ICANN And The DOC Can’t

The former contract with ICANN and the US Department of Commerce (DOC) was due to expire on September 30, 2002. In the statement announcing the renewal, the DOC acknowledged that ICANN was the subject of many complaints from many sectors of the Internet community. Some of these complaints had been presented to the US Congress during a hearing held in June 2002 by a Senate Subcommittee. At the hearing, a General Accounting Office (GAO) spokesperson, Peter Guerrero, testified, noting not only that ICANN had failed in its mandate, but that the U.S. Department of Commerce was also at fault in failing to properly oversee ICANN activities. He explains... more

How Will the New .AU Domain Licensing Rules Impact You?

The .AU Domain Administration (auDA) will soon implement new .AU domain administration licensing rules either late this year or early next year. These rules apply to new registrations and around 3 million existing domain names in the com.au, net.au, org.au, and more .AU namespaces... Previously, an Australian trademark application or registration may constitute the required Australian presence for an .AU domain name, but the domain name need not match the trademark. more

The Future of AI in Broadband: Impacts on Network Demand and Power Consumption

AI technology seems to be a hot topic in every industry, and broadband is no exception. It seems inevitable that AI will be used to help monitor and control complex broadband networks. It looks like the biggest ISPs are already phasing AI into the customer service process. Nobody seems to be able to answer the big question of whether AI will change the amount of broadband the average household uses. more

UTOPIA, Perfection or Fantasy: Partnering Public-Private Sectors With Broadband

Utopia: the definition brings about visions of an "ideal place or state", or "a system of political and social perfection." Thus became the name chosen for a consortium of sixteen Utah cities building their own broadband infrastructure with a fiber-to-the-premise architecture, while offering residents a clear and alternative choice to incumbent operators, including Quest and Comcast. Is it perfection or fantasy? more

Some Random Notes from IETF 115

The IETF held its 115th meeting in London in November 2022. This was another in the set of hybrid meetings with specific support for online attendees in addition to the normal face-to-face meetings for the week. In no particular order, here are a few of my impressions from the IETF meeting. more

China Clamps Down on VPNs, Carriers Told to Block Access by Feb. 1

State-run telecommunications firms in China are given until February 1 to block people from using VPNs, shuttering key ways both locals and foreigners still manage to access the global, unfiltered web on a daily basis. more

Global IPv6 Summit to Be Held on September 7th 2015

September 7th 2015 will see the Global IPv6 Next Generation Internet Summit 2015 (hereinafter referred to as IPv6 Summit) held in the Presidential Hotel Beijing. The conference will be co-hosted by the IPv6 Forum and BII Group, under the theme of "IPv6 approaching, are you ready?," which will be well attended by top-notch industrial experts both at home and abroad, hundreds of representatives from carriers across the globe, representatives of well-known vendors in the industry, experts from academic agencies, enterprise users, and many influential news outlets, who will discuss the mainstream plans and technical foci of large-scale IPv6 deployment, influence and challenges brought by IPv6 development on network security, Global Internet of Things boosted by IPv6, and other burning issues. more

What Should PGP Look Like?

Those who care about security and usability - that is, those who care about security in the real world - have long known that PGP isn't usable by most people. It's not just a lack of user-friendliness, it's downright user hostile. Nor is modern professional crypto any better. What should be done? How should crypto in general, and PGP in particular, appear to the user? I don't claim to know, but let me pose a few questions. 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

gTLD Contention Auction in May: Request for Comments

Many gTLD applicants with strings in contention have already heard about the Applicant Auction, a voluntary private auction for resolving string contention that my colleagues and I are organizing. In this post we'd like to share some updates on our progress. Most importantly, we realized that more than just an escrow agent is needed for the success of a private auction of this scale, and we have partnered with Morrison & Foerster, LLP, a global law firm, who will be acting as the neutral party for our auctions. more

Report on Smart Grid Cyber Security

A recent report from Pike Research, "Smart Grid Cyber Security" has found if smart grids can realize their full potential, consumers, utilities, nations, and even the earth itself will benefit. As with nearly any new technology, the industry focus has been on getting smart grids up and running, often with little consideration for cyber security issues. more

Internet Outfits Including Facebook, Telegram and Signal Are Rolling Out New Cryptocurrencies

Some of the leading internet messaging companies including Facebook, Telegram and Signal are moving ahead with plans to provide mainstream consumers digital coins. more

2020 Hindsight After 20 Years at ICANN

After two decades of involvement with ICANN, I am stepping down from the Board of Directors, where I served for nine years. I have spent considerable time of late reflecting on the past 20 years, and I have isolated some memories that help frame my time with ICANN. ... November 2000, ICANN07 in Marina del Rey, California - With only a scant idea of what ICANN is all about, I am warmly welcomed by the flag-wearing country code top-level domain (ccTLD) community, who come to ICANN to ensure that nothing happens to affect the independence of ccTLDs... more

Cisco Issues Hight Alert on IPv6 Vulnerability, Says It Affects Both Cisco and Other Products

Cisco today released a high-level alert warning about a vulnerability in IPv6 packet processing functions of multiple Cisco products that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to stop processing IPv6 traffic, leading to a denial of service (DoS) condition on the device. more

Comments on the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace

The White House has recently released a draft of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. Some of its ideas are good and some are bad. However, I fear it will be a large effort that will do little, and will pose a threat to our privacy. As I've written elsewhere, I may be willing to sacrifice some privacy to help the government protect the nation; I'm not willing to do so to help private companies track me when it's quite useless as a defense. more