Damaged Internet Subsea Cables Repaired in Red Sea Amid Militant Attacks on Ships

Repairs on three crucial subsea telecommunications cables in the Red Sea, damaged since February, have begun despite ongoing militant attacks. The AAE–1 cable, a significant 25,000-kilometer fiber optic link between Asia and Europe, was repaired by E-Marine. more

Committed or Condemned? The Words Matter

A number of people have reported on the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) Plenipotentiary in Guadalajara. Indeed even the Secretary of the ITU Hamadoun Touré felt the need to comment, saying: "The ITU does not have the intention to take over the Internet. We are condemned to live together, so the question is whether we manage that well or not." A very firm statement - but it needs to be. Many still fear that the ITU is waiting for a moment of inattention by business and the Internet community and that it will pounce and attempt to place itself in a position of control. more

Future of .io Domain Uncertain as UK Relinquishes Chagos Islands

The United Kingdom's recent decision to relinquish control over the Chagos Islands as part of a treaty with Mauritius has raised significant questions about the future of the popular .io domain. more

Google’s Project Zero Team Discovers Critical Vulnerabilities in Symantec and Norton

"These vulnerabilities are as bad as it gets," says Google's Information Security Engineer, Tavis Ormandy, in reference to multiple critical vulnerabilities discovered affecting Symantec, a popular vendor in the enterprise security market. more

Extreme Cyberattack Could Cost as Much as Superstorm Sandy, Says Insurer Lloyd’s of London

A global cyberattack has the potential to cost $120bn in economic losses, roughly the equivalent of a catastrophic natural disaster like 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, a scenario described in new research by Lloyd’s of London and Cyence, a cyber-risk analytics modeling firm. more

Taking the Long View: Will This Be the Year ISPs Rethink Their Business Plans

I have to wonder if this year is making the big ISPs rethink their business plans. For years, many big ISPs have foregone making long-term investments in broadband and instead chased the quick return. A good example is CenturyLink. Before the merger with Level 3, the company had started a program to replace the copper plant in urban markets with fiber aggressively. At the peak, the company built fiber to pass 700,000 homes a year. more

Matter - The New IoT Standard

Anybody that uses more than one brand of Internet of Things (IoT) device in the home understands that there is no standard way to connect to these devices. Each manufacturer chooses from a range of different protocols to communicate with and control its devices, such as BLE, LoRa, LTE-M, NB-IoT, SigFox, ZigBee, and others. more

Third Round of Evaluation Results for New TLDs

Mary Iqbal writes to report that ICANN has released the third round of initial evaluation results, bringing the total number of applicants to pass Initial Evaluation to 93. ICANN has now completed the initial evaluation of all but 13 IDN Top Level Domains. more

It’s Time for a Better Vision of Internet Governance: From Multistakeholderism to Citizenship

We are experiencing a time of global challenges. How to mitigate global warming, fight a global pandemic, and prevent the spread of totalitarianism and war, are just some of the most urgent questions. Digital technologies offer us the tools to unite and face these challenges, instead, we have experienced the deterioration of the Internet into a Splinternet. Is Multistakeholderism, the currently dominant guiding principle of Internet Governance, still up to the task? more

Open Web Foundation Launches to Push Data Portability

A new nonprofit organization called the Open Web Foundation (OWF) launched today with a mission to be an independent non-profit dedicated to the development and protection of open, non-proprietary specifications for web technologies. "The Open Web needs Open Data, Open Date needs Open Specifications," is one of the statements used in today's opening presentation. With backing from some of the biggest companies including Google, MySpace, Facebook, and Yahoo, the foundation plans to serve as a placeholder for "all the legal dirty work that needs to happen in order for data portability to become a reality." more

What’s Happening With Aug. 13 Applicant Auction to Resolve gTLD Contention?

The second Applicant Auction is coming up on August 13, and after a great round of workshops at the ICANN Conference in Durban, we've started to finalize all of the details. Any applicants who haven't indicated their intention to participate can still do so! more

ICC to Reninforce Multistakeholder Approach to Internet Policy at Internet Governance Forum

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has announced plans to use its presence at the 7th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) next month to reinforce the value of a multistakeholder approach to public policy development. more

Lu Wei, China’s Internet Gatekeeper Stepping Down

China's state news media has reported Lu Wei, the gatekeeper of China's internet, is stepping down. more

China’s CNCERT Response to Google

Gadi Evron writes: "China responds to Google's accusations on its CNCERT web site, here. Johannes Ullrich just brought this to my attention on Facebook. In short, CNCERT wrote that China is the biggest victim of cyber attacks, and that Google lacks evidence to link the recent attacks to China as the perpetrator. I am certain more details and analysis will become available soon." more

FCC Approves New Privacy Rules Restricting Data Collection by Broadband Providers

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission today voted 3-2 to approve rules requiring broadband Internet Service Providers to provide customers more control over the use of their personal information. more