Bruce Schneier: Government and Industry Have Betrayed the Internet, and Us

Bruce Schneier in an op-ed piece published in the Guardian on Thursday writes: "Government and industry have betrayed the internet, and us. By subverting the internet at every level to make it a vast, multi-layered and robust surveillance platform, the NSA has undermined a fundamental social contract..." more

Internet Society Seeks Nominations for 2023 Board of Trustees

Are you (or someone you know) passionate about protecting the global, open Internet? And ensuring that it is available to everyone? Do you have experience in Internet policy, standards, or development? If so, please consider submitting a nomination for a seat on the Internet Society Board of Trustees to help guide the future of the organization. The Internet Society supports and promotes the development of the Internet ... more

Cuba Reaches Five Million Mobile Accounts

Cubans now have 5 million mobile accounts. The five-millionth account was recently opened Guanabacoa, in the eastern part of Havana and we see here that growth slowed last year, but has resumed -- perhaps due to increased 3G availability. Most Cubans have 2G phones, which are used primarily for making calls and sending text messages that may have attached images. more

Industry Structure at the Core of WCIT Problems

At the WCIT in Dubai it is interesting to follow the debates surrounding the many issues being addressed at this world congress. There are the issues of internet governance in the broadest sense of the word - these have received widespread attention. But if we look at the core issues that an organisation such as the ITU can address then the scope widens - to topics such as the rules for the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs), and particularly those in relation to the rules for rates and charges. more

How Do You Turn a Typesetting Language Into an Identifier System? (Not Easily)

Unicode's goal, which it meets quite well, is that whatever text you want to represent in whatever language, dead or alive, Unicode can represent the characters or symbols it uses. Any computer with a set of Unicode typefaces and suitable layout software can display that text. In effect, Unicode is primarily a typesetting language. Over in the domain name system, we also use Unicode to represent non-ASCII identifiers. That turns out to be a problem because an identifier needs a unique form, something that doesn't matter for typesetting. more

Broadband Demand-Side Management

Countries, cities and commercial organisations around the globe are facing problems associated with the rollout of fibre-to-the-home networks... We have been warning about these issues for well over a decade. The problem arises because the telecoms industry has been based on the principle 'build and they will come'. more

Hyper-Volumetric DDoS Attack Sets New Benchmark at 22.2 Tbps

A record-shattering DDoS attack peaking at 22.2 Tbps signals a new era of cyber aggression, driven by weaponized IoT botnets and raising urgent questions about global internet resilience. more

The Christmas Goat and IPv6 (Year 10)

This year marked the 10th anniversary of collecting statistics for IPv6 from the Christmas Goat. It's the third year now with almost no snow, and with this crazy winters and climate, it's hard to get any good photos of the goat. The photo is only from 3–4 days in early December with little snow so far in Gävle.The measurements this year started very low with 20% IPv6, but it made some improvements and landed just like 2018 at a total of 41%. more

Addressing Infringement: Developments in Content Regulation in the US and the DNS

Over the course of the last decade, in response to significant pressure from the US government and other governments, service providers have assumed private obligations to regulate online content that have no basis in public law. For US tech companies, a robust regime of "voluntary agreements" to resolve content-related disputes has grown up on the margins of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Communications Decency Act (CDA). more

The Draw: ICANN and a Severe Case of Virus Infection

I propose calling it Values Disorder Syndrome (VDS). It is a virus affecting groups of people. Though rational as individuals, sufferers acting in groups display an inexplicable addiction to the thrill of impunity. That behavior is totally irrational and unrelated to any perspective of gain or purpose... It is certainly a virus, and we know it goes around in ICANN circles. The proof is that the ICANN board has caught it. more

Why SDN is Not Enough

A hot topic in telecoms at the moment is 'software-defined networking' (SDN). This term covers a range of technologies that put networks under the control of centralised management software. But what if SDN misses the point of why broadband networks exist in the first place? Network equipment vendors are busy pushing operator CTOs to adopt a 'software telco' approach. A small army of analysts and consultants cheer this process on. more

In Broadband, China Is Definitely the Middle Kingdom - 270M In 2015

With a goal of 270M fixed broadband lines in 2015 and near-universal service by 2020, the new "Broadband China" strategy is extraordinary. OFweek, a valuable site in Chinese, breaks the plan into three phases. The first is a full speed stage, ending in 2013, that deploys basic broadband and 3G widely. The second stage, 2014-2015, is dedicated to a further takeup and wider deployment. That will include 400,000+ LTE cell sites. more

Are You Ready for the Mobile Revolution?

If there is one fundamental trend everyone can agree on in technology circles, it's the move to mobile. More and more online traffic is originating not from PCs, but from smart mobile devices. You can pick your research study to confirm -- recently I read that Tony White of Ars Logica is projecting that by next year 50% of all web traffic will be generated by mobile devices. That may be aggressive, but you get the idea. more

5G Dementia at the FCC

Like the Coronavirus, 5G Dementia seems to be spreading around Washington. The latest manifestation has appeared at the FCC -- which is trying its best to make U.S. 5G infrastructure as insecure and primitive as possible. But first, an explanation of how 5G Dementia begins at the top and spreads in the U.S. capitol. 5G Dementia begins with "The Genius" who lounges around White House quarters and emits spontaneous tweets on whatever motivates him at the moment. more

ICANN’s GAC Talks Are Critical For New gTLDs

With Bill Clinton's appearance at ICANN San Francisco now confirmed to be more than mere rumor, the March meeting will be a very big event indeed. On its home turf, and under the glare of possibly unprecedented global attention, ICANN may feel some pressure to make sure it has some noteworthy news to announce at the end of the week, after its Board of Directors meets. more