ICANN

The Internet That Works for Some: Universal Acceptance Failures Across Asia Pacific

Across Asia Pacific, millions are excluded from digital services because systems fail to recognise non Latin scripts, exposing how flawed design assumptions about internet users entrench inequality across the region in welfare, finance and education.

Moving Beyond Associated Domain Checks: The Urgent Need to Ban Short-Term Domain Leasing

ICANN's new DNS abuse rules mark progress, yet short-term domain leasing enables fleeting, hard-to-detect attacks. A proposed 30-day minimum lease could curb cybercrime by undermining the economics of weaponised parked domains.

Governing Through Liability: Cox v. Sony and the Fragmentation of the Internet

Cox v. Sony narrows intermediary liability, insisting on intent over knowledge. In doing so, it preserves infrastructure neutrality, resists privatized enforcement, and sharpens a growing divide between American and European models of Internet governance.

Sovereignty Inversion: How RIRs Reduced National Sovereignty to a US$100 Liability Cap

Regional internet registries, once coordinators of technical scarcity, now effectively cap liability at $100 while retaining control over national numbering systems, shifting risk to states and entrenching a governance model critics argue today inverts sovereignty.

The AI Naming Gap - and Why the Legacy Namespace Won’t Wait for ICANN to Fill It

A surge in AI startups has exposed a domain-name shortage as premium .ai addresses vanish. With ICANN's next round years away, legacy TLDs and repurposed namespaces are racing to capture unmet demand.

China, AFRINIC, and the Dangerous Precedent That Could Destabilize the Global Internet

A dispute over 6.2m IPv4 addresses at AFRINIC exposes how litigation and market incentives could erode regional stewardship, setting a precedent that risks turning the Internet's allocation system into a vehicle for global arbitrage.

Competing Trademarks, One .BRAND: Making the Right Call in 2026

As ICANN opens its 2026 round, firms sharing trademarks must weigh applying for a .BRAND domain against legal risks and competitive loss, with evidence suggesting first movers gain advantage while objections rarely prevail.

How DNSXplore Strengthens Internet Trust Across the Global DNSSEC Landscape

A once-trusted internet protocol is showing its age. DNSXplore, a global DNSSEC archive, exposes weaknesses, improves diagnostics and nudges adoption, helping secure the cryptographic chain underpinning online trust.

Africa Is Not a Digital Quarry

Africa's internet registry crisis reflects not abstract design flaws but sustained legal and market pressure, as scarce address resources are drawn into global arbitrage, challenging stewardship and exposing the fragility of regional digital governance.

When Registry Power Detaches From Liability, It Detaches From Reality

IPv4 scarcity turned regional internet registries from clerks into gatekeepers of a valuable resource. Yet liability caps remain trivial, leaving powerful institutions with little accountability and incentives for conflict and structural breakdown ahead.

Reflecting on WSIS+20 and Youth’s Role in Redefining Stakeholder Classification

At ICANN85, reflection on WSIS+20 highlights a quieter milestone: youth successfully secured recognition as a distinct stakeholder group, reshaping how Internet governance defines participation and offering a blueprint for other overlooked communities seeking voice today.

The IRP Docket Speaks Louder Than Theory - A Response to Charles Mok on ICANN and AI Governance

A critique of ICANN's multi-stakeholder model argues that its accountability record, revealed through more than a dozen IRP disputes, shows structural failures that should caution policymakers seeking institutional blueprints for governing artificial intelligence systems globally.

ICANN’s Ultimate Demise?

ICANN's proposed overhaul of root server governance would empower a new council to revoke America's operator status, risking a clash with a resurgent Trump administration and potentially imperiling the multistakeholder model that underpins the internet's core infrastructure.

Do We Need Alignment Between Internet Governance and AI Governance?

A debate over aligning internet and AI governance reveals stark differences in origin, incentives and power. While lessons from ICANN's multi-stakeholder model endure, AI's corporate dominance and geopolitical rivalry demand new, bottom-up approaches.

The AI Effect: Why Brand Impersonation Is Becoming Industrialised

Generative AI has turned brand impersonation from a nuisance into an industrial-scale threat, eroding trust. As ICANN's 2026 round approaches, DotBrand domains promise a structural fix to spoofing that strategies failed to deliver in 2012.