Fact Checking the Recent News About Google in Cuba

Google's Cuba project has been in the news lately. Mary Anastasia O'Grady wrote a Wall Street Journal article called "Google's Broken Promise to Cubans," criticising Google for being "wholly uninterested in the Cuban struggle for free speech" and assisting the Castro government. The article begins by taking a shot at President Obama who "raved" about an impending Google-Cuba deal "to start setting up more Wi-Fi access and broadband access on the island." more

IPv6 Riding the LTE Coattails

In June 2009 we mused in these columns about Long Term Evolution standing for Short Term Evolution as wireless networks started to drown in a data deluge. It is January 2012 and we keep our heads above the mobile data deluge, even if barely, thanks to a gathering avalanche of LTE networks. Even the wildest prognoses proved conservative as the GSMA was betting on a more 'managed' progression... more

NTP: The Most Neglected Core Internet Protocol

The Internet of today is awash with networking protocols, but at its core lie a handful that fundamentally keep the Internet functioning. From my perspective, there is no modern Internet without DNS, HTTP, SSL, BGP, SMTP, and NTP. Of these most important Internet protocols, NTP (Network Time Protocol) is the likely least understood and has the least attention and support. Until very recently, it was supported (part-time) by just one person. more

Australia Launches Major Cybersecurity Revamp Following Recent Major Cyberattacks

Australia is set to enhance its cybersecurity framework in response to recent widespread cyberattacks. The government has released its 2023 -- 2030 Cyber Security Strategy, aiming to position Australia among the top cyber-secure nations by 2030. more

Sorry, Ajit Pai: Smaller Telcos Did Not Reduce Investment After Net Neutrality Ruling

Primary suppliers see sales go up. ADTRAN's sales in the most recent nine months were $445M, up from $399M the year before. Calix sold $372M, up from $327M. At analyst meeting this year, both said demand had picked up. Clearfield, a supplier of fiber optic gear, was up 8%. Pai claimed, "the impact has been particularly serious for smaller Internet service providers." It was a primary justification for his Net Neutrality decision. more

.SEXY? .TATTOO? Now Live in DNS? Welcome to the World of NewgTLDs

As I wrote last week, ICANN is proceeding along with "delegating" the "new generic top-level domains (newgTLDs)" and while last week's .GURU may have provoked some chuckles, this week's block of 11 newly "delegated" newgTLDs brings us... more

Spam Is on the Decline; What Are the Implications?

Previously, I wrote that the total amount of spam that we are seeing has seen a significant decline over the past year and a half. What does this mean in real terms? Are we finally winning the fight against spam? There are multiple angles. On the one hand, processing spam takes significant system resources... more

Do You Care About Your Privacy?

ICANN is currently going through a complicated process in order to introduce more Top-Level Domains (TLDs). While the launch of new TLDs is something that a lot of people will welcome it is not without its issues. One of the areas that has been receiving quite a bit of attention is in relation to intellectual property rights. So what has this got to do with privacy? more

A 5G Community Network Strategy for Cuba (and Other Developing Nations)

In a previous post, I suggested that Cuba might be able to leap over 4G to 5G wireless infrastructure using satellite and terrestrial networks for backhaul. While that would require political and policy change, it would be a good fit with Cuban culture and skills. Before talking about Cuba, let me say a bit about wireless generations. Each mobile technology generation used new technology and enabled new applications. more

So, Your gTLD was Approved – What Now?

The world is just waking up to the fact that ICANN has been accepting applications for new generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, since 2012 and that hundreds of these gTLDs have already been approved through Initial Evaluation, with more being approved every week. It is expected that the new extensions will begin appearing online in the second half of 2013... But if you're reading this, you've known this for a long time. In fact, you may have just gotten word that your application is approved. Congratulations! Awesome news... but, what now? more

Loose Lips

When I was in the military, we were constantly drilled about the problem of Essential Elements of Friendly Information, or EEFIs. What are EEFis? If an adversary can cast a wide net of surveillance, they can often find multiple clues about what you are planning to do or who is making which decisions. For instance, if several people married to military members all make plans to be without their spouses for a long period of time, the adversary can be certain that a unit is about to be deployed. more

A Quick Look at the 4 Most Prevalent Types of Threat Intelligence

You won't go far with your cybersecurity when you're relying on the wrong intelligence. This is simply because not all types of threat intelligence are equal. You might have experienced this yourself; investing time and resources into just one only to receive meagre results in the end. Sadly, many organizations fail to realize that depending on just a single source of information is a big mistake. more

Treating Different Types of Communications Differently

A friend who read my Creating Sustainable Network Neutrality paper wrote to say, "Help me understand what is so bad about treating different types of communications differently." That's a really good question! If you want to offer vertically integrated services on special purpose networks, such as video entertainment or pager service or telephony, I do not have a problem with that, provided you don't use your market power to impede Internet applications that offer competing services... more

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee Is Investigating Google’s Plans to Implement DNS Over HTTPS

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is investigating Google's plans to implement DNS over HTTPS (DoH) in Chrome according to a report by the Wall Street Journal over the weekend. more

A Navigation Aid or a Brand TLD? (Part 2 of 2)

So what are the characteristics of a "Brand TLD"? Please note that by "Brand TLD", I do not mean gTLDs applied for by brands. I mean TLDs whose registrants tend to use them as their primary site and identity. They have either created themselves as, or have become a brand in the eyes of their registrants. These TLDs tend to be in the minority. more