Verisign Given Approval to Restrict .COM and .NET Domains In Various Countries

"Verisign has been given approval to start restricting who can and cannot register .com and .net domain names in various countries," Kevin Murphy reporting in Domain Incite. more

Complexity and Crashes

It's a familiar story by now: on the 8th of August, 2016, Delta lost power to its Atlanta data center, causing the entire data center to fail. Thousands of flights were cancelled, many more delayed, and tens of thousands of travellers stranded. What's so unusual about this event is in the larger scheme of network engineering, it's not that unusual. If I think back to my time on the Escalation Team at a large vendor, I can think of hundreds of situations like this. And among all those events, there is one point in common: it takes longer to boot the system than it does to fix the initial problem. more

Internet Usage by Time Zone, China Biggest Contributor

Pingdom has conducted a study on how today's two billion internet users around the world are spread over different time zones. Study found two time zones stand head and shoulders above the others in terms of the amount of Internet users they contain: UTC+8, which passes through eastern Asia, and UTC+1, which passes through Europe and Africa. more

Return to Singapore: From Chili Crabs to Names, Numbers and Protocol Parameters

Almost a year ago, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced its intent to transition key Internet domain name functions to the global multistakeholder community. The process was officially kicked off at the ICANN 49 meeting. That was March 2014. And the place? Singapore. Fast-forward a year later and we are again on our way to Singapore for an ICANN meeting. more

Diplomatic Process in Geneva Could Give UN Unprecedented Powers Over the Internet

McDowell, commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal writes: "On Feb. 27, a diplomatic process will begin in Geneva that could result in a new treaty giving the United Nations unprecedented powers over the Internet. Dozens of countries, including Russia and China, are pushing hard to reach this goal by year's end. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last June, his goal and that of his allies is to establish "international control over the Internet" through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a treaty-based organization under U.N. auspices." more

FBI vs Apple: A Bit Of Light Reading

Encryption is key to commerce online. Anything that weakens it is a threat to the digital economy, so the FBI vs Apple case is something that a lot of people are watching very closely... The most recent development is that Apple has filed "Motion to Vacate the Order Compelling Apple Inc. to Assist Agents in Search, and Opposition to the Government's Motion to Compel Assistance." Legal filings aren't light bedtime reading, but this one explores the legal issues as well as the privacy and security implications from multiple angles and underlines why this case is so important. more

The European Commission Proposes Charging Data-Heavy Streamers for Telecom Upgrades

The European Union has launched a consultation on a proposal that would require technology companies, such as Netflix and Alphabet Inc., who use the most bandwidth to help pay for the next generation of internet infrastructure. more

Jevons Paradox and Internet Centrality

The story of computing and communications over the past eighty years has been a story of quite astounding improvements in the capability, cost and efficiency of computers and communications. If the same efficiency improvements had been made in the automobile industry cars would cost a couple of dollars, would cost fractions of a cent to use for trips, and be capable of travelling at speeds probably approaching the speed of light! more

Broadband Satellite Issues

One of the most interesting aspects of serving broadband from low-orbit satellites is that it brings issues related to space into broadband discussion. Space issues were less important for high earth orbit satellites that sit 20,000 miles above the earth. Other than an occasional impact from sunspots, there wasn't much of note. But there are two recent events that highlight our new focus on low-earth orbit satellites. more

Worldwide Security Spending to Reach $96 Billion in 2018, Up 8 Percent from 2017, Says Gartner

Worldwide enterprise security spending to total $96.3 billion in 2018, an increase of 8 percent from 2017, Gartner forecasts. more

The End is Nearly in Sight for New gTLDs

A little over two weeks from now the ICANN meeting in Cartagena de Indias will be over and, if ICANN has the courage of its convictions, the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program should be on the home stretch, heading towards its official May 30 launch. The ground rules will be clear, the process predictable, and applicants will be able to begin to implement their strategies with confidence. As Elvis Presley once sang, it will be a time for "a little less conversation, a little more action, please". more

Is Digital Democracy an Option – and What Is Involved in It?

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the internet Berners-Lee, the father of the internet, reiterated his suggestion for a radical change, which would improve the functionality of the internet for the benefit of society. He suggests a sort of refoundation of the web, creating a fresh set of rules, both legal and technical, to unite the world behind a process that can avoid some of the missteps of the past 30 years. While this most certainly would be an excellent development, I am rather pessimistic about a rapid implementation of such a radical change more

Respondent Had Rights or Legitimate Interests in Domain Name by Using It to Promote Genuine Business

In the case of Avon Products, Inc. v. Jenika Mukoro, Heirs Holdings, a 3-member WIPO Panel denied the Complainant's efforts to have the domain name avonhealthcare.com transferred because the Complainant failed to sustain its burden of establishing that the Respondent had no rights or legitimate interests in the disputed domain name. The Panel found that the Complainant proved that its trademark AVON (which has been in use since 1929) is well-known in the field of cosmetics... more

Verizon-Yahoo! Incumbents Never Seem to Learn

It is amazing that after the dozens of examples of failed business decisions made by telcos in relation to the digital economy, Verizon has clearly not learned any lessons and is willing to waste $4.8 billion in its purchase of Yahoo. This investment will be totally useless and will not provide any new revenue for the telco. They seemed to be attracted by the people-tracking facility (surveillance marketing) that companies such as Yahoo use, and they aim this for their own purposes to attract new advertising revenues. more

Watch Live Tonight – 2019 Internet Hall of Fame Ceremony

Tonight (27 Sep 2019) you can watch the 2019 Internet Hall of Fame induction ceremony streaming live out of Costa Rica. Eleven individuals from six countries will be inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame (IHOF) today. The 2019 class of inductees have expanded the Internet's reach into new regions and communities, helped foster a greater understanding of the way the Internet works, and enhanced security to increase user trust in the network. more