Internet Governance

Blogs

Authority Formation and Legitimacy in Parallel Governance Tracks

Africa's internet governance faces parallel tracks as AFRINIC's community-led reforms unfold alongside a continent-wide blueprint, raising questions over whether legitimacy will stem from participatory processes or increasingly coordinated external alignment.

Building RIPE SEE: A Conversation With Jan Žorž About Community, Trust, and the Work Behind a Regional Event

Jan Žorž reflects on SEE RIPE's role in uniting a fragmented region, where trust built through informal exchange now underpins internet resilience and helps align engineers with policymakers as regulatory pressures intensify.

Beyond Connectivity: How Submarine Cable Resilience Dictates Digital Sovereignty in the Age of Fragmented Governance

Subsea cables underpin global data flows, yet resilience, control and deep sea access now define digital sovereignty as governance fragments, hyperscalers consolidate ownership, and states prioritize survivability over efficiency in an increasingly contested geopolitical seabed.

Trusted Notifier Network (TNN) Core Concept 2: Building a Chain of Indemnity

TNN proposes a contractual chain of indemnity to shift legal risk in global takedowns, replacing patchy statutory protections with enforceable accountability and a fund that makes good-faith action commercially viable for smaller intermediaries.

Africa’s Community Networks Offer a Local Path to Inclusive and Resilient Connectivity

Community networks, locally built and governed, are emerging across Africa as cost-effective tools to extend connectivity, bolster digital sovereignty, and improve cyber resilience, despite regulatory, financial, and technical constraints that hinder broader adoption.

Fixing Geofeed: From Self-Reported Data to Verified Trust

Geofeed data, long reliant on unverifiable self-assertions, faces mounting security risks. Integrating RPKI could transform it into a trusted, cryptographically validated infrastructure, strengthening routing integrity, regulatory compliance, and digital sovereignty across an increasingly contested internet.

NOGs at a Crossroads: Confronting the New Demands of Network Operations

Surging outages and mounting losses are increasingly forcing a rethink of network operations, as NOGs now confront a shift from technical exchange to strategic governance, where resilience, leadership, and institutional influence define the profession's future.

The New Space Race for Connectivity: Satellite Internet and Critical Infrastructure

Satellite internet is from backup to core infrastructure, as LEO constellations, non-terrestrial networks and direct-to-device services reshape connectivity, forcing governments and operators to rethink resilience, sovereignty and the architecture of the internet.

No Safe Harbor: SCOTUS Scuttles the DMCA

America's Supreme Court, in Cox v Sony, recast online copyright liability, effectively sidelining the DMCA safe harbor and replacing it with a narrow inducement standard that leaves service providers little obligation to meaningfully police infringement.

CaribNOG Enters Its Institutional Era

CaribNOG's 32nd forum in Curaçao marks a shift from volunteer roots to institutional structure, as the Caribbean network community formalises programmes, expands research, and positions itself to tackle climate, geopolitical, and infrastructure pressures.

The Historical Mandate of the RIR System

The history of the Regional Internet Registry system shows it was designed as a community-governed framework, not a passive ledger, with legitimacy rooted in delegated authority, open policy development, and multistakeholder coordination from its inception.

Afnic Reports Record Year for .fr Domain Names in 2025

Afnic's 2025 review finds .fr registrations at a record 4.3m, with strong new domain creation and steady retention, even as competition from .com and shifting digital trends temper expectations for future growth in 2026 overall.

Why Africa’s Cybersecurity Problem Has Nothing to Do with Hackers

Africa's cybersecurity failures stem less from sophisticated hackers than from insecure system design, weak governance and limited skills, leaving institutions exposed and shifting the challenge from external threats to internal accountability and resilience.

China and the Geopolitics of Africa’s 6.2 Million IPv4 Addresses

AFRINIC's fight over 6.2 million IPv4 addresses exposes how legal pressure, offshore vehicles and scarcity economics can strip Africa of leverage, turning a technical dispute into a test of sovereignty, institutional resilience and Internet governance.

Modernizing the Registry: How LAC-2025-5 Addresses the Reality of IPv4 Scarcity

LACNIC's LAC-2025-5 proposal formalises IPv4 sub-assignments, bringing grey-market leasing into a framework, easing scarcity pressures, improving registry accuracy, and lowering barriers for smaller providers while preserving incentives to adopt IPv6, across Latin America and Caribbean.

News Briefs

Iran’s Internet Blackout Hits 60 Days - Deepening Economic Crisis, Two-Tier Access

Iran’s Record Internet Blackout Deepens Civilian Isolation, Fuels Humanitarian Concerns

Iran Expands Digital Dragnet After Crushing Protests

Iran Nears Completion of Internet Kill Switch Amid Protests, Says Iran International

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

AFRINIC at the Crossroads: ISPA Endorses Candidates Ahead of Pivotal Board Election

ICANN Warns of Governance Crisis at AFRINIC Amid Allegations and Legal Challenges

i2Coalition Launches ‘DNS at Risk’ Report, Warns of Rising DNS Abuse and Censorship

Africa’s Digital Darkness: Internet Shutdowns Reach Record High

Biden Administration to Back UN Cybercrime Treaty Amid Controversy

Future of .io Domain Uncertain as UK Relinquishes Chagos Islands

NIS 2 Directive Set for Implementation with New Guidelines, But Concerns Remain

Internet Domain Shutdowns: Ineffective and Risky, Experts Warn

Brazil Enforces Fines for VPN Use to Access Elon Musk’s Platform X

Russia Invests $660 Million to Boost Internet Censorship and Block VPNs

Malaysia Reverses Decision on Controversial DNS Redirection Policy

Sally Wentworth Appointed as New CEO of the Internet Society

Malaysia Plans Internet “Kill Switch” to Curb Online Abuse

China Proposes Cyberspace IDs to Simplify Online Identity Verification

Bangladesh Faces Total Internet Shutdown Amid Violent Student Protests

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