Chinese Scientists Have Built First Quantum Network With No Danger of Being Decrypted

A paper published by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reports a successful demonstration of satellite-based entanglement distribution to receiver stations separated by more than 1200 km -- the results illustrate the possibility of a future global quantum communication network. more

DNSSEC Root Signature, Almost There!

IT security specialists have known for years that the plain DNS is not to be trusted. Any hope for improvement rests on the DNSSEC protocol deployment. In this post, I will review the current status in one critical aspect, namely the DNS root signature key management. The other two foremost are the application usage of DNSSEC protocol functionality and the operational front, or the extent of deployment in the DNS infrastructure. The operational front includes the support by the DNS root nameservers, but my focus on signature key management leaves this issue aside. more

Domain Registrations Associated with New TLD Launches

One of the central goals of a brand protection program is detecting infringing third-party activity that falls outside the firewall - that is, external to a brand owner's portfolio of official core and tactical domains. Brand threats occur across a range of internet channels, but domain name abuse is one of the most significant areas for concern, both in terms of the visibility and potential for confusion of branded domain names by potential customers, and the enforcement options available. For this reason, domain monitoring is considered a core component of a brand protection service. more

Conditions for Launching your .Brand

The post addresses the factors affecting any decision to rebrand under a new Top-Level Domain (TLD). Depending on the TLDs owned by the competing companies, rebranding can be critical, merely advantageous, or a matter of wait-and-see. (This post does not address signal location/geography, strategies for expanding a brand, or the merits of defensive and offensive domain name registrations under relevant new gTLDs.) First, a simple definition... more

Now We’re Talking About Some Serious Money

ICANN has now published the results of the auction for .SHOP, an eye-popping $41,501,000. This pushes the ICANN's auction pot over $100 million. That's a lot of money. There are eighteen more name contention sets that are on hold for various reasons, of which a few such as .WEB look likely to generate even more money once the hold issues are resolved. more

Macro Observations Facing Email Infrastructure

Last month I attended the 36th annual M³AAWG conference in San Francisco, where esteemed members of the online messaging and anti-abuse community come together to make the Internet a safer and more secure environment. The sending community is highly influential especially among Email Service Providers (ESPs) and truly dominated the two-macro conversations that I participated in. These conversations have the industry in somewhat of a transition. more

FCC Gives Google, Sony and Others Full Authorization for Commercial Deployment of 3.5 GHz Spectrum

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday announced it is allowing full commercial use of 3.5 GHz band for broadband connectivity and 5G. more

NTIA Directs Smoke Signals Toward LA

On September 25th-26th the Cross Community Working Group developing enhanced accountability measures to accompany the IANA functions transition, and replace the "backstop" role played by the U.S., will meet in Los Angeles to review the 90 comments filed on their second draft Proposal and consider responsive modifications... As NTIA will be the primary evaluator of whether the transition & accountability package that is eventually forwarded by ICANN meets the criteria it set when it announced the transition in March 2014, CCWG participants in LA will be carefully reading the tea leaves of this latest NTIA statement. more

Is Teleworking Here to Stay?

Broadband networks are stretched thin today due to the large numbers of adults and students working from home. There are many stories on the web that indicate that a lot of employees are not going to be going back to the office when the pandemic is over. Here are two stories about a trend towards more teleworking from the dozens that a Google search uncovered. more

The IPv4 Market Runs on All Cylinders in 2018

2018 was a record-breaking year for the IPv4 market. The total volume of addresses traded, overall number of transactions in the ARIN region, and prices reached their highest levels to date. Since 2014, the number of transactions has grown considerably, mostly attributable to a dramatic increase in small block trades of fewer than 4,000 addresses. The volume of addresses sold during the same period, however, tells a different story. more

.COM Registrations Continue to Rise, Unphased by New gTLDs, ICANN Study Reveals

A recent study commissioned by ICANN reveals despite introduction and growth of new gTLDs, .COM and other legacy TLDs have remained steady and rising. more

Reflections on the 20th Anniversary of the Dot-Com

Twenty years ago (Monday) on June 8th, 1989, I did the public launch of ClariNet.com, my electronic newspaper business, which would be delivered using USENET protocols (there was no HTTP yet) over the internet. ClariNet was the first company created to use the internet as its platform for business, and as such this event has a claim at being the birth of the "dot-com" concept which so affected the world in the two intervening decades. There are other definitions and other contenders which I discuss... more

Do You .RUN?

I am not such a good runner but I have decided to run early in the morning. It is what I just started to do today and to be honest, I hated it. But it does not matter, I will run again tomorrow morning... So what is the market for .RUN? Do runners communicate on Internet? Do they need to communicate because they are runners? Is .RUN for runners only? more

Governance or Capture? Africa’s Internet Rules Face a Double Standard, Expert Warns

Alice Munyua criticises ICANN's support for a proposed African internet governance overhaul, arguing it undermines multistakeholder principles and sets a dangerous precedent of political interference in global internet infrastructure. more

Community Networks Could Help Strengthen the Caribbean Internet

By some estimates, only half of the world's population has internet access, leaving the other half at a sizeable competitive disadvantage. This profound connectivity gap is especially significant in the unserved and underserved areas of developing and least-developed countries. For people who live in these places, Internet connectivity is not just about the Internet. It is a lifeline that gives access to electronic commerce and telehealth services, distance learning, social and political engagement, government services... more