Myanmar Internet Shutdown

There have been lots of press stories in the last day reporting on what the Internet shutdown in Myanmar looked like for people there, and that's the important story. This is what it looked like to the rest of the world, from an Internet infrastructure standpoint. The connection between Myanmar and the rest of the world appears to be turned back on, at least temporarily. The 45 megabit per second circuit connecting Myanmar to Kuala Lumpur that is Myanmar's primary connection to the Internet came back up at 14:27 UTC today. It had mostly been "hard down," indicating either that it had been unplugged or that the router it was connected to was turned off, with the exception of a few brief periods since September 28. Myanmar's country code top level domain, .MM, disappeared... more»

Tight Control Over Domain Names Will Damage The Internet

BBC is running a commentary by Bill Thompson today arguing that the Internet's core architecture should be kept open both technically and in terms of freedom of expression -- such as the introduction of new top-level domains. Giving every interest group, lobbying organisation and corrupt government a veto is what ICANN needs to avoid, says Bill Thompson. From the story: "ICANN is currently making some decisions that will have a massive impact on the net over the next few years, and we need to make sure that it takes into account the wider feelings of the whole community instead of responding solely to pressure from established interest groups..." more»

ICANN to Face Major Transition as Vint Cerf Steps Down

Since its inception in 1998, the controversial Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has withstood violent political turbulence and survived volatile technical controversies. owever, in a few months, the non-profit ICANN may face one of its toughest challenges ever when its long-time board Chairman Vint Cerf -- widely known as one of the fathers of the Internet -- steps down. more»

TLDs or No TLDs for Cities? Berlin Senate Wants Out

A fight has begun over the virtual existence of Germany's capital: Does a .berlin address space have a right to exist beside the old standby berlin.de? The outcome of the fight could have a broader effect on the future of city names on the Internet. After a recent hearing at Berlin's City Parliament, Michael Donnermeyer, speaker of the Berlin Senate, said the right to the name Berlin belonged to the city and has to be protected. For the young company dotBerlin GmbH that is applying for a new city top level domain (TLD) with the ICANN, the Senate's blockade could kill a long-nurtured project and could set a bad example for other initiatives like .london, .paris or .nyc, sources said. more»

ICANN: Keep the Core Neutral, Stupid

ICANN's travelling circus is meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico this week. One of the main subjects of discussion has been the introduction of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs), after a GNSO Report [PDF] proposed 19 "Recommendations" for criteria these new domain strings should meet -- including morality tests and "infringement" oppositions. ...It's important to keep ICANN from being a censor, or from straying beyond its narrow technical mandate. The thick process described in the GNSO report would be expensive, open to "hecklers' vetos," and deeply political... ICANN should aim for a "stupid core"... more»

ICANN's 29th International Meeting Opens in San Juan

"The future of the Internet will be front and center as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) opens its 29th International Public Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Monday, 25 June 2007," says the ICANN press release issued today. Discussion will include issues such as new top-level domains and internationalized domain names. more»

ICANN Secures Preliminary Injunction to Terminate Registerfly's Accreditation

Under a preliminary injunction issued yesterday by US Federal Court Judge, Manuel J. Real, ICANN now has the right to terminate RegisterFly’s accreditation as soon as possible. The provision to ICANN of current and accurate data for all of RegisterFly’s domain names has also been ordered by the Court as RegisterFly failed to meet the conditions of a temporary restraining order (TRO) which the Court issued on April 16, 2007. more»

Infrastructure ENUM

After much initial fanfare a couple of years ago ENUM has matured to a state where it is currently yet another under-achiever in the technology deployment stakes. ENUM initially presented itself as a very provocative response to the legacy telco position of monopolising public voice services through their exclusive control over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the associated controlling position over the telephone number space... The perception was that ENUM was going to dismantle these levers of control and open up the voice market to a new wave of competitive carriers. If the address plan was the key to the PSTN, then ENUM was intended unlock this network and position the new wave of Voice Over IP (VOIP) carriers to take over any residual treasures of the traditional voice market. Events have not played out according to these expectations... more»

Cybersquatting and Geopolitics Heats Up

Cybersquatting is so 2000, or so we thought. The Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) at WIPO has been chugging along for several years now, methodically determining if complainants IP rights have been violated and reassigning "ownership" of domain names. Typically, the cases are fairly boring. But some recent developments in the world of 800 lb search gorillas, Google and Baidu, suggests that the regime could be faced with substantial pressure in the near future. more»

Senior U.S. Bush Administration: No More Net Governance Changes

Are tensions related to the United States' historic influence over key Internet management functions a thing of the past? Two senior Bush administration officials involved in setting Net policy say that's the case.

U.S. Ambassador David Gross and Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Kneuer say they view the question as settled... more»

No Need for Internet Overseeing "Superstructures" Says New ITU Head

The Internet should continue to be overseen by major agencies including ICANN and the ITU, rather than any new "superstructure," the new head of the International Telecommunications Union said on Friday.

"It is not my intention to take over the governance of Internet. I don't think it is in the mandate of ITU and as secretary-general I will continue to contribute to the debate over Internet governance and continue to provide technical support," said Toure, an electrical engineer from Mali. more»

ICANN to Undergo Transparency Evaluation

A U.K. governance organization will review The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as it tries to increase transparency after criticism of its close U.S. government ties. The report from One World Trust will be made public next year according to Paul Levins, ICANN's executive officer and vice president of corporate affairs. more»

Vint Cerf Speaking at First-Ever Internet Governance Forum

Mr. Cerf was speaking at the first-ever Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a United Nations' creation to bring all the decision makers involved in the internet together. ...changes to the way the net works, to accommodate a multi-lingual internet, raised concerns, he said. more»

IG Forum, Hot Air or Hot Opinions?

For many critics, the United Nations-sponsored Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is nothing more than a hot-air event void of any decision-making power. But advocates see the meeting, the first to follow last year's contentious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), as an opportunity to set the tone for future discussions on who should govern the Internet and how.  more»

UN Forum on Internet Governance Opens in Athens

A year after the United States narrowly avoided a bruising row with the rest of the world over control of the Internet, round two of talks on the Web's future has opened in a UN-sponsored Forum on Internet Governance. more»