The Internet and the Legitimacy of Governments

In two recent debate events I participated in, on iFreedom and privacy in the online world, mistrust of government and government's intentions and motivations on and towards the Internet were abundantly present with more than just a few people in the audiences. The emotions were not new to me, no, it was the rationality that surprised and sometimes almost shocked me. Why? Well, should these sentiments get the support of the majority of people, it would undermine all legitimacy of a government to govern. Let's try and take a closer look. more

ICANN and DOC Announce New Three-Year Agreement

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United States Department of Commerce (DoC) today announced that they agreed to extend their joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for three additional years until September 30, 2006. more

The Pros and Cons of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

At the Virus Bulletin conference this past September in Dallas, Righard Zwienenberg from ESET gave a presentation entitled BYOD. BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device, but he reframed the acronym to "Bring Your Own Destruction", that is, he alluded to the security implications of bringing your own device. BYOD is the latest trend sweeping business and schools. more

Big Telegraph

On my flight back from Washington, DC last night, I prepared much of what follows, minus references. Today, while looking for references, I uncovered a very recent (6 June 2012) posting to the ITU blog that seemed entirely appropriate to mention here. It is fascinating reading, and I especially like one snippet "we are not about to take over the Internet - that suggestion is frankly ridiculous". I quite agree and hope that the ITU is genuinely interested in working with others to ensure that nothing of the sort happens. Now on to what I had prepared. more

Kaspersky Lab Software Too Deeply Embedded in US Gov Network, Impossible to Get Rid Off by October

The law set by U.S. Government for all agencies to fully remove the controversial Russian based Kaspersky Lab security software by October is proving a lot harder than anticipated. more

Over 750 Domain Name Registrars Expected to Shut Down in the Next 12 Months, ICANN Predicts

ICANN estimates over 750 accredited domain name registrars are likely to close within the next 12 months as a result of the over-saturated drop-catching market. more

How Much Has ICANN Spent On The IANA Transition?

ICANN critics often focus on ICANN's expenditure. The organisation's overall budget had been growing for years prior to the new TLD program launch. However with the new TLD launch it mushroomed very quickly, with the organisation collecting $185k per application. With 1930 applications that gave them $357,050,000 ... ICANN's overall budget is big and how it decides to spend that money will always be subject to quite a bit of scrutiny. more

Thinking of Applying for a Truly Generic TLD, but Restricting Ownership to a Single Registrant?

As it's coming down to brass tacks and companies are now seriously considering applying for their own .Brand Top-Level Domain (TLD), questions about whether to also apply for a truly generic TLD keep popping up. Many large corporations want to know whether it's even possible to apply for something like .Shoes AND to restrict registrations so that only a single specified registrant is allowed. After all, for the right company it seems that something like .Shoes could be a valuable namespace -- short, easy to remember, and easy to spell. more

eco: 100K PCs Cleaned Through Anti-Botnet Center

eco, the German ISP association, mentions on its website today that the 100,000^th PC was cleaned from infection through its PC cleaning program. Since 15 September, German account holders could visit the website to download tools to clean up computers from digital infections. Botfrei ("botfree", translation WdN) is a cooperation between eco and the German government. First figures seem to prove that this is a successful public-private partnership, worth looking into for other countries as a best practice. more

A Simple Suggestion for President Biden Regarding the Cuban Internet

Last September, I asked what had happened to the proposal for a branch connecting the ARCOS undersea cable, which has a landing point in North Miami Beach, to Cojimar, Cuba. The consortium that operates the cable had applied for permission to connect Cuba in July 2018, and the FCC granted a request for streamlined processing, which should have taken less than 45 days, but nothing happened until September 2020 when the application was referred to a Justice Department committee... more

Latest Wave of Organized Phishing Attacks Beat Two-Factor Authentication

Researchers at Certfa Lab provide a review of the latest wave of organized phishing attacks by Iranian state-backed hackers which succeeded by compromising 2-factor authentication. more

The Empire Strikes Back: ICANN Accountability at the Inflection Point

The members of the ICANN community engaged in the work of the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-ACCT, or just plain "CCWG" for this article) has been engaged since late 2014 in designing an enhanced ICANN accountability plan to accompany the transition of oversight of the IANA root zone functions from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to the global multistakeholder community. On August 3rd the CCWG released its 2nd Draft Report (Work Stream 1) for a public comment period that closed on September 12th. more

Measuring the Cost of Cybercrime

Last week at Virus Bulletin in 2012, Tyler Moore of Southern Methodist University (SMU) gave a talk entitled "Measuring the cost of cyber crime." It was a study done in collaboration with multiple individuals in multiple countries. The study sought to answer this question - How much does cyber crime cost? Up until this point, nobody really knew. more

.Nxt - You Are All Cordially Invited

There are only a few occasions in any of our lifetimes where what we know and have grown used to is turned on its head. We have now lost the generation that heard radio for the first time; there are only a few who can recall the first television pictures; but many, many more saw color appear on their screens for the first time. more

For ICANN, a New Path Toward an Old Goal

The DNS White Paper has stood the test of time remarkably well. More than a decade after it was published, its principles of stability, competition, and private-sector-led DNS management remain the gold standard for DNS governance. ICANN is struggling to achieve that standard, however, and a dramatic change in direction may need to be considered. more