Trade War Is Turning Into a Technology War

President Trump knows that in the current trade war, the Huawei issue is perhaps one of the most important issues for the Chinese government. It directly undermines the Chinese prestige and the ban create global anxiety. This is resulting in discussions in many countries, assessing their relationship with China. It highlights the domination of the Chinese in telecoms manufacturing, but at the same time, it opens up other discussions in relation to Chinese dominance and influence. more

Security Against Election Hacking - Part 1: Software Independence

There's been a lot of discussion of whether the November 2016 U.S. election can be hacked. Should the U.S. Government designate all the states' and counties' election computers as "critical cyber infrastructure" and prioritize the "cyberdefense" of these systems? Will it make any difference to activate those buzzwords with less than 3 months until the election? First, let me explain what can and can't be hacked. Election administrators use computers in (at least) three ways... more

DCA’s Sophia Bekele Blocked from ITU Event by AUC Over dotAfrica Dispute

Michael Ouma reporting in AllAfrica: Even after ICANN recently moved a step closer to controversially delegate the dotAfrica domain to South Africa's ZA Central Registry NPC - which is supported by the African Union (AU) - last month, another storm has erupted... Sophia Bekele had been invited to Addis Ababa by the ITU's Regional Office for Africa to deliver a speech during this year's "Girls in ICT" day event held on Thursday April 24 at the AU headquarters but later blocked due to disputes with the organization. more

NCA Launches Campaign to Curb DDoS-for-Hire Website Use, Warns of Legal Risks

The United Kingdom's National Crime Agency (NCA) has been running a series of campaigns focused on reducing the use of DDoS-for-hire websites. These websites offer people the opportunity to purchase powerful tools to launch cyber-attacks, which can be used to knock websites or users offline. more

Growing Popularity of .AI and Domain Security

I recently had the opportunity to speak on a podcast with Dave Bittner at CyberWire to discuss how .AI is giving cybercriminals a new avenue to take advantage of some of the largest companies in the world based on research findings from CSC's 2023 Domain Security Report. Below is a summary of the key points discussed during this podcast. more

DHS Asks Citizens to Practice Good “Cyber Hygiene”

Kicking off the sixth annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has urged computer users to practice good "cyber hygiene". The campaign was given a boost Wednesday when the Senate passed resolution 285 to support its goal to make U.S. citizens more aware of how to secure the internet. DHS has also announced that is has been given new authority to recruit and hire up to 1,000 cybersecurity professionals across the department to fill roles such as: cyber risk and strategic analysis; cyber incident response; vulnerability detection and assessment; intelligence and investigation; and network and systems engineering. more

From Concept to Reality: A Roadmap to Acquire Your gTLD in 2026

In today's rapidly evolving internet landscape, staying up-to-date with the latest developments and trends is crucial for businesses looking to strengthen their online presence. One highly anticipated development that organizations have eagerly awaited is the next round of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs). more

AI, Human Rights and the Rise of the Global South

As the current global geopolitical space becomes less friendly to Human Rights1, are there potential offsetting trends supporting them? Yes, but... it will require initiatives from the Global South for AI data-driven policies supportive of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), demonstrating the value of SDGs and Human Rights combined. more

China Calls for Global “Governance System” to Regulate Internet, Activist Warn Threat to Free Speech

Speaking at the the Second World Internet Conference, a government-organized conference attended by executives of global and Chinese Internet companies, Xi called for the creation of a global "governance system" to reflect the "wishes and interests of all countries." more

São Paulo Multistakeholder Guidelines: A Blueprint for Inclusive Digital Governance

The São Paulo Multistakeholder Guidelines adopted at last week's NETmundial +10 conference (Sao Paulo, 29-30 April 2024) provide a breath of fresh air in the current digital debates. They untangle quite a few confusions and offer a pragmatic path forward. The NETMundial statement resolves terminological confusion between internet and digital by combining two terms in the phrase 'internet governance and digital policy'. more

FCC Rolls Back Net Neutrality Transparency Rules for Smaller ISPs

The Republican-controlled FCC on Thursday suspended the net neutrality transparency requirements for broadband providers with fewer than 250,000 subscribers. more

Dutch Telecomm Authority is Asking Hotels to Register as ISPs

Dutch sources are reporting that OPTA, the dutch telecommunications authority, has asked more than a dozen hotels to register as Internet service providers. The move has frustrated the Hospitality Association... more

StopBadware.org and Consumer Reports Launch BadwareBusters.org

StopBadware.org and Consumer Reports WebWatch have announced today the full launch of BadwareBusters.org, a new online community for people looking for help preventing and countering viruses, spyware, and other "badware" on their computers and websites. Maxim Weinstein, manager of StopBadware.org at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, says the site is not only a useful destination, but also a piece of a bigger puzzle. "BadwareBusters.org is part of StopBadware's strategy to bring together the people, the organizations, and the data that allow us to fight back against the spread of badware," Weinstein said. "The collective wisdom of the BadwareBusters community will inform not only individuals, but the entire technology industry." more

TV Warehousing: Comcast’s 500-Terabyte Storage Development for Advanced Advertising

Comcast has sketched out plans for a gigantic database called "TV Warehouse," able to store a full year of statistics gathered from digital set-tops in more than 16 million households nationwide, according to an industry executive familiar with the project. TV Warehouse, envisioned as having a massive 500 Terabytes of storage, would then feed up to a database even broader in scope operated by Canoe Ventures, the advanced-advertising venture formed by Comcast and five other large MSOs. more

Afnic Observatory - the Domain Name Market in 2022: Towards a Resumption of Growth

Afnic, the association responsible for several Internet Top Level Domains, including the .fr country-code Top Level Domain, has published the 2022 edition of its annual analysis under the title “The Global Domain Name Market”. Here are some highlights of this study. The domain name market posted aggregate growth of +1.9% in 2022, an acceleration that reflects a break in the trend observed since 2019. As we foresaw in last year’s report, 2021 was the “trough” year, with a relative improvement over 2022. more