussions at ICANN. From colliding names and failing life support systems to mass confusion and technological outages, the profusion of horror stories has rivaled the hype for the Y2K conversion, with about as much basis in fact. more

Internet Society Launches CEO Search

The Internet Society Board of Trustees has retained the executive search firm Odgers Berndtson to help identify qualified candidates for the position of President & CEO. Lynn St.Amour, the Internet Society's current President & CEO, announced her plans earlier this year to step down in February 2014 at the conclusion of her contract. more

Google’s .App TLD Application Under Fire

I've written about "closed generic" new TLD applications several times over the last year. I'm opposed to them, as I've said in the past and continue to say today. However I've generally been supportive of "restricted" TLDs. The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) has serious concerns about Google's application for .app and want ICANN's board of directors to treat as a "closed generic". more

2.7 Billion Using the Internet by Year End, Estimates UN

UN's Millenium Development Goals Report released this week estimates that by the end of this year, 2.7 billion people (39 percent of the world's population) would be using the Internet. more

Here’s Looking at You…

Much has been said in recent weeks about various forms of cyber spying. The United States has accused the Chinese of cyber espionage and stealing industrial secrets. A former contractor to the United States' NSA, Edward Snowden, has accused various US intelligence agencies of systematic examination of activity on various popular social network services... These days cloud services may be all the vogue, but there is also an emerging understanding that once your data heads into one of these clouds, then it's no longer necessarily entirely your data; it may have become somebody else's data too... more

ICANN Board Resolutions May Enable New gTLDs to Potentially Launch in Fall

In an attempt to appease the Governmental Advisory Committee, ICANN's New gTLD Program Committee directed ICANN staff to amend the Registry Agreement so that all New gTLD Registries will be required to include a provision in its Registry-Registrar Agreement that requires Registrars to include in their Registration Agreement a provision prohibiting Registered Name Holders from distributing malware, abusively operating botnets, phishing, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement, fraudulent or deceptive practices, counterfeiting or otherwise engaging in activity contrary to applicable law, and providing (consistent with applicable law and any related procedures) consequences for such activities including suspension of the domain name. more

Google Books Case Part 4,523: Decide Fair Use First

The endless lawsuit by the Authors Guild (which purports to represent authors, no longer including me), against Google moved another small step toward completion today. The Guild is just sure that Google's book scanning project means that end of civilization as we, or at least they, know it. Their arguments run from the somewhat plausible, that the scans are in violation of copyright, to the just plain goofy, that the scan data is so amazingly valuable yet vulnerable that Google must destroy it before someone steals it. more

FCC Change of Chairman: Opportunities to Advance Telecoms in America

It is always the case that change brings with it new opportunities, and the change in the FCC chair will be no exception to this rule. But we have learned since President Obama came to power that we should not have too high an expectation of such a change. In my discussions with the US Administration, the White House and the FCC I have never come across any major disagreement about my views on the future of telecommunications. more

Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress - London, Sept 2013

In partnership with Momentum event group, CircleID will be updating this page to provide up to date information for the Digital Marketing & gTLD Strategy Congress taking place in London, September 26 - 27, 2013. more

New Domain Name Registrar Accreditation Agreement Approved by ICANN Board

ICANN Board of Directors today approved a new Domain Name Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) following over a year of negotiations between ICANN and its Registrar Stakeholders Group - last RAA was approved in 2009. more

Internet Hall of Fame Announces 2013 Inductees, Ceremony Held 3 August in Berlin, Germany

The Internet Society has announced the names of the 32 individuals who have been selected for induction into the Internet Hall of Fame. Last week, the Internet Society announced plans to change the location of its 2013 Internet Hall of Fame awards ceremony, originally scheduled for Istanbul, due to the recent protests and unpredictable environment. The ceremony is now scheduled for 3 August in Berlin, Germany. more

What Smaller Institutions Can Learn from DDoS Attacks on Big Banks

Since last fall, several waves of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have targeted major players in the U.S. banking industry. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and PNC were among the first to sustain intermittent damage. Eventually, the top 50 institutions found themselves in the crosshairs... In the months to come, security experts would praise the banks' collective response, from heightened DDoS protection to candid customer communications.. these larger institutions have learned some painful lessons that smaller firms might heed as they seek to minimize risks. more