VeriSign-ICANN Proposed Settlement Discussed in Vancouver

Unfortunately I cannot be in Vancouver for the conference. I write this from Cape Town, venue of last years fall ICANN. I want to disclose a couple of things upfront. Those who know me will know I am nothing if not strongly independent in my views. However disclosure helps those of a more suspicious mind know my associations and if they choose to, take them into account in interpreting my opinions. ...I am somewhat disappointed by the reaction to the proposed settlement. I feel that most of the discussion fails to take into account the actual conditions under which the settlement has been negotiated. more

Despite Voice and AI Hype: the Domain Name Remains Crucial in Marketing

In the early days of the internet, companies only needed a simple web presence to be among the pioneers of digitization. Playfully animated hover buttons and electronically-synthesized background music were commonly accepted standards. To appear on a search engine, webmasters simply had to submit the URL of their website. more

Thus Ends the Stupid Network Model?

There is an article in EETimes by Fay Arjomandi of Vancouver-based Mobidia that may shake up the fans of the 10 year old stupid network principle. The stupid network essay calls for intelligence to reside at the edge of the network, rendering IP networks to plumbing pipes -- with carriers ignorant of the application and services being transported. more

New Type of DDoS Attack Targets Vulnerability in Universal Plug and Play Networking Protocol

A new type of DDoS attack takes advantage of an old vulnerability with the potential to put any company with an online presence at risk of attack warn researchers. more

Virgina Governor Announces Facebook Investing $1 Billion for New Data Center in Henrico County

Virgia governor Terry McAuliffe today announced Facebook will spend $750 million to establish a 970,000-square-foot data center in the White Oak Technology Park in Henrico County. more

Microsoft Announces Plans to Adopt DoH in Windows

Microsoft announced today its plans to adopt DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol in Windows and will also keep other options such as DNS over TLS (DoT) on the table for consideration. more

Richard Clarke: Defend Against Cyberwar by Re-Architecting Networks, Not Buying More Technology

In his keynote yesterday at the RSA Security Conference, former U.S. top chief counter-terrorism adviser, Richard A. Clarke, said cyberwar defence efforts need to focus on re-architecting networks not buying more technology. more

Registrar Abacus America is in Corporate Delinquency

KnujOn has retrieved a document indicating that the ICANN-Accredited Registrar Abacus America is in Corporate Delinquency in the state of Kansas. Kansas defines a company as Delinquent if "The business entity has not filed its annual report and fee by the due date." ... This incident is significant because Abacus America was cited by LegitScript and KnujOn for sponsoring an unlicensed pharmacy selling Schedule 3 substances... more

Telecom Impact on Per-Capita GDP

My presentation at VON was focused on availability (aka presence) and contextually-aware communications, but I did begin with a brief mention of subjects I'm passionate about and I ended with my typical closing comments about telecommunications... Apparently this struck a chord with several people who came up to me afterwards asking about how they could help the spread of telecom to developing countries and did I have references for my statements about telecom is good for mankind? more

Why IPv6 Deployment is Slow in Africa & What to Do About It

We (the global corps of IPv6 evangelists) have done the trainings (over 200 training sessions in about 45 countries in Africa alone and counting). We've done the conferences (several variations of IPv6 World, IPv6 Business Conferences, IPv6 Hours and Days at the Africa Internet Summits, etc). We've even done the global coordinated events -- IPv6 World Launch. Governments have found it trendy to launch IPv6 Task Forces and come up with National Action Plans for IPv6. Now, almost more than 2000 network engineers (across Africa), thousands of hours of speeches and presentations, hundreds of blog articles and webinars later, where are we? more

TLD Expansion: ICANN Must Not Back Down

ICANN's plan to open up the domain name space to new top level domains is scheduled to begin January 12, 2012. This long overdue implementation is the result of an open process that began in 2006. It would, in fact, be more realistic to say that the decision has been in the works 15 years; i.e., since early 1997. That is when demand for new top-level domain names, and the need for other policy decisions regarding the coordination of the domain name system, made it clear that a new institutional framework had to be created. more

Group of Engineers Have Created a Way to Detect Dangerous Objects in Baggage Using Public Wifi

Report describes a technique with which public wifi can be used to identify in-baggage dangerous objects in public spaces that don't typically have affordable screening options. more

CENTR Publishes a Paper on Domain Name Registries and Online Content

The Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries (CENTR) has published a paper on Domain name registries and online content which explores the domain name registries' relation and role regarding content online. more

2011 UDRP Filings Up at WIPO, Down at NAF - And Still Infinitesimal

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently issued a detailed press release regarding Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) cases for which it provided arbitration services in 2011 and, once again, the number of WIPO filings was up. According to WIPO: "In 2011, trademark holders filed a record 2,764 cybersquatting cases covering 4,781 domain names with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) under procedures based on the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), an increase of 2.5% and 9.4% over the previous highest levels in 2010 and 2009, respectively." Yet that's an incomplete picture. more

Buying Multiple Domains Makes Sense

Companies usually use one single domain name for their online activities but then, more questions pop up: SEO, Infringement, Future of the company, monitoring online competition... If buying multiple domain names answers some of these questions, there is a way to do it. Here is how... It often happens that the domain name of a company is neither the generic keyword of its core business nor a keyword that necessarily appears attached to its name. more