Toward an ITU Renaissance

For nearly fifty years now, a significant portion of my professional engineering and lawyering life has been threaded through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It has included all of its multiple sectors, working on the inside for two Secretary-Generals and running its Relations between Members and Regulations Division, writing two books including "The ITU in a Changing World" with the late George Codding, representing the U.S. at several conferences... more

Internet Cut Off Across Syria Amidst Tense Fighting

Internet monitoring companies say Syria's Internet connectivity has been shutdown nationwide. Renesys, a U.S.-based network security firm that studies Internet disruptions, reports that about 6 hours ago (12:26pm in Damascus) Syria's international Internet connectivity was shut down. "In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet." Akamai Technologies Inc. has also confirmed the complete outage in Syria. more

Controversy Looms as Pakistan Passes Cybercrime Law, Critics Say Violates Human Rights

Pakistan's National Assembly on Thursday passed the controversial cybercrime bill through a majority vote that prescribes a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail and 5 million rupees in fine for cyber-terrorism. more

U.N. Cybercrime Convention Enters Critical Stage

Negotiations for a U.N. cybercrime convention have reached a critical stage at the fourth round of discussions in Vienna. Delegates from over 150 states have met for over 100 hours to discuss the proposed convention, which has been met with skepticism from some states, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders more

OpenDNSSEC Launched to Help Drive Adoption of DNSSEC

A team of developers including .SE (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation), LNetLabs, Nominet, Kirei, SURFnet, SIDN and John Dickinson have come together to create open source software, called OpenDNSSEC, to make it easier to deploy DNSSEC. Patrik Wallström, responsible for DNSSEC at .SE comments: "In order to spread the use of DNSSEC to an increased number of domain names, the management surrounding this technology must be simplified. Together with a number of collaborators, we're developing OpenDNSSEC. Leveraging our deployment experience, we will produce a well-packaged, easy-to-use and flexible DNSSEC tool that eliminates all manual procedures. Those in charge of name servers no longer need detailed knowledge about the protocol in order to use it." more

6G Collaboration by U.S. and Allies Against Authoritarian Control

The United States, along with key global partners, has formally committed to principles guiding the development of 6G technology, as announced by the White House. This move comes amidst a strategic contest to shape the future of wireless communication standards, driven by concerns over authoritarian regimes exerting greater control over the internet within their borders. more

WikiLeaks’ Vault 7: CIA Gives a Free Lesson in Personal Cyber Security

WikiLeaks' newly released Vault 7 trove is a tantalizing study in how one of the world's premiere intelligence agencies hacks devices. Analysts and experts have signaled that this leak appears authentic based on some clues in the content. But while it may ultimately be comparable in size to the Snowden or Manning leaks, it lacks the "wow" factor that made those landmark whistleblowing cases so important. What lessons are to be learned from the leaks, and how should we apply them to our personal digital lives? more

NTAG Chair Blog: Singapore Mid-term Update

While the media spotlights the US role in Internet governance, the NTAG Executive Committee has been focussed on the daily business of ensuring the New gTLD programme is moving forward in the best interests of applicants. There are signs that ICANN is becoming more responsive to applicant needs. Quick action implementing GAC Advice once it was resolved by the New gTLD Program Committee, the recent name collision webinar, and an ongoing dialogue on new gTLD auctions procedures are all positive steps. more

Net Neutrality Alternative: Effective Interpretation, Oversight and Enforcement of Existing Rules

The US government is proposing broad new regulations for telecommunications and cable internet service providers. The new proposals appear to target specific providers for regulation and government oversight. Specifically, Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey has proposed the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009, or the "Net Neutrality" bill, outlining government policies to impose new governance and restrictions targeting telecommunications and cable providers AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner and Comcast. more

Auction to Sell .versicherung Top Level Domain

The Top-Level Domain (TLD) .versicherung (German word for INSURANCE) managed by dotversicherung-registry GmbH in Hamburg, will be holding an international auction executed by Right of the dot, LLC in Lauderdale USA in collaboration with Heritage Auctions. The auction will take place on 26th of August 2015, 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time (UTC -4:00). more

Botnet Takedowns Having Limited Impact on Overall Spam Volumes, Says Google

Google, which through its Postini email security and archiving service processes over 3 billion email connections a day, reports that despite recent series of major botnet takedowns, spam levels during the first quarter of 2010 have held fairly steady. "This suggests that there's no shortage of botnets out there for spammers to use. If one botnet goes offline, spammers simply buy, rent, or deploy another, making it difficult for the anti-spam community to make significant inroads in the fight against spam with individual botnet takedowns." more

WCIT Talks Are Not About Internet Governance, Says ITU Head in Response to Critics

David McAuley from BNA recently interviewed International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré, addressing accusations that the international telecom body is using the upcoming World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) talks in Dubai as a forum to wrest key internet governance functions away from the private sector (and the U.S. government). more

Houthis Blamed for Disrupting Asia-Europe Communications by Damaging Underwater Cables

A series of underwater communications cables connecting Saudi Arabia and Djibouti have been rendered inoperative, an incident attributed to the actions of Yemen's Houthi rebels. This revelation comes from an exclusive report by the Israeli news outlet, Globes. more

APT: The Cancer Within

Unless you have a team employing the latest proactive threat-hunting techniques, the stealthy Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) hiding in your network can pass by completely unnoticed. There are as many definitions of APT as experts writing about the topic, so let's boil it down to the simple essentials: APTs are usually implanted and maintained by a team of malicious actors with the intention of living long term in your network while extracting valuable private information. more

FCC Pushing for Free Internet Plan, Called Most Controversial Issue in December

Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing for action in December on a plan to offer free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to all Americans, despite objections from the wireless industry and some consumer groups. The proposal to allow a no-smut, free wireless Internet service is part of a proposal to auction off a chunk of airwaves. The winning bidder would be required to set aside a quarter of the airwaves for a free Internet service. more