Russians Take to the Streets to Protest Against New Internet Restrictions

Thousands of Russians in Moscow and other cities rallied on Sunday against tighter internet restrictions. The protest is reported to be one of the most prominent in the Russian capital in years. more

Virtual ICANN Meetings – YES, Please

In the early 2000s, when I began working in the domain name industry, I remember hearing from colleagues about these seemingly elusive ICANN meetings invariably hosted in some pretty incredible places, including Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Cape Town. I remember how some of my colleagues complained about being stuck in windowless conference rooms for hours on end, but secretly thinking that they were probably going to a few meetings, but then actually enjoying a fabulous vacation. more

Massive Cyber Assault on X: Musk Hints at Foreign Involvement

Elon Musk has attributed a series of major disruptions on X, the social media platform he owns, to a large-scale cyberattack. The outages, which persisted for several hours today (and are still ongoing), left users unable to access the service, triggering a flurry of speculation. more

Critics Say FCC’s New Report Declaring US Broadband Healthier Than Ever is Based on Flawed Data

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its 2019 Broadband Deployment Report on Wednesday stating the digital divide is shrinking substantially, and more Americans than ever have access to high-speed broadband. more

The Shadow of the Web

I believe in the Internet As an ideal. As a web of human minds. As a wonder of the world, not built through totalitarian control but rather through fierce coopetition. As a technological pillar held up by a newer, better, governance structure. As the facilitator of knowledge sharing and communication on a level so advanced that it would appear supernatural to folks living just a century ago, or less. I worry for the Internet While it has been a major disruptive force, it is also susceptible to the existing paradigm. more

A New Phase of Measuring DNS Abuse

Today the DNS Abuse Institute (“DNSAI” or the “ Institute”) adds a new level of reporting for our measurement project: DNSAI Compass™ (“Compass”). With this new level of reporting, we intend to show the spectrum of how malicious phishing and malware is distributed across the DNS registration ecosystem.1 To demonstrate this, we are identifying registrars and TLDs with high and low volumes of malicious domain registrations in their Domains Under Management (DUM), or new registrations. more

Trust Us

Here's the question: is it meaningful or important for a federal agency to have regulatory authority over high-speed Internet access connectivity? Right now, the FCC (which is supposed to oversee "communication over wire and radio") has no clear authority to make policy about high-speed Internet connectivity. (Transport is different than content - this post is not about applications or uses of this connectivity. Be careful when you talk about the Internet "ecosystem," because transport has been historically and remains different from everything else. I'm talking about the capacity to send packets from Point A to Point B, whether provided by wired or wireless providers.) more

Satellite Spectrum Showdown: Musk’s Starlink vs. Ambani’s Reliance Jio in the Race for India’s Broadband Future

Elon Musk's quest to expand his Starlink satellite broadband service into India faces significant pushback from Mukesh Ambani, Asia's wealthiest individual and head of Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio. more

EU Lawmakers Call for Further Talks to Strengthen Proposed US Data Transfer Pact

EU lawmakers are pushing for additional negotiations to strengthen a proposed data transfer agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States. They argue that the current agreement still has shortcomings that must be addressed. The potential delay in reaching an accord is concerning for the thousands of companies that rely on the agreement. more

Call for Participation – ICANN DNSSEC and Security Workshop at ICANN66, Montreal, Canada

The ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) and the Internet Society Deploy360 Programme are planning a DNSSEC and Security Workshop on Wednesday, 06 November 2019, during the ICANN66 meeting held from 02-07 November 2019 in Montreal, Canada. The original DNSSEC Workshop has been a part of ICANN meetings for many years and has provided a forum for both experienced and new people to meet, present and discuss current and future DNSSEC deployments. more

Dot-Sucks TLD Accused of Predatory, Exploitative and Coercive Practices

Kieren McCarthy reporting in the Register: "The intellectual property constituency (IPC) of domain overseer ICANN has formally asked the organization to halt the rollout of the controversial .sucks top-level domain, due to start on Monday." more

The Global Domain Name Market in 2019: Will New TLDs Create a Sensation?

Afnic, the association that manages and operates various TLDs including the .fr, has published its report on the global domain name market in 2019. The report highlights a slight upturn in the market, which has generally continued the growth initiated in 2018. Thus, the global domain name market accounted for approximately 346 million domain names at the end of December 2019, up 4.7% compared to 4.0% in 2018. more

Application Fees for New gTLDs Could Be Artificially Kept High

"It's possible that application fees for new gTLDs could be artificially propped up in order to discourage gaming," reports Kevin Murphy in Domain Incite. more

The Case of Mobile Users’ Bandwidth Consumption and Causality

It started with a report in the New York Times, citing a study from Arieso, saying that "Top 1% of Mobile Users Consume Half of World's Bandwidth". Arieso said that part of the reason for the increase in download volumes may be Apple's Siri voice feature on the iPhone 4S which allows consumers to dictate to the phone and enter more text and data... Other news outlets picked up the story and lost all perspective. more

Cuba Claims New Regulations Expand Internet Access to Homes and Businesses, But Here’s the Downside

New Cuban regulations regarding private WiFi networks went into effect yesterday, and the New York Times and others proclaimed that "Cuba expands Internet access to private homes and businesses." Yes, Cubans can legally import and install WiFi routers in their homes, small cafes, B&Bs, etc., but these regulations will make little difference in Internet access. more