ICANN’s “Unelected” Crisis

The leaked release of the European Commission's working papers on the future of Top Level Domains highlights the impending collision between adherents of the present "multistakeholder" ICANN governance model, and an ever longer list of national governments who challenge that model. At the core of the controversy is the question of how ICANN can claim legitimacy in the DNS world when none of its Directors or Officers are elected. Even worse, its only answer, when challenged legally, is that it is responsive to its contract with an agency of the U.S. Government... more

10,000 Domain Names Pre-Ordered Daily for Likely New Top-Level Domains

Last month Pool.com and Quintaris started a joint project to let consumers pre-order – without cost – domain names in new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) for which ICANN will likely get an application. Latest stats released from the group is showing strong demand -- about 10,000 per day in the first month of the program... more

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Botnet Takedowns (July 15, 2014)

The background is of course quite interesting, given how soon it has followed Microsoft's seizure of several domains belonging to Dynamic DNS provider no-ip.com for alleged complicity in hosting trojan RAT gangs, a couple of days after which the domains were subsequently returned -- without public comment -- to Vitalwerks, the operator of No-IP. This is by no means a new tactic for Microsoft, who has carried out successful seizures of various domains over the past two or three years. more

What is the Future for Mobile Network Operators?

The telecommunication industry is continuing to resist structural changes, but the reality is that if they don't transform, technology will do it for them. We have seen the fixed telecom operators slowly being pushed back into the infrastructure utility market. Mobile networks are moving in that same direction - that is, the largest part of their network will be a utility, with currently two, three or four mobile infrastructure providers per country... the industry is facing serious problems. more

ICANN (TBD): Why is ICANN Always to Blame and What to Do About It

With great anticipation I waited for the most recent Applicant Guidebook version 4 aka DAG4. I was looking forward to seeing gTLD program timeline. Was it possible that ICANN would give us another timeline and be firm with it? And then I saw it. Those 3 letters next to the new October 2010 launch date: tbd. So the date is October 2010 but it is "To Be Determined"? On one hand we have a set date but on the other hand it is yet to be determined. more

Volunteer-Based Project Succeeds in Taking Down 100,000 Malware Distribution Sites Within 10 Months

In March of 2018, abuse.ch, a non-profit cybersecurity organization in Switzerland, launched a project called URLhaus to collect and share URLs identified to be distributing malware. more

51 CEOs Call on US Congress for Urgent Nationwide Data Privacy Law Overriding State-Level Laws

A letter, signed by 51 CEOs, was sent to U.S. House and Senate and leaders of other committees today urging policymakers to pass a comprehensive national data privacy law. more

DotGreen Is No More

Kevin reported on this last night. As you can see from the reactions to his post a lot of people are surprised, shocked and even quite upset that the DotGreen application has been withdrawn. It's not the only application for the string, which is why it was withdrawn, but to many people in the ICANN space it was the applicant everyone associated with the string. The unfortunate reality of the new TLD process is that money speaks more loudly than anything else. more

4G Mobile Trials Have Begun in Cuba - What Is Their 3/4/5G Strategy?

During the first month of 3G mobile service, Cuban Internet use increased substantially. At the end of January, ETECSA had 5.4 million mobile users, 35% of which use the Internet and they are adding 5,000 new data customers per day. According to Eliecer Samada, head of ETECSA's wireless access group, the company is now at 160% of the expected capacity. more

CircleID’s Top 10 Posts of 2008

Here is a list of the most viewed news and blog postings that were featured on CircleID in 2008... Best wishes for 2009 and Happy New Year from all of us here at CircleID. more

Paper on Civil Society Involvement in ICANN

A paper titled, "Civil society involvement in ICANN: Strengthening future civil society influence in ICANN policymaking," written by Robin Gross, examines the historical role that civil society has played at ICANN in policymaking. more

Funky Ninth Circuit Opinion on Domain Names and Nominative Use - Toyota v. Tabari

Every time I see a federal appellate opinion on domain names, I'm vaguely reminded of the Country Joe song I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag, whose course goes "And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?" Fortunately, domain name disputes do not lead to the senseless loss of life we experienced from the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, lengthy domain name litigation usually has little more strategic value. more

Unstoppable Domains Receives ICANN Accreditation, Plans to Integrate Blockchain with Traditional Domain Services

This accreditation positions UD as the largest ICANN-accredited registrar in the Web3 space, allowing it to expand its offerings to include a broader range of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and country code domains (ccTLDs). more

Is DNSSEC Worth the Effort?

A blog post has created some attention online through its extremely negative attitude to DNSSEC. Through the years, I have come in contact with many arguments against DNSSEC that suggest that anyone who is critical has not managed to or wanted to familiarize themselves with what DNSSEC is and does. We have received many questions concerning the article, so I feel it's appropriate to respond to the criticism. more

Creating a National Cybersecurity Framework: Need For New Regulation?

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) recently released a major new study examining cybersecurity. The report, "Creating a National Framework for Cybersecurity: An Analysis of Issues and Options" discusses a variety of significant public and private cybersecurity concerns. The CRS analysis lists several broad options for addressing cybersecurity weaknesses ranging from adopting standards and certification to promulgating best practices and guidelines and use of audits among other measures. more