Human Rights and the Digital Domain Primer - Part 4

The digital domain encompasses the different spaces and spheres we use to relate and interact with the people and things that surround us using digital technologies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, as the globally accepted standard, should serve us as the guiding light when it comes to striking the delicate balance between our rights and responsibilities on and off-line. more

The Growing Importance of Language in UDRP Proceedings

An increasing number of domain name disputes are being conducted in languages other than English, a trend that presents a new challenge for some trademark owners. In 2015, 85.77% of all domain names disputes at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) were conducted in English - down from an all-time average of 88.01% and a record high (in 2000) of 99.84% (disregarding 1999, the first year of the UDRP, because only one case was filed - in English -- that year). more

Have You Had Your GDPR Training Today?

The suggestion was recently put to the GNSO Council: anyone who becomes a member of a proposed new Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) must be able to demonstrate that they have basic knowledge of privacy and data protection. This makes a lot of sense: Would you trust a lawyer who had never been to law school? Or a doctor who had never studied medicine? Of course not. Recently I asked members of our ICANN Community: have you had any GDPR training, classes, or certification? more

Russia Targeted British Telecom, Media, Energy Sectors, Reveals UK National Cyber Security Centre

Speaking at The Times Tech Summit in London, Ciaran Martin, chief of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), warned Russia is seeking to undermine the international system. more

Internet Service Quality Measured from Thousands of Locations

RIPE Atlas, the new active measurements network maintained by the RIPE NCC, gives you a way to easily measure the quality of your Internet services. RIPE Atlas is designed in such a way that it can collect data for analysis from a great number of locations on the Internet. The actual measurement devices, or "probes", are so small that they can be easily deployed in a home environment. more

China Passes 1 Billion Mobile Subscribers, Over 400 Million Mobile Web Users

China now has more than 1 billion mobile subscribers (India isn't far behind) -- that's more than three times the US. Second, China now has more than 150 million 3G users, as reported by mobiThinking. "These are the sum of subscriber stats from the three main Chinese operators. Third, China has more than 400 million mobile Internet users (i.e. more than there are mobile subscribers in the US), according to Analysys International. Fourth, China is now the largest smartphone market in the world with 22 percent (overtaking the US at 16 percent), according to Canalys." more

Editorials Against PROTECT-IP

First the Los Angeles Times, now the New York Times have both printed editorials critical of the PROTECT-IP bill. Both the LAT and NYT support copyright - and announce as much in their opening sentences. That doesn't mean we should sacrifice Internet security and stability for legitimate DNS users, nor the transparency of the rule of law. more

Poland Launches Eastern Europe’s First Commercial LTE Network

Paul Budde writes: "Two relatively new mobile market entrants, Mobyland and Centernet, have launched Poland and Eastern Europe's first commercial LTE network. Vendor Huawei provided the equipment for the network, which operates in the 1800MHz frequency band. Both Mobyland and Centernet previously offered GSM services in the frequency band before refarming the spectrum to offer LTE. The operators aim to expand coverage to 20% of the population by 2011 by deploying 700 base stations." more

Comment on the Kleiman/Komaitis Proposal on Multiple IP Clearinghouses for the New gTLD Process

I recently learned about a meeting that took place between ICANN staff and Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) members Kathy Kleiman and Konstantinos Komaitis regarding the Implementation Recommendations Team (IRT) recommendations for the protection of intellectual property rights in new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). My comment relates to the White Paper published by Ms. Kleiman and Mr. Komaitis with respect to the notion of having multiple Regional Trademark clearinghouses (TMCs). For the reasons stated in this comment, the KK Proposal fails a number of the benchmarking checklists used by the IRT in evaluating proposals. more

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites for Global Cellular Coverage

SpaceX successfully launched 21 satellites, including the first six Starlink satellites equipped with "Direct to Cell" capabilities. These advanced satellites aim to offer seamless global access to texting, calling, and browsing for mobile network operators worldwide, eliminating dead zones with a space-based cellphone tower. more

Space Weather and Broadband

There was an interesting phenomenon that happened in September when Starlink launched 49 new satellites. The satellites were successfully deployed by the rocket, but as the satellites were being maneuvered to reach the final orbital slots, there was a geomagnetic storm that caused 38 of the satellites to fall back to earth. Space storms happen when radiation affects the magnetosphere that surrounds the earth.  more

Are Apps a Passing Phase?

At NetHui last week one of the most interesting sessions was "Is there an app for that?". The issue was that while apps can be easy to use, they are little walled gardens within an app store which is another level of walled garden. The Apple app store or Google play makes it easy to find apps, but it also means that you're limited to apps that your environment's corporate overlords approve and in Apple's case, charge to include. more

State of Broadband Infrastructure: Lagging or Leading?

I have found a disturbing lack of context in respect of some reports examining the state of Canada's telecommunications industry, especially those that have cited various OECD studies released over the past few months. It has become increasingly clear that the OECD's analysis is flawed. The failure by so many to analyse the data appears to confirm what President Barack Obama said recently in a newspaper interview... more

Why R&E Networks Should Be Aware of the CDN Interconnect Initiative (CDNI)

At the recent IETF meeting there has been considerable discussion about interconnection of Content Delivery Networks. A lot of this is being driven unfortunately by the incumbent telco/cableco's who never understood CDN in the first place, and now want to assert control over this critical new Internet architecture, much in the same way that they want to take control over open WiFi hot spots as part of an integration strategy with their 3G/4G networks. more

FCC Updates Broadband Speed Standard, Aims for Nationwide High-Speed Internet Acces

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has updated the national broadband speed standard to at least 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload speeds, marking the first adjustment since January 2015. more