A Look at Nine Years of RIPE Database Objects: IPv6 Objects on the Rise

The RIPE Database is about to enter its fourth decade. It began humbly as a place to store network and contact information back when the RIPE community formed in 1989. When the RIPE Network Coordination Centre (NCC) was created three years later and started to assign and allocated IP address space, the database was expanded to include the registration of more detailed network and routing information. more

Nothing to See Here

Three parallel events in US communications policy today, all reported on widely - but with a common thread. ... Law enforcement and national security officials want to make sure that they have the same ability to execute warrants and surveillance orders online that they had in the switched-telephone-circuit age -- which will mean substantial government design mandates for new software, hardware, and communications facilities. more

Study Finds Majority of U.S. Gov’t Agencies Fail to Meet Security Mandate for DNSSEC Adoption

Majority of U.S. Federal agencies using .gov domains have not signed their DNS with DNSSEC (Domain Name Security Extensions) despite a December 2009 Federal deadline for adoption, according to the latest report by IID (Internet Identity). IID analyzed the DNS of more than 2,900 .gov domains and has released the results in its "Q3 State of DNS Report". more

Secondary DNS Service for ccTLDs

One of the hot topics at this year's Internet Governance Forum was the continuing development of the infrastructure of the Internet in emerging markets. For example, in a workshop entitled "Strengthening ccTLDs in Africa", attendees debated the drive for technical excellence, better policy structures and enhanced quality of service for the continent's ccTLDs. ... To support this development, we provide a secondary DNS service to not-yet-established ccTLDs, free of charge. more

FCC Approves White Space Usage for “Super Wi-Fi” Technologies

In a unanimous vote today, the FCC has given a green light for the use of "white spaces" in order to deliver broadband connections as super "WiFi". From today's announcement: "The Federal Communications Commission today took steps to free up vacant airwaves between TV channels -- called "white spaces" -- to unleash a host of new technologies, such as "super Wi-Fi," and myriad other diverse applications. This is the first significant block of spectrum made available for unlicensed use in more than 20 years. TV white space spectrum is considered prime real estate because its signals travel well, making it ideally suited for mobile wireless devices." more

Politico Writes of Comcast’s IPv6 Effort

Larry Seltzer writes: Politico? Comcast's PR gets an 'A' for this article, an upbeat tech-lite description of the impending depletion of the IPv4 space and efforts to adopt IPv6. It also seems that the Obama administration is behind this, and that the Federal government has had "remarkable foresight on this issue." I feel better already. more

ITU Targeting Broadband for Over Half of World Population by 2015

ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré, has challenged global leaders to ensure that more than half of all the world's people have access to broadband networks by 2015, and make access to high-speed networks a basic civil right. "Broadband will be a game-changer in addressing rising healthcare costs, delivering digital education, empowering marginalized communities, and mitigating climate change." more

Domain Name Registrations Reaching 200 Million World Wide

The global base of domain names grew by more than 3 million in the second quarter of 2010, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief, published by VeriSign, Inc. According to the report, the domain name industry ended the second quarter of 2010 with a base of more than 196.3 million domain name registrations across all of the Top-Level Domain Names (TLDs). The combined base of .com and .net domain names surpassed 100 million, finishing the quarter with an adjusted zone size of 101.5 million. New .com and .net registrations totaled 7.9 million during the second quarter, an increase of 13 percent from a year ago. more

Domain Name Owner Gets Swift Relief Against Impostor Website

In rem actions over domain names are powerful tools. A trademark owner can undertake these actions when it identifies an infringing domain name but cannot locate the owner of that domain name. In a sense, the domain name itself is the defendant. The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (which is a part of the federal trademark statute dealing with the unauthorized registration of domain names) says that a court can enter ex parte orders requiring a domain name to be turned over when... more

New TLD Application Tip: Premium Domains Can Support a Sustained Revenue Stream

New top-level domains will quickly be upon us, and if you are ramping up to get your application ready, part of your launch plan should address what you will do with valuable keyword or generic names -- what we often refer to as "premium names." ... Choosing appropriate domains to reserve is an important first step which must be included in your application to ICANN. more

The UN Wants to Fix The Internet

A beacon of transparency and true international cooperation packed up this week as participants in the 5th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) made their muted good-byes. No one is sure whether they will meet again next year or, if they do, under what circumstances. That's because the UN is looking to fix the IGF, a puzzling task for the busy UN since the IGF is manifestly not broken. more

IP Address Distribution Doesn’t Fit in the Registry/Registrar Model

At the IGF2010 in Vilnius, two folk are floating a trial balloon about separating the allocation function from the registry services function. Currently, these functions are seen as indivisible by the Internet addressing community. In other words, one gets an allocation or assignment from a RIR and the RIR adds the assignment to their database... The question being asked is "Is it time for a split between allocation and services for Internet number resources as was the case for domain name resources?" My answer is no more

Transmissions from the Past: Radio and Email on Mobile Devices

Apparently, along with trying to change who gets paid when the music gets played, the National Association of Broadcasters is lobbying Congress to require FM radio receivers to be built into phones and other mobile devices. I'm sure this is in part a reaction to the rise of streaming music apps like Pandora and the Public Radio Player, but they want FM receivers in not-so-smart phones too. more

Apple TV Demolishing Telco and Broadcasting Business Models

The future of broadcasting has been under discussion for close to two decades and, while changes are certainly happening, they are rather slow and therefore new opportunities or threats (depending on where you sit) continue to arise. On the one hand we are now starting to see the more widespread availability of digital TV and this has revealed a clear point of difference between the strategic directions being taken by the telecoms and the broadcasting industries. more

The IPTV Growth in South Korea

At the beginning of 2008, the South Korean government passed a law that allowed telecoms operators to broadcast programmes in real-time over their broadband networks. The KCC awarded IPTV licences to KT Corp, Hanaro Telecom and LG Dacom. KT was banking on real-time Internet TV services because growth in the traditional broadband and telephone markets had slowed. The company planned to invest more than KRW1.7 trillion (US$1.5 billion) in IPTV services by 2012 as part of efforts to cultivate new sources of revenue. more