Policy & Regulation

Cruz’s Crusade Against IANA Transition Continues with Senate Hearing

Senator Cruz's against the IANA transition will continue next week with a senate hearing next week. The hearing is entitled: Protecting Internet Freedom: Implications of Ending U.S. Oversight of the Internet. While the hearing is being chaired by Cruz, no indication of who else will be speaking has been made public so far. In a press release from Cruz's offices earlier this evening, the Senator continued his almost hysterical and misleading narrative. more

Republicans Barreling Toward a September Showdown Over IANA Transition

Republicans gear up for fight against internet transition," Ashley Gold and Tony Romm reporting in the POLITICO today. more

DOJ to Cruz: .Com Price Freeze Can Be Extended to 2024

On August 31st the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a response to the August 12th letter from Senator Ted Cruz and some Congressional colleagues to the head of the Antitrust Division. In that letter Cruz et al asserted that if the pending extension of the .Com registry Agreement (RA) was granted in combination with the consummation of the IANA transition, that DOJ could be prevented from having "meaningful input into the prices that Verisign charges for registering a domain name within the .com domain for an extended period". more

China Taking Steps to Show it is Responsive to Foreign Concerns on Cybersecurity

"China Sets New Tone in Drafting Cybersecurity Rules," By Eva Dou in Beijing and Rachael King in San Francisco reporting in the Wall Street Journal. more

AfPIF Brings Together Internet Players

If you are passionate about ICT policy, Peering, and Interconnection, then the Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) is the place to be. The 7th annual AfPIF takes place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 30 August – 1 September 2016. AfPIF is a multistakeholder forum organized by the Internet Society that brings together a diverse range of business leaders, infrastructure providers, Internet service providers (ISPs), Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), international financial institutions, policy-makers, and regulators from all over the world. more

Singapore Plans to Cut Off Internet Access for Government Agencies

"Singapore is planning to cut off web access for public servants as a defence against potential cyber attack," according to a report today in the Guardian. more

Internet Access: A Chokepoint for Development

In the 1980's internet connectivity meant allowing general public to communicate and share knowledge and expertise with each other instantly and where it was not possible otherwise. Take the story of Anatoly Klyosov, connecting Russia to the western world for the first time in 1982, as an example. A bio-chemist who was not allowed to leave the soviet territory for security reasons. The internet enabled him to participate in meetings with his counterparts at Harvard University, University of Stockholm and beyond. more

Russian Central Bank Announces Mandatory Cyber-Security Regulations for Domestic Banks

"Russian banks will be faced with a whole range of new regulations, and penalties for non-compliance, when it comes to cyber-security, according to the country's Central Bank," Eugene Gerden reported today in SC Magazine UK 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

ICANN Announces Newly Created Organization to Replace IANA

ICANN has announced the name of the newly incorporated organization, Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), as a nonprofit entity to begin operation as 'Post-Transition IANA'. more

I Didn’t Put My Name on the Census

On many occasions I have written about the dangers of electronic communications in relation to data retention laws, government e-spying and other activities undermining our democracy and our liberty. To date governments still have to come up with evidence that all of this spying on their citizens has prevented any terrorist attacks. Terrorism has been given as the key reason for the government's spying. more

IBM’s SoftLayer Cloud Infrastructure Service Blocks Cuba - Why Now?

Cachivache Media recently reported that the Bitly URL-trimming service had stopped working in Cuba. Cubans had been using the service for several years, so this resulted in many broken links. Cachivache did not know what had happened, but published a traceroute that timed out at an Akamai router. I contacted Akamai, and they said they could not say anything -- they would only talk with their customers -- Bitly in this case. So I contacted Bitly and had an email exchange with one of their support people. more

Comcast Says FCC has no Authority to Prohibit Pay-for-Privacy Model by ISPs

Amidst debates concerning privacy rules for ISPs, Comcast in an FCC filing on Monday has urged the Commission to not interfere with business models offering discounts or other value to consumers in exchange for allowing ISPs to use their data. more

Would the Internet Survive a Trump Apocalypse?

Presidential nominee Donald J. Trump and his supporters are pursuing platforms to create an altered America in a different world that is profoundly different in almost every respect from what has existed until now -- it is a new world best described as the Trump Apocalypse. Would the Internet as we have known it continue to exist? The short answer is probably not. Here is why. more

U.S. Court Urged to Reverse Net Neutrality Rules, FCC Chair Says Petition ‘No Surprise’

Several wireless, cable and broadband trade associations today called on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reverse the net neutrality ruling that passed last month in a 2-1 decision by a three-judge panel. more