France’s Proposed Web Blocking Law: A Threat to Internet Freedom, Warns Mozilla Foundation

France's forthcoming SREN Bill could mandate web browsers to block websites deemed illicit by the government, setting a precarious standard for digital freedoms, warns Mozilla Foundation in a recent blog post. more

Quantifying Internet Shutdowns: ISOC Introduces the NetLoss Calculator

In light of the ongoing Internet shutdowns, such as the recent government-ordered Internet disruption in Algeria aimed at curbing cheating during national exams, the Internet Society (ISOC) has unveiled a tool, the NetLoss Calculator. This tool calculates the economic costs of internet shutdowns, a feat that has been a significant challenge until now. more

Ransomware Attacks on US Hospitals Trigger Significant Ripple Effects on Neighboring Facilities

In a study published in the JAMA Network, evidence indicates that ransomware attacks on healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) lead to substantial disruptions in patient care and emergency department workflows. more

Internet Multistakeholder Model: A Trade Association With Multistakeholder Theater

Did you know that we are swimming in Domain Name System abuse? As an Internet user, you probably were not aware. Apparently, doomsday is near, and the Internet is going to explode in our face if we do not do something about "domain name system abuse." This doomsday narrative has nearly jeopardized multistakeholder governance. However, it may also compel us to reconsider the multistakeholder model and its relevance in governing the Internet and its associated technologies. more

Happy 50th Birthday Ethernet

ome 50 years ago, at the Palo Alto Research Centre of that renowned photocopier company Xerox, a revolutionary approach to local digital networks was born. On the 22nd of May 1973, Bob Metcalf authored a memo that described "X-Wire," a 3Mbps common bus office network system developed at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). more

Unsolicited Smartwatches Bearing Malware Target U.S. Service Members: Army CID Raises Alarm

U.S. military service members around the country have reported receiving unsolicited smartwatches by mail, triggering warnings from the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID). more

White House Announces Historic $42 Billion Investment in Nationwide Broadband Access

In an effort to universalize access to high-speed broadband by 2030, the White House has allocated $42 billion to the 50 states and U.S. territories under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program. more

Scientists Transmit Terabits Per Second Through Air, May Replace Undersea Cables

Scientists from ETH Zurich and their European partners have demonstrated a groundbreaking capability for transmitting several tens of terabits per second, despite considerable air turbulence. This feat was accomplished with lasers over a distance between the Jungfraujoch mountain peak and the city of Bern in Switzerland. The technology could potentially eliminate the need for expensive undersea cables, currently forming the backbone of the Internet. more

Satellite Security Showdown: DEFCON’s Hack-A-Sat Competition Highlights the Rising Stakes of Space-Based Cybersecurity

As industries from agriculture to banking increasingly depend on space-based capabilities, safeguarding satellites from cyber threats has become paramount. In a groundbreaking move to address this, the U.S. military will stage Hack-A-Sat 4, a competition at the famed DEFCON hacker convention, inviting white-hat hacker teams to attempt to infiltrate and control computer systems on a satellite in orbit. more

EU Standards Must Be Freely Available

In 2019, two organisations - Public.Resource.org of Sebastopol, California, and the Right to Know GLC of Dublin - brought suit against the European Commission for violating the fundamental rights of citizens to access the standards they are required by law to know, and attempting to protect intellectual property by copyright which lacked originality because it was, inter alia, provided by public governmental and industry sources. more

Satellite Spectrum Showdown: Musk’s Starlink vs. Ambani’s Reliance Jio in the Race for India’s Broadband Future

Elon Musk's quest to expand his Starlink satellite broadband service into India faces significant pushback from Mukesh Ambani, Asia's wealthiest individual and head of Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio. more

Will Electronically Steered Antennas Replace Parabolic Antennas in Satellite Ground Stations? (ChatGPT-Assisted Version)

In a previous post, I asked whether electronically steered antennas (ESAs) would replace parabolic antennas in satellite ground stations. I read a few articles suggested by others and by Google search, used some common sense, produced a list of advantages of ESAs, and concluded that it was likely they would eventually replace parabolic antennas for many applications. more

SpaceX and Indonesia Launch SATRIA-1 Satellite: A $540 Million Leap Towards Comprehensive Internet Connectivity

In a joint venture worth $540 million, SpaceX and Indonesia have successfully launched SATRIA-1, the nation's largest telecommunication satellite, to improve internet connectivity in remote regions of the archipelago. more

The Benefits of Thinner Fiber

Fiber manufacturers are always trying to make it easier to deploy fiber. One of the most interesting trends is the increasing migration from 250-micron fiber to 200-micron fiber. For those not familiar with the metric system, a micron is one-thousands of a millimeter. A 250-micron fiber has a diameter of 0.25 millimeters, while a 200-micron fiber has a diameter of 0.2 millimeters. more

Human Rights and the Digital Domain Primer - Part 2

The digital domain encompasses the different spaces and spheres we use to relate and interact with the people and things that surround us using digital technologies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, as the globally accepted standard, should serve us as the guiding light when it comes to striking the delicate balance between our rights and responsibilities on and offline. more