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Featured Blogs

Case Studies from the UN Broadband Commission

Paul Budde The Broadband Commission for Digital Development, in partnership with ITU, has released its first country case studies looking in-depth at the state of broadband development in four economies and examining links between broadband and the UN Millennium Development Goals. The case studies look at the effect of broadband connectivity on economic growth and access to basic services like education and health. They offer regulatory guidance and best practices, showcasing success stories and lessons learned. more»

Rethinking Protection Technologies: A Change Has Occurred

Gunter Ollmann Talking technical is easy. Distilling technical detail, complex threats and operation nuances down to something that can be consumed by people whose responsibility for dealing with cybercrime lays three levels below them in their organizational hierarchy is somewhat more difficult. Since so many readers here have strong technical backgrounds and often face the task of educating upwards within their own organizations, I figured I'd share 4 slides from my recent presentation that may be helpful in communicating how the world has changed. more»

2011 UDRP Filings Up at WIPO, Down at NAF - And Still Infinitesimal

Philip S Corwin The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently issued a detailed press release regarding Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) cases for which it provided arbitration services in 2011 and, once again, the number of WIPO filings was up. According to WIPO: "In 2011, trademark holders filed a record 2,764 cybersquatting cases covering 4,781 domain names with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) under procedures based on the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), an increase of 2.5% and 9.4% over the previous highest levels in 2010 and 2009, respectively." Yet that's an incomplete picture. more»

Business Case for IPv6 - Part 2

Juha Holkkola In my previous blog on the topic, I stated that the business case supporting the IPv4 roll-out in the late 90s was the Internet. Although IP depletion will slowly become a reality, the chances are that due to mitigating technologies such as NAT and DNS64, it may take quite a while before organizations in the developed economies will get serious about IPv6. So where should we look to find a business case for IPv6? more»

Cel-e-brate v6, Come On!

Craig Sprosts With IPv6 World Launch coming up it's worth pausing to consider the collective efforts of the Internet industry in enabling and deploying an essential evolutionary technology at what will become truly massive scale. It's easy to be a detractor and believe there has been little progress -- but the Internet hasn't melted down and there is no evidence it is about to. Perhaps the issue is that progress occurred in a different way than was predicted or preferred by the experts. more»

Hosters: Is Your Platform Being Used to Launch DDoS Attacks?

Miguel Ramos As anyone who's been in the DDoS attack trenches knows, large multi-gigabit attacks have become more prevalent over the last few years. For many organizations, it's become economically unfeasible to provision enough bandwidth to combat this threat. How are attackers themselves sourcing so much bandwidth? more»

Measuring IPv6 at the Network and the Customer Level

Mirjam Kuehne George Michaelson, APNIC's Senior Research and Development Scientist recently visited the RIPE NCC to collaborate on various research projects with his RIR colleagues. IPv6 measurements were one of the topics we looked at. Recent IPv6 statistics from the RIPE NCC show an accelerated uptake of IPv6 in Norway, both in terms of the number of allocated prefixes, and visible announcements in the routing system. more»

Communications and the London Olympics

Paul Budde Communications will be one of the most critical areas during the London Olympic Games. The industry is working to establish shared access networks -- would it not be nice if they did this everywhere, all the time? They are also working very closely with British Olympic Association, London Transport, the broadcasters and content providers. Mobile coverage will be the biggest shared infrastructure in the world. more»

If You Build It, They Will Come.

Brenden Kuerbis Only two years after signing the DNS root zone, the powerful lure of a secure global infrastructure for data distribution is starting to reveal itself. It is illustrated clearly by two proposed technical standardizations that seek to leverage secure DNS. To some degree these developments highlight the strength of DNS institutions and how they might fill gaps elsewhere in the Internet's governance. But an increasing reliance upon and concentration of power in the DNS also makes getting its global governance correct even more important. more»

IXPs and CDNs Critical to the Future of Competitive Broadband Internet

Bill St. Arnaud We continue to see consolidation in the broadband market and various games played by the cablecos and telcos to thwart competition or undermine network neutrality. Until regulators create true structural separation between infrastructure and service providers the chances of seeing genuine broadband competition are slim. It is interesting to note telecom regulators in North America have imposed structural separation in the past. more»

Canadian Telcos Fast Tracking FttH to Combat Cable Operators

Henry Lancaster There are a number of stimuli which are pushing Canada's burgeoning FttH market, and the government and telcos alike have made significant steps to improve the reach and capacity of broadband infrastructure. These measures will show real benefits for consumers in recent years. From the government's side, its Economic Action Plan, launched in 2009 as a response to the global financial crisis, included a pledge to provide $225 million over three years towards its Broadband Canada Program, geared to extending broadband coverage to underserved communities. more»

"Toll Free" Broadband Service: Double Billing Ripoff Or Better Than Best Efforts Premium Option?

Rob Frieden Representatives of both AT&T and Verizon have stated that their companies will soon offer "toll free" broadband services. So far they have not provided much detail, but the prospect for customer and content provider surcharges should trigger concern, even outside the context of the network neutrality debate. First let's consider the frame the carrier reps use: "Toll Free." This is an old school "Bellhead" reference... more»

Carlos Slim Puts Bomb Under European Telecoms Market

Paul Budde The Mexican telecoms and broadcasting magnate Carlos Slim -- the wealthiest man in the world and owner of the business conglomerate Grupo Carso -- has put a 28% bid for the Netherlands' incumbent telco KPN on the table. This is a very interesting and significant move. As is often the case, new winners tend to arrive when previous winners become losers, especially when they are becoming weaker and thus easier to attack. more»

Software Defined Networks and Integration of Wifi with 3G/4G for R&E Networks

Bill St. Arnaud A number of R&E networks such as SURFnet, JANET, AARnet, etc. are actively promoting mobile services and looking at integration of campus Wifi with 3G/4G networks using Eduroam. Mobile wireless services promises to be major service offering for R&E networks as the Internet of Things and Machine to Machine (M2M) becomes increasingly critical for research. Applications such as personal medical devices on (or in) the body, environmental sensors, traffic monitors and even garbage truck tracking will need such networks. more»

Wall Street and Virtual Space Data: Internet Domain Name Index (IDNX) Listed on Bloomberg, Reuters

Thies Lindenthal The financial industry is all about pinstripe suits, excessive Excel sheets and boring data. Or is it? Financial markets are more colorful than their reputation: take a look at Bloomberg's or Reuters' sites, and you'll see that pork belly is as much an object of investment speculation as coffee, electricity, bananas, hides, or fishmeal. Recently, the universe of data available to financial analysts and investment bankers grew further, with the addition of the Internet Domain Name Index (IDNX) to leading financial data distributors Bloomberg (ticker symbol: IDNX <Index>) and Reuters (ticker symbol: .IDNX). more»

News Briefs

Geneva Discussion to Include India's Proposal for Government Control of Internet

Shalini Singh reporting in the Hindu: "The raging controversy over possible excessive state regulation of the internet based on the IT Rules 2011 is now likely to be dwarfed by discussions in Geneva later this week over India's proposal to the United Nations General Assembly, for government control of the Internet... In its proposal submitted to the General Assembly in New York on October 26, 2011, India has argued for a radical shift from the present model of multi-stakeholder led decision-making, to a purely government-run multilateral body..." ›››

DNSChanger Disruption Inevitable, ISPs Urged to Bolster User Support

SC Magazine – Up to 100,000 customer modems are at risk of losing their internet connection from July 9 when the FBI disables rogue DNS servers seized late last year. The affected customer modems make up about a third of the 350,000 to 400,000 internet users believed to still have the DNSChanger malware on either their modems or Windows computers. ›››

A Look at the Rapid Evolution of the World's DNS Infrastructure

A recent report by Pingdom looks at the booming growth of Internet's DNS infrastructure. From the article: "Five years ago there were 123 DNS root server sites (the "backend" of DNS) spread out on the Internet. Today there are more than twice as many, over 300. Five years ago, 46 countries had root servers. Today, 76 have them. In other words, not only has the number of root servers grown tremendously, but their geographical spread has increased as well. This is good news for the overall stability and performance of DNS worldwide." ›››

Gas Pipeline Firms Under Targeted Phishing Attacks

The United States Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) has issued a warning about an active "spear phishing" campaign targeting companies in the natural gas pipeline sector. In an advisory issued last week, ICS-CERT said it has received information about targeted attacks and intrusions into multiple organizations over the past several months. ›››

ICANN Receives Beyond Expected Number of New gTLD Applications

The Register – The upcoming expansion of the internet's domain name system could see more than 2,000 new top-level domains come into existence, according to policy overseer ICANN. The organisation revealed at the weekend that it has received 2,091 applications for its controversial new gTLD programme, and could see up to 214 more before it shuts the door to applicants. ›››

China Passes 1 Billion Mobile Subscribers, Over 400 Million Mobile Web Users

China now has more than 1 billion mobile subscribers (India isn't far behind) -- that's more than three times the US. Second, China now has more than 150 million 3G users, as reported by mobiThinking. "These are the sum of subscriber stats from the three main Chinese operators. Third, China has more than 400 million mobile Internet users (i.e. more than there are mobile subscribers in the US), according to Analysys International. Fourth, China is now the largest smartphone market in the world with 22 percent (overtaking the US at 16 percent), according to Canalys." ›››

FBI Pushing Plans to Force Surveillance Backdoors on Social Networks, VoIP, and Email Providers

Declan McCullagh reporting in CNET: "The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require the firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance. In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities..." ›››

UK ISPs Ordered to Block Pirate Bay

Time – Britain's High Court - not the highest, but well up the ladder - has officially ordered Internet service providers to block Sweden-based file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. That means top British ISPs must shut off access to the site as soon as possible. ISPs Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media have said they will, while a sixth, BT, has asked for a few weeks to mull over whether it will comply or not. The Pirate Bay hosts "torrent" files that let users connect with each other to download or share information -- in principle, a legitimate activity. ›››

Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum Has Been Renewed

The United Nations has announced that the membership of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum has been renewed. A total of 56 members, 33 among them new, have been appointed. The Advisory Group members are from all stakeholder groups and all regions, representing Governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and technical communities. ›››

Google Launches Storage Service, "Drive"

Google today launched a long-rumored "Drive" service to allow users store photos, videos, and other digital files in its massive data centers. Available immediately, first five gigabytes of storage per account of Google Drive is free and additional storage will be sold for prices starting at $2.49 per month for 25 gigabytes. ›››

Names of the Inaugural Internet Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

The names of the inaugural Internet Hall of Fame inductees were announced today at the Internet Society's Global INET 2012 conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Internet pioneers and luminaries from around the world have gathered at the conference to mark the Internet Society's 20th anniversary. ›››

Iran Investigating Suspected Cyberattack on Its Main Oil Export Terminal

Reuters – A virus was detected inside the control systems of Kharg Island - which handles the vast majority of Iran's crude oil exports - but the terminal remained operational, a source at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said. The virus, which is likely to draw comparisons with the Stuxnet computer worm which reportedly affected Iranian nuclear facilities in 2009-10, struck late on Sunday. It hit the internet and communications systems of Iran's Oil Ministry and of its national oil company. ›››

EFF: U.S. Cybersecurity Strategy Likely to Have Serious Implications for Canadians

EFF and several other civil society organizations have declared a 'Stop Cyber Spying Week' in protest of several controversial U.S. cybersecurity legislative proposals, including the bill currently before Congress and the Senate called CISPA... ›››

Study Reveals Economic and Societal Benefits of Establishing IXPs in Emerging Markets

The Internet Society today published the results of a study that demonstrates the far-reaching economic and societal benefits of establishing Internet Exchange Points (or IXPs) in emerging markets.The study, commissioned by the Internet Society and conducted by independent strategy and research consultancy, Analysys Mason, examined the critical cost and performance benefits of IXPs in Kenya and Nigeria - two sub-Saharan countries that have been on the leading edge of Internet growth in Africa. ›››

Why SOPA Defender Joins Internet Society as Regional Director

Internet Society recently announced the appointment of former chief technology officer of Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The decision has raised concerns within the Internet community as Paul Brigner had campaigned for SOPA while at MPAA as well as being on record opposing net neutrality while being an official at Verizon. ›››

Department of Commerce Begins Re-Solicitation for IANA Contract

In follow up to the cancelation of IANA Contract RFP last month, the United States Department of Commerce (DoC), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have just issued solicitation of the contract. ›››

Apple Under Criticism for Back-Pedaling on IPv6 Support

Apple Computer's AirPort Utility, Version 6.0 was criticized this week at the North American IPv6 Summit for no longer being compatible with IPv6. The previous Version, 5.6, offered IPv6 service by default. "Comcast, for example, is urging its subscribers that are interested in using IPv6 not to upgrade to AirPort Utility Version 6.0 if they use the OS X Lion operating system because of incompatibilities with IPv6." ›››

UPDATEDICANN's New TLD Software Flaw May Have Revealed Rival Bid Detail

Guardian Unlimited – The internet naming company ICANN has admitted that rival bidders for highly valuable new internet domains could have seen each others' secret bids because of flaws in its registration software. The company took the system offline on Thursday afternoon, just hours before applications were due to close after being open for more than three months. ››› Updated: May 03, 10:27 AM

Software Glitch Causes ICANN to Extend New gTLD Application Deadline

Due to unusual behaviour with the operation of its TLD Application System (TAS), ICANN announced today that it has shut down the system until Tuesday. ICANN has also extended the submission deadline: "In order to ensure all applicants have sufficient time to complete their applications during the disruption, the application window will remain open until 23:59 UTC on Friday, 20 April 2012." ›››

Neustar Launches KickStart America Campaign with .US Domain

Neustar, Inc. begins a "Kick-start America" campaign for the .US Top-Level Domain. Companies of all sizes -- locally-based or doing business in the United States -- are encouraged to demonstrate their local presence with "America's Address." ›››

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Industry Updates

Frontline and Nominum Deliver Integrated DNS-Based Platform to Enhance Enterprise Security

Nominum Unlike proprietary appliances that rely on open source engines with minimal security, constant patches, and moderate performance, the new solution takes advantage of Nominum's Vantio DNS software running on "off the shelf", carrier grade HP hardware and hardened Red Hat Linux. more»

Nominum Launches Comprehensive Suite of DNS-Based Security Solutions for Russian Service Providers

Nominum This suite offers network and end-user solutions and applications for stopping outbound spam, botnet mitigation, phishing and malware prevention, illegal content filtering, managed security, mobile security, and more. more»

Call for Nominations to the Public Interest Registry .ORG Advisory Council

PIR The .ORG Advisory Council has been a valuable global resource for the Public Interest Registry (PIR) management for providing advice on policy, outreach, and new services to improve registry operations and support the noncommercial .ORG community. more»

Nominum Sets New Record for Network Speed and Efficiency

Nominum New DNS caching engine release surpasses one million queries per second, providing a more powerful engine for Nominum's three-tiered DNS architecture. more»

Recursive DNS Talk: Round Trip Times, Delegations and Performance

Dyn Usually on the Dyn blog, you'll hear us talking about the technology behind our authoritative DNS infrastructure, the benefits of IP anycast routing, the scale of our global infrastructure and more.
Often ignored, but still a major part of the DNS system, is the recursive DNS infrastructure, traditionally deployed by ISPs to serve their customers. more»

Oman Relaunches .om with the Support of ARI Registry Services

ARI Registry Services ARI Registry Services was selected by the TRA in March 2011 to provide domain name registry software and supporting services to revitalise the .om ccTLD. The project will also include the launch of عمان. (.oman), the Arabic script IDN ccTLD for Oman. more»

Implementing a Cyber-Security Code of Conduct: Real-Life Lessons From Australia (Webinar)

Nominum Peter Coroneos, former CEO of the Internet Association of Australia, will share the "lessons learned" from 33 ISPs who voluntarily implemented Australia's "iCode" to improve Internet security starting in 2010. more»

Domains Ending With .JP.NET Now Available to the General Public at Bargain Prices

CentralNic Domains ending with .JP.NET are released this week to the general public, just days after auctions for such premium domains as zen.jp.net, japan.jp.net and sakura.jp.net produced sales prices of up to $1,050 (over 100 times the Recommended Retail Price). more»

Minds+Machines Wins Back-End Registry Services Contract For .BASKETBALL

Minds + Machines Minds + Machines, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM:TLDH.L) has been appointed by FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, to provide back-end registry services for FIBA's proposed .BASKETBALL generic top level domain ("gTLD"). more»

Google Mobile Website Initiative for German-Speaking Market Launches With goMobi Website Builder

dotMobi Today, dotMobi announced that our goMobi mobile website builder is a part of the Start Mobile initiative from Google. Start Mobile is designed to ensure businesses in German-language markets can quickly and easily join the mobile Web revolution. more»

DDoS Attacks: Top 10 Trends and Truths (Video)

Neustar DDoS experts recently participated in a webinar conducted by Neustar for a revealing discussion on how DDoS attacks are evolving and what to look for in 2012. Watch the following on-demand webcast. more»

Industry Participants

Index of corporate sponsors and industry participants featured on CircleID in alphabetical order.

Community  –  CircleID Participants  |  View All  |  Join CircleID

Patrick Vande Walle
All around Internet governance troublemakerJoined on Jan 17, 2006

Mark Jeftovic
Co-Founder, easyDNS Technlogies Inc.Joined on Jul 09, 2003

Michael Roberts
Joined on Feb 18, 2006

Michele Neylon
MD of Blacknight SolutionsJoined on Mar 02, 2004

Gregory Francis
Managing Director at Access PartnershipJoined on Sep 17, 2010

Richard M. Smith
Computer & Internet Security ExpertJoined on Jul 11, 2003

Bill Nussey
CEO & AuhtorJoined on Feb 28, 2005

Mark Goldberg
Telecommunications ConsultantJoined on Apr 24, 2007

Wout de Natris
Consultant international cooperation cyber crime + trainer spam enforcementJoined on Nov 08, 2010

Susan Crawford
Professor, Cardozo Law School in New York CityJoined on Nov 19, 2003

Elliot Noss
President and CEO of Tucows Inc.Joined on Jul 20, 2003

Krista Papac
Chief Strategy Officer, AusRegistry InternationalJoined on Jan 30, 2010

Eric Goldman
Associate Professor, Santa Clara University School of LawJoined on Sep 11, 2003

Stéphane Van Gelder
General manager of INDOMJoined on Aug 27, 2008

Ronald N. Andruff
President & CEO, dotSport LLCJoined on Sep 20, 2006

Richard Bennett
Senior Research FellowJoined on Oct 23, 2007

Bruce Young
Senior Desktop Support AnalystJoined on Jun 14, 2003

Amit Fridman
Vice President Engineering at Crescendo NetworksJoined on Dec 02, 2009

Graham Chynoweth
VP Busniess Operations & General Counsel, Dyn Inc.Joined on Jan 04, 2008

Enrico Schaefer
Attorney & Advisor: Protecting International Business InterestsJoined on Sep 04, 2007

Paul Hoffman
Joined on Feb 15, 2005

Lee S Dryburgh
Founder of eComm Media, IncJoined on Feb 12, 2008

Dan Campbell
President, Millennia Systems, Inc.Joined on Jan 02, 2008

John Curran
President and CEO at American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)Joined on Mar 31, 2007

Constantine Roussos
CEO & Founder of .Music & Music.usJoined on Aug 22, 2009

Eric Brunner-Williams
MathematicianJoined on Jan 22, 2005

Gunter Ollmann
VP of Research at DamballaJoined on May 10, 2011

Fergie
Advanced Threats Researcher, Emerging Threats & Operational IntelligenceJoined on May 09, 2005

Karl Auerbach
Chief Technical Officer at InterWorking LabsJoined on Jun 14, 2003

Imran Ahmed Shah
IT ConsultantJoined on Jun 05, 2008