The 2026 String Similarity Guidelines: Automating the Mistakes of the Past

The draft String Similarity Evaluation Guidelines risk entrenching past failures of Internet governance. With opaque algorithms and no right of appeal, ICANN's credibility hangs on whether transparency and fairness are restored before final adoption. more

Google and Facebook Join Forces to Directly Connect Los Angeles to Hong Kong via Undersea Cable

TE SubCom, leading provider of undersea communications technology and marine services, along with Facebook, Google, and PLDC (Pacific Light Data Communication Co. Ltd.), have announced that they will co-build the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN), a 12,800 km transpacific submarine cable system that will provide the first direct undersea route between Hong Kong and Los Angeles, California (USA) with ultra-high capacity transmission. more

ISOC: Global Internet Community Must Unite to Support Open Internet Access, Freedom, and Privacy

The Internet Society Board of Trustees during its meeting in Berlin, Germany today called on the global Internet community to stand together in support of open Internet access, freedom, and privacy. Recently exposed information about government Internet surveillance programs is a wake-up call for Internet users everywhere -- the fundamental ideals of the Internet are under threat. The Internet Society Board of Trustees believes that government Internet surveillance programs create unacceptable risks for the future of a global, interoperable, and open Internet. more

US Senators Push Bill to Boost Internet, Communication Channels for Iranians

Voice of America reporting: "U.S. lawmakers say they plan legislation that would fund efforts to help Iranians receive and send information despite government restrictions. Independent Senator Joe Lieberman said Thursday that the bill intends to help the Iranian people stay 'one step ahead of the Iranian regime.'" Also a related report by AFP. more

German IPv6 Council Starts Contest, Looking for Fresh IPv6 Ideas

Last week the German IPv6 Council initiated a contest for new ideas related to IPv6 where the council invited submissions of applications which are based on the new internet protocol. The council hopes the contest will be a helpful step towards an efficient and large deployment of IPv6. The IPv6 Council, founded in late 2007 in Potsdam, will award prices of up to 10,000 Euros to the best developers' ideas for concepts, applications, and implementations. The winners will be announced and receive their awards at the 2nd German IPv6 Summit on May 14th, 2009 in Potsdam. more

Cyber Threats Accelerate: 94% of Web Browser Exploits Occur Within 24 Hours of Disclosure

Today X-Force, IBM's security research and development arm, released its 2008 Midyear Trend Statistics report that indicates cyber-criminals are adopting new automation techniques and strategies that allow them to exploit vulnerabilities much faster than ever before. The new tools are being implemented on the Internet by organized criminal elements, and at the same time public exploit code published by researchers are putting more systems, databases and ultimately, people at risk of compromise. more

Cheers to ICANN!

It has been 1.5 years since I have started my journey with ICANN. Within this short journey of mine, looking back I remember a nice memory that makes me love ICANN more and forces me to get involved even deeper. I got to know about ICANN in the APNIC conferences. I didn't really get the enormity of ICANN until I attended my first ICANN meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in March 2017 as a fellow. more

Google Fiber Launches 5-Gig Service in 4 of Its 12 Existing Metro Markets

Google Fiber is boosting its internet speeds and availability by offering a new 5-gig tier in four of its existing markets. Nick Saporito, Head of Multi-gig and Commercial Product, made the announcement in a blog post on Valentine's day titled: Fall in love with fast -- 5 Gig is here! more

New York City’s Broadband Reversal

New York City has done a 180-degree turnaround on the concept of the City providing broadband to low-income households. In 2020, then-May Bill de Blasio announced a plan to bring affordable broadband to low-income households. That Master Plan said that the City would make a $157 million infrastructure investment to provide broadband to around 600,000 homes that includes 200,000 residents of public housing. more

Google Internet Traffic Continues to Soar

Craig Labovitz reporting today on Arbor Networks blog: "In their earnings call last week, Google announced a record 2010 third-quarter revenue of $7.29 billion (up 23% from last year). The market rejoiced and Google shares shot past $615 giving the company a market cap of more than $195 billion. This month, Google broke an equally impressive Internet traffic record -- gaining more than 1% of all Internet traffic share since January. If Google were an ISP, as of this month it would rank as the second largest carrier on the planet..." more

Spending on Mobile Phone Surpasses Residential Phone Services

Recent statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey has shown that American have been increasingly spending on mobile phones from 2001 through 2007. BLS data indicates cellular phone expenditures surpassed spending on residential landline phone services beginning in 2007. From the report: "In 2001, the ratio of spending on residential phone services to spending on cellular phone services was greater than 3 to 1. In 2007, cellular phone expenditures accounted for 55 percent of total telephone expenditures compared to 43 percent for residential phone expenditures. The distribution of telephone service expenditures between residential telephone/pay phone services and cellular phone services changed significantly in all age groups since 2001." more

Broadband Now or Later?

I just heard about a U.S. County that is using its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to build fixed wireless broadband. This is a traditional fixed wireless broadband technology that will probably deliver speeds of 100 Mbps to those close to the towers, slower speeds to homes further away, and which will not reach all homes in the County. more

Bangladesh Central Bank Governor Quits Amidst One of the Largest Cyber Heists

Bangladesh's central bank governor has resigned today amidst theft of $81 million from the bank's U.S. account, as details emerged in the Philippines that $30 million of the money was delivered in cash to a casino junket operator in Manila. more

Study Finds Spain Most Bot-Infected Country, Sweden Among Least Infected

According to a recent security report, Spain and the United States are the leading countries when comes to bot-infected computers. Based on data compiled from October by PandaLabs, the research arm of Panda Security, an alarming 44.49% of computers in Spain are infected with bots and United States -- a long way behind -- at 14.41%, followed by Mexico 9.37% and Brazil 4.81%. Countries least infected include Peru, the Netherlands and Sweden, all with ratios under 1 percent. more

Blocking or Metering Broadband Access is a False Choice, Says New Report

n a report released today by the Free Press, Derek Turner, Research Director argues that, in light of recent FCC ruling against Comcast, it is a "false choice" to believe that "because application blocking is out of bounds, providers now will be forced to use some type of 'metering' to control network congestion." In other words, if ISPs are not allowed to block applications, then usage-based pricing is NOT their only other viable option, asserts Turner. more