Current Difficulties With Displaying Internationalized Top-Level Domains

Earlier this week, we inserted eleven new top-level domains in the DNS root zone. These represent the term "test" translated into ten languages, in ten different scripts (Chinese is represented in two different scripts, and Arabic script is used by two different languages). This blog post is not about that. (If you're interested about it, read our report on the delegations.) What I would like to talk about is some of the difficulties we face today in expressing scripts in a consistent way over the Internet... more

A New Boom to Come? Re-Evaluating the Success of the New TLD Program

I think it's fair to say that quite a few people -- both within the domain name industry and beyond -- have an opinion on whether the new TLD program is succeeding or struggling. But are things really all that bad? Are we forecasting doom before it has really had a chance to run? Crunching the numbers... Let's consider the (relatively short) history to this point and take a look at some statistics. more

A True Final Ultimate Solution to the Spam Problem?

A common acronym in spam-fighting is FUSSP -- Final Ultimate Solution to the Spam Problem. It's used (usually derisively) to describe the latest proposed scheme to end spam once and for all. Usually these schemes are based on false assumptions or have already been tried with no results. This time - be still, my beating heart - it looks like some researchers at the University of California might really be on to something. more

Dear Industry Canada, Is Now a Good Time to Replace CIRA?

Today we have sent following to the Minister of Industry Canada, James Moore, as well as the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) Board of Directors. This is in response to the revelation that CIRA is positioning to enter the managed DNS space. As we outline in the letter, we are fine with more competition (in fact Google just entered the domain and DNS space too... No, competition is a fact of life, what we want is more of it, not less. Here's what we wrote to The Honourable James Moore. more

Don’t Rely on Initial TLD Registration Volumes

When deciding to register a given domain name under any of the new ICANN-proposed top-level domains (TLDs), remember that a relatively high initial registration volume does not necessarily imply that the domain names will command high market value or that demand for them will grow. Below are some of the reasons... more

Starlink in the Spotlight: Growth, Challenges, and Future Ambitions

There is a lot of speculation that Starlink is positioned to get a lot more federal subsidy from the BEAD grant program. There are a few things that have to happen for that to come to pass, but that is not the only news about Starlink these days. Starlink announced in September that it reached four million customers worldwide. What is most impressive about that announcement is the rate of growth, with the company just hitting the three million customer mark in May of 2024. more

ICANN vs Epag/Tucows: German Court Rules Against ICANN

German courts seem to be pretty fast, so instead of having to wait weeks or months to see how they'd rule, we've already got the answer. The German court in Bonn has ruled that EPAG (Tucows) is not obliged to collect extra contacts beyond the domain name registrant. The decision, naturally, is in German, but there is a translation into English that we can use to understand how the court arrived at this decision. more

66 Percent of Mobile Device Connections Will be IPv6 Capable by 2020, Says Cisco Report

IPv6 traffic is expected to reach 54 percent of total mobile data traffic, up from 13 percent in 2015, according to Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast, 2015-2020 which has since being updated with additional study. The report also predicts by 2020, 66 percent of mobile devices/connections will be IPv6-capable - up from 36 percent in 2015. more

How Many IPv4 Addresses Does the RIPE NCC Have Left?

Since IANA ran out of IPv4 addresses, people are increasingly aware of how short the remaining lifetime of IPv4 is. With World IPv6 Day taking place this week, the issue has come into even sharper focus. Since March 2011, the RIPE NCC has been publishing the size of its pool of available IPv4 addresses. All five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) regularly publish the status of their IPv4 address pools. In the image below, you can see how the number of IPv4 addresses in the RIPE NCC pool changes over time. more

Core Internet Institutions Abandon the US Government

Milton Mueller from Internet Governance Project writes: "In Montevideo, Uruguay [last week], the Directors of all the major Internet organizations -- ICANN, the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Architecture Board, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Internet Society, all five of the regional Internet address registries -- turned their back on the US government. With striking unanimity, the organizations that actually develop and administer Internet standards and resources initiated a break with 3 decades of U.S. dominance of Internet governance..." more

Takeaways from the DNS-OARC’s 28th Workshop

March has seen the first of the DNS Operations, Analysis, and Research Center (OARC) workshops for the year, where two days of too much DNS is just not enough! These workshops are concentrated within two days of presentations and discussions that focus exclusively on the current state of the DNS. Here are my impressions of the meeting. more

New Innovations in Free Space Optics

I read an article on the Finley Engineering blog that talks about new research with free-space optics. For those not familiar with the term, this means communication gear that communicates directly using light without any wires. The article talks about a Chinese team of scientists who have used light to transmit ultrahigh-definition video signals between high-rise buildings. more

EU CRA: Regulatory Extremism and Exceptionalism

European Union (EU) legislators, like most of the world, are troubled about the increasing number and severity of cybersecurity incidents. However, unlike most of the world, which is taking a flexible, adaptive Zero Trust Model approach of continuous controls for cyberdefense, the EU government is pursuing a vastly expanded version of the failed Common Criteria certification model coupled with regulatory extremism and exceptionalism strategies. more

What New gTLD Applicants Want for Round 2

After talking to a few new gTLD applicants who participated in "Round One" of the ICANN new gTLD program, here is a list of complaints and questions I received, and probably a few things potential candidates should pay attention to prior to submitting an application... Applying is too expensive, I want my TLD for $200,000 "all included" (ICANN fee + consultancy services to fill in my application) more

Thinking Outside The ICANN Box: Creating A Prototype Based On Internet Experience - Part II

The proposal "The Internet an International Public Treasure" ("Public Treasure") offers a means of creating a prototype for an international collaborative management structure for the Internet (see Part I of this article).
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