ICANN’s Positive Affirmation: Good News for Africa and Emerging Markets

Sometimes you get what you are asking for. And this seems to be one of those occasions... and the US government can give itself a pat on the back for having listened to other stakeholder opinions. For years the world of Internet governance has been seen as its own special corner of the technosphere, full of arcane acronyms and quiet power deals. Despite efforts to make ICANN and the broader Internet community more transparent and user-friendly, many observers, including many African governments, still saw the stage as too much of an insider's game -- with the ultimate insider being the US Department of Commerce. more

The Path Towards Centralization of Internet Governance Under UN: Part 1

This essay is the first of a three-part series, written by Anonymous, and published by the Publius Project of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. It focuses on the steps of a possible roadmap for centralizing Internet governance under the United Nations. more

Criminal Checks Needed for Domain Name Tasting, Kiting, Spying

International organisations should step in to prevent the "tasting," "kiting" and "spying" related to Internet domain names, say representatives from the US telecommunications and trademark industries. These new activities are dramatically altering online commerce and impacting legitimate businesses, and the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) should take action, they say. The US Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) had too many loopholes given the actual trends in the domain name secondary market, said Sarah Deutsch, vice president and associate general counsel for Verizon, and Marilyn Cade, former AT&T lobbyist and now consultant on Internet and technology issues... more

Comments on Economics Study of ICANN’s New TLDs

ICANN has taken another crack at the question of the economics of launching new top-level domains (TLDs). The first report that the group commissioned on the subject was greeted by a loud and unhappy uproar. Now we have the preliminary draft of a new report, this one by professors Katz, Rosston, and Sullivan. It is insightful and analytic, but the final version needs to consider the theoretical and empirical issues... more

Record $89B in China Means 2020 +4% Sales, $10B Profit

The US war on Huawei brought down sales internationally, but China's 700,000 5G cells and explosive cloud growth meant Huawei had an up year. The chip blockade did hurt in Q4 and will continue to hold down sales in 2021. Huawei has sufficient reserves to outlast the United States until China catches up in chip production. Perhaps the most important figure in the financial report was the $55 billion cash. Another $10 billion will come in from the sale of Honor/Glory. more

Another Year, Another ICANN NomCom

Another challenging year due to the Corona pandemic is coming to a close, and ICANN has held another virtual annual general meeting (AGM) -- the 6th in a row. Unlike last year, today, we can hope for a better next year. In many regions of the world, the figures look better, and the opening is progressing. That at least gives us hope that ICANN will hold face-to-face meetings again next year -- at least they are planning it so. That should also make it easier for the new Nominating Committee (NomCom). more

ICANN May Not Be Perfect, But It Is Working

Though I have been critical of some of ICANN's shortcomings, I remain a strong supporter of ICANN's role as a private sector-led, multi-stakeholder global regulator for the Internet's core addressing systems. My recent blog post about my concerns with the communications processes relating to the addition of the first Arabic script IDN ccTLDs has been quoted in an ITU Staff Paper prepared for the ITU Council Working Group on the World Summit on the Information Society, to be held in Geneva tomorrow. This document seems to suggest... more

Failure in ICANN’s Governance Framework

The legitimacy of the ICANN multistakeholder model and its governance framework are facing an existential threat requiring immediate attention. The recently announced results of the ICANN Nominating Committee highlight how the ICANN Board is captured by "affiliated" directors, which threatens its independence and ability to act for the public interest. more

SpaceX Set to Launch Jupiter 3, the World’s Largest Commercial Communications Satellite, on Falcon Heavy Rocket

SpaceX is set to make history this Wednesday, July 26, by launching the largest commercial communications satellite to date, the Jupiter 3, using its Falcon Heavy rocket. more

Thinking Ahead on Privacy in the Domain Name System

Earlier this year, I wrote about a recent enhancement to privacy in the Domain Name System (DNS) called qname-minimization. Following the principle of minimum disclosure, this enhancement reduces the information content of a DNS query to the minimum necessary to get either an authoritative response from a name server, or a referral to another name server. more

Collisions Ahead: Look Both Ways before Crossing

Many years ago on my first trip to London, I encountered for the first time signs that warned pedestrians that vehicles might be approaching in a different direction than they were accustomed to in their home countries, given the left-versus-right-side driving patterns around the world. (I wrote a while back about one notable change from left-to-right, the Swedish "H Day," as a comment on the IPv6 transition.) more

US Court Upholds FCC’s Net Neutrality Repeal But Says States Can’t Be Barred from Passing Own Rules

A U.S. court decision today determined net neutrality laws could return at the state level overruling Trump administration's effort to block states from passing their own net neutrality laws. more

When a UDRP Panel Infers Bad Faith from An Asking Price

In the Converse.co dispute, a three-member UDRP panel unanimously ordered the transfer of the disputed domain name to the Complainants, All Star C.V. and Converse, Inc., owners of the well-known brand CONVERSE for shoes and apparel. The panel drew the inference that the Respondent, by setting of an asking price of around $300,000 after having acquired the domain name for $306, was primarily motivated by a bad faith intent to target the Complaint. more

gTLD Contention Auction in May: Request for Comments

Many gTLD applicants with strings in contention have already heard about the Applicant Auction, a voluntary private auction for resolving string contention that my colleagues and I are organizing. In this post we'd like to share some updates on our progress. Most importantly, we realized that more than just an escrow agent is needed for the success of a private auction of this scale, and we have partnered with Morrison & Foerster, LLP, a global law firm, who will be acting as the neutral party for our auctions. more

A 60% Rise Reported on Malware Designed to Harvest Consumers’ Digital Data, aka Password Stealers

A significant rise has been detected in the use of malware aimed at harvesting consumer data, known as password stealers. more